Spring break is here for many families, which also means summer is right around the corner. If you are a parent wondering how to entertain your children during this time we have 55 very clever DIY projects to spruce up your home. The projects range from better organization, fun games and activities for the kids, or DIY projects to decorate the kids rooms. These projects are super cute and most use items that are already around the house. Check out these 55 DIY projects that you wish you knew about sooner!
1. Sensory Frames
Sensory play is so important for little ones! Parents can create these touchy feely frames for their babies. Just take the glass out of any extra frames you are not using, or you can buy a pack for cheap, and add in different safe materials for great sensory play!
2. Sandbox Table
The perfect way to bring some beach life to your backyard is by making a sandbox table! When the kids are done playing with the sand, put the top back onto the table and it is a perfect picnic table too. This DIY project is a two for one.
3. Homemade Play-dough
Play-dough is one activity that all kids love to do for long periods of time! This activity can free up a parent to be able to get anything done around the house they need to, while their kids stay busy. The best part about this one is that making the homemade play-dough only takes ten minutes!
4. Towel Rack
Spring break and summertimes means lots of water activities! Instead of bringing those wet towels into the house and drip everywhere, you can make this homemade towel rack to put outside. This is made with PVC, so make sure you have everything it lists to put it together.
5. Camping Inside
Sometimes the weather makes it near impossible to play outside. That is when you can bring the outdoor fun, such as camping, inside the house! This playhouse can be used for imagination play during the day and a camping sleepover at night.
6. Minecraft Pillows
Minecraft has been a game that kids have enjoyed for years! The fad of Minecraft does not seem to be going away anytime soon, instead it just becomes more popular. These Minecraft pillows will impress your kids and the best part is that there is no sewing involved in making them!
7. Skateboard Swing
This skateboard swing brings an entire new fun element to a swing set. Kids can pretend to be skateboarding and get to stand up safely while swinging! Imagination play while getting in exercise is a great combo.
8. Lego Table
All parents understand the frustration of finding legos throughout the entire house and especially by stepping on them, ouch! This easy DIY project will help keep lego a bit more organized in one location. It also sets up a fun table for your kids to create their lego masterpieces.
9. Sidewalk Foam Paint
Sidewalk chalk seems a bit boring compared to this fun foam paint! The ingredients to make it are all products already around the house and the clean up is just as easy, baby wipes! This will be fun for all budding artists to be.
10. Parking Garage
This easy DIY project will help organize all the toy cars into one space! It is functional but also adds to a child’s playtime. Your kids will have a place to “park” their cars in the “garage,” so simple and fun.
11. Schedule
Kids might not agree with it but they love schedules. When kids have a schedule the day goes by a lot smoother for children and for their parents. What a great idea!
12. Outdoor Chalkboard
One way to improve your backyard is by adding in this simple and large chalkboard. The size of this chalkboard will help your children’s imaginations run wild. This gives children the opportunity to play outdoors and let their artsy side show.
13. Light Sabers
Instead of purchasing light saber replicas that are hard and can hurt during playtime, parents should create these light sabers from pool noodles. These light sabers are safe in the water and in the house. They are easy to assemble too!
14. Off To Space
If you kids love outer space a great DIY project for your family is to make these homemade rocket packs. Your children will love to pretend they are astronauts taking off on their rocket ship!
15. Tea Time
A perfect addition to the decor of tea time are these DIY cake pillows. If your little one loves tea time or even just loves cake, then these cake pillows will be perfect in their room. They are insanely cute and easy to make.
16. Handprint in Time
An amazing way to pause a time in your life is by these handmade handprint frames. Every person in the household or family picks a color for their individual handprint. Then going from biggest to smallest, leave your handprint on top of each other. A family will always be able to remember how small their child was for a moment in time.
17. Mushroom Decor
These DIY mushroom decor stools will help spruce up any room, but especially a kids room. Any fan of Alice in Wonderland should add these stools to their room. This DIY project only asks for three required items: logs, glue, and pillow tops.
18. Movie Night
Movie nights are always a family favorite, but families should go one step further and make their movie nights go outside. Moving a family movie night outside will create an entire new adventure for your kids and it is simple to do.
19. Lap Buddies
Many children experience anxiety and/or are very impatient during times of stillness. A great way to combat this is by giving your child a lap buddy. These lap buddy animal pillows will give your child something to hold onto and a sense of relief.
20. Chore Charts
The next time you are at a dollar store or kitchen outlet, make sure to buy a few cheap cookie sheets! A great DIY project with cookie sheets are these chore charts. This will give a visual component for your child to stay accountable for their daily chores.
21. Glow in the Dark
Any toy or activity is ten times more fun when it glows in the dark, just ask any child! This DIY project will give your child glow in the dark play dough. It is safe, all natural ingredients and way cooler than normal play dough.
22. Tire Seats
Who would have thought that any spare tires that you have can create amazing floor seating for your children. These adorable tire seats can create a great reading nook for your children in their own rooms or even in the corner of a living room. Every child wants a comfortable place to read and these DIY tire seats will give them just that.
23. Bath Time Part 1
Getting your child into the bath can be the worst time of the day for many parents. Some children hate bath time with their entire being. A great way to try and lure your child into the bath is with fun homemade soap. If parents make bath time an adventure into their imagination, it might ease some of that struggle. These shark attack soaps would be fun for children that love sharks!
24. Bath Time Part 2
If your little one is not into sharks, maybe these DIY lego soaps is more up their alley. Kids will be able to get clean and “play” with legos at the same time. If a parent adds in actual lego to the bath time it would help create an even better bath environment.
25. Bath Time Part 3
The types of DIY soaps that can be made is endless. This is helpful since all children have their own unique interests. One more great DIY soap is this goldfish in a bag soap. Kids will think it is fun to take a bath with a goldfish!
26. Cactus Garden
Do you want to add a garden in your children’s room to bring some life to their room, but you know they would not take care of live plants? If your answer was yes, then this DIY cactus garden is perfect for you. Every family has extra socks lying around and those socks could make a cactus garden instead!
27. Fireworks
Just because Fourth of July is held during the summertimes, does not mean you cannot create an art project for your kids for it! This craft project will be a hit at your next Fourth of July celebration. All you will need is paper, paint, salt and glue for your children to create their own fireworks.
28. Skateboard Shelf
Any budding skateboarder would love their room to be decorated with these DIY skateboard shelves. This mom found mini skateboards were more efficient to complete this project and it was cheaper! This would make you the cool parent for decorating your kids room with these!
29. Framed Art
Every child deserves to know that their art is worthy of being framed. Art is such an important facet for children to discover. This DIY project will help children create art already in a frame! It is also a great project to keep their art supplies organized into one space, especially their paper!
30. Starburst Slime
Most children want to eat the slime they play with, but cannot because it is not edible. This DIY slime is made from Starbursts and completely edible! While adults will think that is completely disgusting, kids will be ecstatic!
31. Climbing Inside
Parents usually have to tell their children to stop climbing the walls inside their house, but not with this creative inside rock wall! This inside DIY rock climbing wall will help get your kids energy out while they are inside. What an awesome idea.
32. Emoji Pillows
Emojis are fun for adults and kids alike. While adults use them in their texts, kids love the Emoji movies. One way to impress your child is to create these emoji pillows for the house. Everyone can pick their favorite emoji and have it created into their personal pillow.
33. Cardboard House
Creating this DIY cardboard house will let your child’s imagination run wild. The cardboard house can be a spaceship, tent, or cave. The possibilities are endless, which makes this project worth the time it takes to create.
34. Pretend Kitchen
Every child deserves a make-believe kitchen. Playing kitchen is a staple for all children and this DIY play kitchen is perfect for those parents on a budget. Keep an eye out for used entertainment centers on sale in your community and online to create this fun masterpiece for your kids!
35. Magnetic Slime
Slime is already fun for children, but creating magnetic slime takes the fun one step further! This magnetic slime project only needs four ingredients and will complete wow your kids! Just make sure they realize this is definitely not edible slime.
36. Golden Toy Light
Does your children have extra toys laying around that they do not play with but still love? Well, creating the toys into a personal light fixture in their room can be the solution. Your kids will be able to show off their toys still but not have them laying around not being played with and taking space.
37. Sensory Frog Pond
Sensory play is highly important for babies. It can be hard for parents to have many different sensory items around their house that is safe for their babies. One great idea is to create sensory bags. One of those sensory bags include this frog pond sensory bag. It has many different items within the bag to include different touch senses.
38. Dinosaur Bookends
If your children love dinosaurs but do not play with their dinosaur toys anymore, use those old dinosaur toys and transform them into bookends. This DIY project will rid those old dinosaur toys from the room and create a fun space on the bookshelf.
39. How Tall?
Parents do not want to miss a second of their children’s childhood. Children grow so fast and it all goes by in a flash. A great way to keep the memories of their childhood is by creating a space in the house to measure their height throughout the years. A great DIY project to do this is creating a giant ruler on a wall.
40. Milk or Water?
It is always nice to teach children the importance of helping out, especially in the garden and lawn. Many tools they cannot use because of their age, so parents should create tools that are safe for children. An easy one is this watering can made from a milk jug.
41. Trolls
Trolls is a very popular movie that is not going away anytime soon. The sequel is just as popular as the first. A fun activity parents can have with their child is making headbands that make them look like trolls! Make sure to make one for yourself parents, so you can have fun with your kids!
42. Airplane Swing
Swinging is a favorite pastime for most children. So, any DIY project that adds to the swings will for sure be a hit! This DIY swings lets children “fly a plane” while they swing. This will be a favorite pastime for any kids that have this swing, it will be making future pilots love flying.
43. Easy DIY Storage
One thing is true for children, their stuff piles up quickly! That makes the need for storage a necessity but many have limited space for storage. This project will create easy storage space that does not take up room because it will look like decor!
44. Play Stand
Every child has different interests and it is important to let them explore their own. A great way to let this happen is by creating this DIY play stand. Instead of buying a play stand that is already assigned, such as lemonade stands or ice cream stands, this DIY play stand can change daily! The chalkboard top lets children explore any type of free play they want.
45. Platform Swing
This platform swing will be the hit of the neighborhood! Kids will be able to swing with friend or sibling and not have to swing alone. This has made one swing turn into a group activity!
46. Cereal Station
Instead of having to serve your children every morning for breakfast, parents can create cereal stations and let children serve themselves. This will make breakfast a fun activity and give parents time to get other tasks done during their morning routine.
47. Acrylic Painting Easel
This painting easel will create an entire new adventure into painting. Children being able to paint on the glass instead of paper might give them entire new ideas. If parents place the easel in front a of view, children can try to paint what they see on the other side of the glass.
48. DIY Backpacks
This DIY backpack project is perfect for back to school time. Instead of purchasing a very expensive backpack that other kids will have too, you can make your child an original backpack! There are many different designs you can do but this pineapple one is adorable!
49. Toddler Busy Board
Instead of buying a “busy board” parents on a budget can make one themselves. You can keep your toddler busy in one space with this busy board that has many different “tinkering” objects. There are visual, sound, and touch aspects on this busy board.
50. Rainbow Slime
This DIY rainbow slime is without borax and completely edible! So it is okay for a bit to end up in a toddler’s mouth. This recipe is made with Kool-Aid. This slime recipe is perfect for parents that know their children will sneak a taste. It is also fun to play with rainbow slime and not just one solid color.
51. Parachute
This parachuting man is a quick DIY project and will be able to keep your children entertained for much longer! This parachuting man is made with a coffee filter as the parachute and it works like a charm. This DIY project makes sure that the parachuting man will easily have a safe landing from wherever he takes off from.
52. Stuffed Animal Chair
As it has been stated before, storage space for all your children’s toys can be hard to come by. This is one solution for all your children’s stuffed animals, make them the stuffing in a chair! This clever DIY project creates a storage space for stuffed animals and they can be easily accessible through a zipper.
53. Towel Ponchos
These towel ponchos create a 2 in 1 situation, their towel is also their cover-up by making into a poncho. A child can pick their favorite towel to be turned into their cover-up poncho to take to the beach or pool. What a great idea.
54. Galaxy Shoes
If you want to spruce up your child’s shoes without buying new ones, this DIY is perfect for you. Follow the instructions in the YouTube video and it is like your child will have a brand new pair of shoes. These shoes will be the talk among their friends for how unique and awesome they are, one of a kind shoes!
55. Outdoor Race Track
This DIY racetrack will be perfect for summertime. This can be one outdoor activity that will keep your children busy for longer than usual. Your children’s imagination will run wild and the best part is that it can also be added to.
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