Easy Art Projects to do with Kids

When Summer started, I wanted to sign my kids up for Art lessons, since I have very little art know-how.  When I looked in to lessons at a local art barn, I noticed that they were charging $25 to $30 per child, per hour-long lesson!!  What?  That seemed outrageous to me.  Thanks to the tutorials I've found online, we've done tons and tons of fun projects together this summer, and it costs us very little, in fact most of the supplies we needed we already had at home.  

I'm so grateful to all who share their ideas online!!  I hope you continue to enjoy your time with your family this summer! We only have 20 days left and will be working hard to enjoy every moment!

Here are 10 projects you can do easily with your kids...using items you probably already have. (You can find these and more projects pinned on my Summer Pinterest board.)  Have fun!

Op/3D Art Project - Trace your hand in pencil lightly, then draw curved lines on your hand and straight lines on the background using permanent marker.  It looks 3D.

Water Color Circle Art - Trace jars to make overlapping circles on paper, then water color, marker, or color them in any way you like.  The result is stunning.

Modeling Clay Sculptures (using air-dry clay) - This is a pug that Scarlett made for her cousin who loves pugs.

This isn't really art, but could be, I guess.  My kids took produce bags from the grocery store and blew them up like balloons.  They float really easily and are fun to play with.

Recycled Magazine Silhouettes - A friend shared this with me. We cut out silhouettes of animals and using alternating magazine pages, we glued strips to it to create this.

Foil Sculptures - This was easy to do using the last bit of foil that I had in the house and skewers.  Guy and his playmate had a blast making these little dudes.

Silhouette Art - I love artwork that involves silhouettes of my kids.  They filled this silhouette with their favorite things.

I showed you this in an earlier post, but Autumn and I have been drawing horses from a drawing book.  

Zentangle - My sister tells me that this is called Zentangle.  You draw black and white pictures using repeated patterns.  I felt very relaxed making this!  And again, all you need is paper and sharpies.

Paper Mache Hot Air Balloons - This took a bit of doing, but you probably have all of these things on hand as well (except maybe the baskets which can also be made out of paper mache)  They've been floating in our kitchen all summer.  Very fun!