When your kids are off from school for the summer, it’s time to have fun all together! Whether you’re going on a vacation, hanging at the pool, spending time at the beach, or just lounging at home, it’s time to relax and reconnect. One way to spend time with your kids is by doing arts and crafts with them. With just a few simple supplies, you can have fun creating new things. Here are five of our favorite summer crafts for kids:

Mom and Daughter Crafting
  1. Sponge Water Bombs
    This craft needs only three supplies: sponges, rubber bands, and scissors. Take 3 sponges and cut each one into fourths. Stack your 12 pieces together, pinch the center together, and wrap a rubber band as tightly as you can around the middle. That’s it! They’re fun, colorful, and soft. Soak each one in water and let your kids go to town with them outside. Your kids will love the water fight, and you’ll love not having to fill (or clean up) lots of water balloons!

  2. Tropical Seashell Fish Craft
    This is a fantastic craft to undertake after a shell hunt at the beach (although you can always purchase the shells if you need to). In addition to the shells, you will need brightly colored paint, paint brushes, googly eyes, and glue. Paint the shells, using larger shells for fish bodies and smaller shells for tails and fins. Let the shells dry. Then glue the googly eyes, fins and tails onto the bodies. These are adorable summery decorations!

  3. Under the Sea Graham Crackers
    If you’re looking for a craft that doubles as a snack, check out these cute and tasty crackers! Start with graham crackers and blue frosting (store bought or homemade). Spread the blue frosting over almost all of the cracker, leaving some space at the top. Dip the bottom of the icing into some graham cracker crumbs to make “sand.” Add goldfish. You can also add white round sprinkles as air bubbles.

  4. Sand Foam
    This craft is extremely easy but can entertain kids for a long time. All you need is sand and shaving cream. Mix them together until you have your desired texture. Your kids can play with it in almost any way they can imagine -- use it with other toys or just shape it!

  5. Cotton Candy Puffy Paint
    The team at Hawaiian Shaved Ice loves cotton candy, so we had to tell you about this one. Draw a cotton candy outline on a piece of paper and cut it out. Then, mix glue with shaving cream until it forms peaks. Add red and blue food coloring. Use a paint brush to swirl on the pink and blue glue/shaving cream mixtures. Let dry, and add a cone shaped piece of paper to the back as a handle.
Mmm… you know what’s a perfect treat to enjoy with kids after craft time? Maybe some cotton candy that you make at home. Or on a hot day, maybe shaved ice or snow cones. Crafts and snacks sounds like a great summer day!