Arts and crafts for children can get pretty messy but if you are smart about your planning these sorts of fun kids activities will keep your children occupied for hours while at the same time fuelling their active imaginations and developing the key skills and coordination.

Doing arts and crafts is a fun way to teach children the basics of painting, drawing and creating. All five senses are utilized during craft-like activities no matter the age group. Here are just a few ideas for anyone who has the desire to work with children. The following crafts projects can be used at home or in school settings. The crafts included here are meant for pre-school age children.

1. Fun Frames

Materials needed: scissors, glue, craft foam, googly eyes, stick on Velcro, puffy paint and sunglasses

Instructions: draw small animals onto craft foam and cut the shapes out with scissors. Shapes like turtles, seahorses, and fish are good. Glue on googly eyes and use puffy paint to add decoration. Once the paint dries, use stick on Velcro to fasten the animal shapes on the sunglasses. The children can pick their own frames to wear. This craft project teaches creativity and fine motor skills. Learning to use scissors at the pre-school age takes time. Also, the children learn how to work together and respect one another in choosing their own theme for the sunglasses. Drawing is also required for this project.

2. Flower Fairies.

Another craft project that is good for age 3 and up. Children at this age will need extra help gathering materials. They will need nature objects, card stock, crayons and glue. Objects found in nature could be leaves and flowers and small twigs.

First the children can be taken on a nature walk, lasting about 20 minutes. Help them put their collectibles into a small brown bag or plastic baggie. When everyone is back inside, make sure the children have a bathroom break. Then let each child draw pictures of themselves or just figures on the card stock. Using the glue they can place the nature objects onto the figures for dresses, hair, magic wands or fairy wings. The importance of this activity is to let the children be creative and choose the way they want their picture to look. This project teaches children about nature, art and drawing. Critical thinking skills also come into play. The child decides how to place the objects onto the figure and this requires analysis.

3. Diggin' Up Treasure

Materials needed: 20 or so small rocks, wax paper, 1 teaspoon of silver and gold acrylic paint. Other acrylic collared paints are also okay. One large sandbox.

Instructions: Divide rocks. Place some rocks into a sealable container. Add one teaspoon of silver acrylic paint. Shake until the rocks are coated. Place the coated rocks on wax paper. Rinse container and repeat this process with the gold paint. Make sure each batch is completely coloured. Use as many rocks as you want and as many colours too. After the rocks have dried completely, bury them in the sandbox. Send the children with plastic shovels and sifters to hunt for the buried treasure. This project teaches children their colours, counting and creativity. Almost all kids love to pretend at anything. Pretending to be pirates looking for buried treasure could keep a group of children busy all day.

Arts and crafts help pre-school children learn basic skills like drawing, painting, counting and learning colours. Craft projects also teach children fine motor skills, science and critical thinking. Important lessons learned from doing arts and crafts are team work and getting along with peers. Teaching arts and crafts to young children is very valuable.