To ask what arts and crafts you do...

[MiaMarshmallows]

With your school aged children?
I have my grandkids over the holidays, ranging from ages 3-9. I am thinking lots of arts and crafts are in order but am not creative myself so am struggling.
Only thing I have is rock painting/general painting. Anymore ideas please?

Craft kits from places like Baker Ross are a godsend for me!
Salt dough
Making cards (get ahead on the Christmas cards maybe?)
For the younger ones, I used to do things like draw a sheep outline and get them to stick cotton wool balls on, or draw an outline of their initial onto A3 card and give them a range of things to stick in like feathers, scrap bits of paper, get a big "craft items" box

Junk modelling is a big favourite. I keep any nicer bits of recycling, and to it onto the table with sellotape, glue, and various bit of scrap paper, pipe cleaners, pom poms etc. (Hobbycraft, or most large supermarkets sell big boxes of assorted pom poms, sequins etc). They then do what their ability allows, so the oldest does something intricate, and the youngest tends to just coat everything in glue and sequins..! But they all have fun.

Air drying clay is fun too.

You can get paint sticks for drawing on windows, which mine enjoy. Washes off very easily :) just a bit different to paper.

We mostly do baking - I’m not imaginative enough for much craft, and everybody likes to make a banana cake (or chocolate buns, or pancakes). My 4 year old can do the majority of a sponge cake himself now - just needs verbal encouragement and a bit of help measuring stuff out. We started when he was 2, with him doing a bit of stirring, and helping with decorating afterwards.

You can also get some dinosaur/jungle stamp kits from Melissa and Doug, and glitter glue drawing seems to entertain kids for a surprisingly long time too.

Mine love the drawing tutorials on YouTube! They spend ages doing their favourite characters etc

I highly recommend mucky pups craft kits! They kept my children entertained all through lockdown muckypupscraftkits.co.uk/

When my kids were young we would do lots of different things. I would make a pinata for their birthday parties every year by blowing up a balloon, hanging it upside down, and coating it with layers of papier-mache over several days, then painting it. Every year there would be different birthday themes. We went a little overboard, I think.

Junk modeling sounds great!

Aluminum foil can be crushed into many different shapes.

junk modelling sounds a great idea to keep kids of different ages entertained. I second getting some baker ross craft it kits in, one pack can usually make 4 things so both my children can make things.

I agree with air drying clay, my 3 and 7 year old love it. Hand and footprint pictures and cards are fun and you can Google tons of ideas. We did a green footprint before and drew on eyes to make 'franken-foot' with the child's age.
Kinetic sand is messy but fun.
Lolly sticks and pipe cleaners to make characters.
Peg dollies.
You sound like a fun gran

Maybe you could get them each a little notebook and some stickers so they can make a summer holiday journal of what they've done with you. Would be lovely to look back on in a few years.

Hobbycraft paint your own money boxes. Or the suncatchers.

@pinkphone I used to work at Baker Ross!!
they are good aren't they!

Pin pom making.
Card making
Making fortune tellers ( folded paper things )
Junk models
Paper mache
Knitting
Potato printing

Sand art, foil craft, scratch paper, tie dye kits,.dig kits, origami, chalk outside make hopscotch and roads.for.little.cars, water balloons, magic sand, playdough, spirograph, stampers, stained glass pictures, bendaroos, slime making. Crystal growing, sock puppets, sticker books,growing grass heads,painting money boxes. We used the works, kids stuff for less, baker Ross and pound toy alot through lockdown. Dread to think how much I spent but there was alot of time to fill so these were a god send.

Do you have any outside space? Plant some salad leaves or pumpkin seeds for Halloween. Maybe make a little fairy garden - Amazon/poundshop had some doors and toadstools. Plant some wild flowers for the insects too

Some fabulous ideas. Thank you x