In a culture that often turns to TV to keep children entertained, parents can balk at the idea of doing arts & crafts projects with them. Not because they do not want to, but often they do not know where to begin. It can look like a mammoth task, but usually the main investment required is a little time and some patience. You do not have to possess an artistic flair to try it, you just need to give it a go and I promise, children love it. This article will also be useful for the cool aunties and uncles out there, or the hip grandparents who aren’t afraid to go home with a little paint on their faces! Today I’m going to outline a couple of the tried and tested super easy projects for getting started with. Once you have these under your belt, you will be well and truly hooked on arts and crafts days with the kids!

Monster truck Painting – Yes it is exactly what it sounds like! You and the kids are going to dip the wheels of their favorite toy vehicles into some poster paint and “drive” them over paper (any colour will do) or card. I suggest keeping a bucket of clean water on hand for washing the wheels in, an old towel for drying them off and of course lay down copious amounts of garbage bags or old rags to keep the floor clean! If you start to feel really confident you can move onto doing this on plain white t-shirts with fabric paint. Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions in relation to the material required and you will be winging your way to a funky new wardrobe for the summer! Tin Can Wind Chime – Just in case you do not have enough noise around the house, here is a lovely little project for the summer. You will need:

6 clean tin cans with the wrappers removed

Either latex wall paint or acrylic paint

Paintbrushes & some cleaning solution for after

Masking tape

Hammer & one nail

Scissors & twine

Embroidery hoop

Hot glue gun

Sponge

Once the tin cans are clean and dry, apply two coats of your base colour.

When dry you can paint stripes, circles, scenery, anything the kids come up with really. If you need to make neat lines, the masking tape will come in handy here.

You also can cut some sponge into simple paint stamps such as circles, squares or stars and use these for printing patterns onto the surface.

Using the hammer and nail, pop a hole in the bottom of the can, thread a length of twine through and knot it. Use varying lengths to ensure the cans will knock against each other creating different sounds.

Tie the cans to the hoop and make sure each knot is glued to keep it in place (do this when you are happy with the length of the twine and the distance between the cans).

Cut three lengths of twine to create a hanger. Tie one end to the hoop and the other ends together at the top. Make sure the twine lengths are even so as to avoid a wonky wind chime and Voila! You have a snazzy new wind chime for the garden!