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10 Crafts Under $10 That Will Keep Your Kids Busy All Fall
Fall is always a busy time for parents, and it tends to be a season in which kids feel increasingly compelled to spend their hours indoors as the temperature outside begins its annual chill. If you want to keep your kids active and busy throughout the fall season, these cost-effective crafts, projects, and games will not only occupy your kids but perhaps start a new lifelong passion. Pablo Picasso started figure drawing and oil painting with his father when he was just seven years old and entered Barcelona’s School of Fine Arts at the tender age of 13.
- Oversized Board Games and Giant Jenga
Image source: flickr.com
The possibilities are simply endless with this option, as any number of beloved games can be transformed on a massive scale with just a few inexpensive materials. Your favorite board game can be taken outside to be re-created on the driveway with nothing more than sidewalk chalk and brightly colored tape. As for the game pieces, your kids will experience a new level of engagement by actually moving themselves through the board toward the game’s ultimate goal.
Other games translate quite well to this increase in scale, and just a few 4x4s can be cut and finished for use in a game of giant Jenga. Many stores will cut the wood for you and all that is necessary is a total of just two or three 4x4s, which tends to be readily available at a very affordable price.
- Butterfly Mobiles
Image source: flickr.com
Dedicated crafters may already have a butterfly punch at their disposal, but even if you don’t, you can simply print out an image of your choice on a sturdy piece of paper to act as a template for the butterflies. Once you have your template, all you need to make a beautiful butterfly mobile is some string along with a pair of bamboo skewers.
You and your kids can then decorate the mobile with beads for aesthetics as well as to add some weight for anchoring purposes. This is a great way to remind your entire family of the summer that has just passed while also welcoming the sudden onset of fall.
- Exploding Art With Plastic Paint Bags
Image source: flickr.com
Kids tend to possess a natural inclination for artistic expression along with an ever-present penchant for messiness, both of which can be encouraged through the creation of explosive art. Just fill a few plastic bags with some brightly colored paint so your kids can throw their exploding plastic bags of paint at a canvas — or anything else you happen to approve as an artistic medium — to create a truly unique work of art.
- Custom Designed Teacups
Image source: colormemine.com
Whether it is imaginary or otherwise, there are few things more inviting than a nice cup of tea on a crisp fall afternoon. Take any white teacup — there is always a wide selection of teacups available for next to nothing at your local secondhand store — and customize it however you and your kids wish with ceramic paint pens.
- Mini Bowling With Marble Bowling Balls and Pencil Eraser Pins
Image source: flickr.com
A simple game that requires nothing more than a few marbles and a set of ten pencil erasers (the kind that cover up old, worn-out pencil erasers), this miniature bowling set is easy to create and is loads of fun to play frame after frame.
- Fabric-Covered Journal
Image source: flickr.com
For school-age children, fall is most often recognized as the time in which a new school year begins in earnest. A personal journal for organization is a necessary item for every student, so creating a fabric cover using nothing more than a few leftover fabric scraps is a great way to reflect your child’s individuality.
- Bubble Wrap Painting
Image source: flickr.com
Bubble wrap is a lot of fun on its own, but adding a bit of paint to the mix makes it possible for your kids to use their feet to create an original work of art by alternatively stomping in the paint and then noisily painting the canvas with their bubble wrap.
- Create a Cornucopia With Beans
Image source: flickr.com
There are few items more closely associated with the fall season than the cornucopia, and kids can create a great centerpiece for any fall meal with beans attached to foam balls. With plenty of color options available (black beans, red kidney beans, navy beans, split peas, lentils, etc.), a brightly colored and cost-effective cornucopia can be created at any point in the fall season.
- Target Game Using a Tarp and Tape
Image credit: flickr.com
Any beans that are not used in the cornucopia can be saved for use in creating the beanbags for this target toss game. After cutting some holes in an old or beat-up tarp (outlined with brightly colored tape and point values), you and your kids can hang up the target on a line outside and throw the beanbags through this simple and affordable fall game.
- Driveway Dart Game With Sidewalk Chalk and Sponge
Image source: flickr.com
Everyone enjoys a good game of darts, but it is hardly an appropriate game for kids. Unless, of course, you create this driveway dart game with a sidewalk chalk target and a set of wet sponges used to replace the darts in the traditional version of this game.
