There are so many cool and fun art projects for kids of all ages. One particular one is beads, also called Fuse beads or perler beads. These are fan favorites at summer camps, art rooms and craft tables across the world.
What is a perler bead you ask? They are these cute plastic small tube shaped beads with a hole running through the middle. No bigger than a green pea, these perler beads come in just about every color of the rainbow AND more!
Making fun art projects with kids and teens is a creative outlet for many people! For me, some of my projects have turned into great gifts and even business sales for me! It’s such a fun way to destress and gives me a small profit from my sales as well as greatest gifts for friends.
If you’re anything like me, craft stores are the equivalent of a hardware store for some of my other friends. I would say Amen. But I do know a lot of women who just simply can’t help themselves when it comes to stopping at a hardware store. But for me it’s a craft store. Anytime I’m in another city my radar goes off and I instantly can spot the craft stores, whether they be large national chains or small mom-and-pop stores. I do like to visit those “mom and pop shops” when I’m in other cities just because it’s fun and I fully support small businesses!
The Japanese art of Gyotaku, or fish printing, is one of my favorite things to do with my art students. It’s so unique and fun that everyone smiles when the rubbery, bendy fish bodies come out of the box. These guys are so lifelike, with details on the fins, realistic scales as well as fine details around the eyes.
Recently as I was scrolling through Pinterest I found this really cute, very quick little fun activity with dots of acrylic paint and whatever kind of paper or canvas you’d like to use and a scraping tool. It was so simple and yet so creative that I grabbed my materials and got started on this cute little project, known as Dot Art, with my art camp students.
I like to buy those small 2 ounce bottles of acrylic paint. I get whatever is available at the craft store or the dollar store, whatever is cheapest. It really doesn’t matter too much, especially for what we’re doing here today. There are several brands that you can use, I don’t have a special one I prefer.
Check this out! If you are not sure how to or you don’t want to deal with the mess of “tie dye” the original way, this is a great alternative to it. Sharpie Tie Dye is Tie Dye with a twist!