9 utterly absorbing after-school craft activities for kids

The best creative ideas to keep up your sleeve to stave off boredom – whatever your child’s interests.

Does your child complain that they’re bored the minute they get home from school, and seem incapable of amusing themselves?

It can be hard to fill that ‘dead time’ in between finishing school and teatime, particularly in autumn and winter, when miserable weather and dark evenings make outdoor play difficult.

Here’s nine simple but effective craft activities, designed s to keep kids occupied for more than five minutes after school.

1 Special scrapbooking

Print off a some favourite photos (for example, photos of holidays and your child taking part in their favourite sport), provide coloured pens, stickers, ink stamps and glitter glue, and let your child put together an album celebrating everything they love in life.

Amazon has purse-friendly scrapbooks in a set of two for just over £2. See more details here.

2 Team t-shirts

If your child is part of a club or sports team, why not get them to create matching t-shirts for their teammates? Plain white t-shirts can be picked up pence online or via charity shops, and your child can then decorate them with fabric pens or paints. This is a great activity if they have friends over, too. Team work makes the dream work!

3 DIY bird feeders

Kids who love everything about the natural world can entice wildlife to their garden by making DIY bird feeders. Mix together nuts and seeds with lard, press it into a plastic cup and chill until it’s set, then hang it from a tree and your budding naturalist can watch the birds flock to it. The RSPB website has some great ideas for which foods to set out for which birds – and learning how to research this is a great skill all kids can apply to other things later on.

4 Slime science

The slime trend shows no sign of running its course, and if your child is a future scientist, making their own goo is sure to appeal. There are loads of recipes online, but the easiest method simply involves a few big spoonful of cornflower mixed with a dash of water and food colouring. Gloop-tastic!

5 Indoor target practice

Whether your child is a netball star, table tennis whizz or future basketball player, honing their aim will help them succeed in their sport. Get them to write points on several paper plates and place them on the floor – they can then practise their target-shooting skills by throwing a ball or beanbag at the plates and totting up their score.

6 Jewellery studio

Does your child dream of being a top fashion designer? Prepare them for their glittering future by turning your kitchen table into a jewellery workshop. Younger kids can make bracelets and necklaces from macaroni or penne, while older ones could thread together buttons, beads and homemade pompoms. Check out charity shops for cheap strands of beads to take apart and reuse.

7 Junk model making

There’s no need to shell out on expensive craft supplies when your child can indulge their inner sculptor, architect or engineer by building creations and contraptions from household junk like Fruit Shoot bottles, fruit punnets and cardboard boxes. They could make a marble run out of kitchen roll tubes, boats out of yoghurt pots, bouquets of flowers from cupcake cases – the only limit is their imagination!

You'll need washable PVA glue to stick everything together – this large bottle from Amazon will keep them going for weeks.

8 Sock puppet theatre

If your child sees their future on stage or screen, making their own puppet theatre and puppets will let them put on shows at home for family and friends. A large cardboard box with a window cut out forms the basis of a theatre, which they can paint and decorate, even adding curtains made from fabric offcuts. Old odd socks can be turned into puppets with googly eyes and wool for hair.

9 Customised kit bags

Whatever your child’s passion in life, they’ll enjoy it even more if they look the part, so let them unleash their creative side and customise their ballet bag, boot bag or musical instrument case. Fabric glue (or a hot glue gun, with close supervision) can be used to stick on decorations like sequins, buttons and woven badges – and look out for iron-on stickers, such as letters to spell out their name.