Keep the little ones busy during lockdown with fun craft projects that involve minimal mess

REACHING the end of your tether entertaining the kids 24/7? You are not alone.

Parents all over the country have had enough of houses covered in glitter, glue and baking ingredients. But with a bit of imagination, you can keep your little ones quiet with minimal mess.

Quick Crafts, by Emma Scott-Child, is a book full of simple things to make with the kids.

Emma says: “I believe that everyone can glean some joy from craft – even if it’s crooked, even if it falls apart tomorrow. It’s the act of creating something that is good for the soul.”

Here, NATASHA HARDING chooses four easy projects to do with the kids this week.

• Extracted from Quick Crafts For Parents Who Think They Hate Crafts by Emma Scott-Child (Vermilion, £12.99)

Teddy for blast off

YOU NEED:

• A tissue box, or a small box that fits your teddy’s head
• Foil
• Pipe cleaner
• Scissors
• A teddy, doll, any soft toy who would like to go into space

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Take tissues out of the box.
2. The hole that they come out of will be where teddy looks out of the helmet.
3. (GROWN-UP JOB) Cut another hole in the side of the box, next to the panel with the original hole, to put teddy’s head through.
4. Place the box in the middle of a large piece of foil. Gather the foil and pull it up the side of the box and fold it around the rim of the window.
5. Press it down around the rim of the window to make it neat.
6. Curl the pipe cleaner around your finger, leaving one end straight.
7. (GROWN-UP JOB) Carefully make a hole in the top of the helmet with scissors.
8. Push the pipe cleaner through, bend and tape it inside of the box.
9. Break the foil on the bottom, where the head hole is. Bend the foil around the opening, so it stays put.
10. Now put it on your teddy’s head and send him off into space!

Lolly-stick planes

YOU NEED:

• 1 wooden peg
• Felt-tip pens
• 3 ice lolly sticks
• 1 elastic band
• Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pull apart the wooden peg, then colour the pieces with the felt-tip pens.
2. Put the peg pieces together back-to-back – with the straight edges touching – to form the body of the plane.
3. Place a lolly stick on top of the plane’s body and wrap the elastic band around the stick and the body, twisting the band so you end up with an X crossing over the top.
4. Flip the plane over and hold the other lolly stick in place.
5. Wrap the elastic band around it – once again crossing it over so you end up with an X.
6. If your elastic band is long, you may need to wrap it around a few more times until it makes it nice and tight.
7. Snap a small piece off the last lolly stick to use for the tail.
8. (GROWN-UP JOB) Trim the tail piece with scissors to make the end smooth and round like the other end – I use the back of the scissor blades for this.
9. Add the tail by wedging it in at the end. You could glue with PVA glue if you want it to be super secure.
10. Now see how far it can fly.

Loo roll rocket

YOU NEED:

• Paper
• Masking tape
• Loo roll inner tube
• Bamboo skewer
• Foil
• Plastic bag or tissue paper
• Scissors
• Felt-tip pens

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Draw a circle on the paper by tracing around the roll of masking tape. Then cut the circle out.
2. Make one cut in the circle from the edge to the centre. Now overlap the edges to form it into a cone shape.
3. Cut a small piece of tape and secure the cone to the size you want it.
4. Cut some more pieces of tape and use them to attach the cone to the top of the loo roll to make your rocket shape.
5. Stuff the rocket full of scrunched-up foil. Poke the skewer through the cardboard into the rocket body. Cut some zig-zag shapes out of a coloured plastic bag or tissue paper. This will be the flames coming out of the rocket.
6. Scrunch the flames together at one end and use masking tape to stick them inside the loo roll.
7. Draw some windows on the rocket, and any other decorations you fancy.

Leaf crown hat

YOU NEED:

• Leaves.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. First, take all the stalks off your leaves and set them aside. The stalks will hold the crown together.
2. Lay the first two leaves face down, overlapping. Fold the bottom of the leaves up to form the straight edge which will be the bottom edge of the crown.
3. Take one of your stalks and pierce it through both of the leaves where they overlap. Then take it back through the leaves through a second hole.
4. The key to doing this is for the stalk to go through both leaves, both times that it pierces through. If your crown comes apart, it may not have pierced through both leaves.
5. Add the next leaf and attach it the same way. Continue doing this until you have a long chain of leaves to wrap around your head with a small overlap.
   
6. Once you have your whole crown, join it together with one final stalk.
7. If you’re feeling fancy, make a centrepiece for the front. I chose different-coloured leaves, layered together.
8. Attach the centrepiece the same way using a stalk, piercing through all the layers of the crown on the front.

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