Try these fun craft ideas for a rainy weekend

No parent wants a rainy weekend when the kids are bored and looking for a diversion. But with a bit of planning, you can have some crafts in the bag to whip out when the sky clouds over and the rain starts bouncing. These are some of our favourite rainy-day crafts for when you don’t want everyone simply staring at a screen for hours:

1. Make a cardboard kitchen

Little ones love pretending to cook, so paint shoe boxes and cereal boxes and use them to create kitchen appliances. Four black circles on a cereal box will look like a hob.

2. Dreamcatchers

You can make your own dreamcatchers with basic materials such as coloured wool, beads, some features and a circular wire or cut-out paper plate. They’re lovely to hang in a window to chase away any bad dreams.

3. Knitting kits

If your little ones are interested in knitting, a knitting kit can be a great way to get to grips with a new skill or follow a new pattern without waste. A Knitting Kit also makes a great gift for a child, and you can buy beautiful knitting kits that suit all interests.

4. Painted Mason jars

If you have glitter spray, metallic paint or glass paints and markers you can use them to decorate glass bottles or jars, such as Mason jars, and use them to make pretty table decorations. Fill them with strands of battery-operated tealights or use them as vases.

5. Vegetable printing

This is a lot of fun and very easy to do with basic supplies. Simply get water-based paints, large pieces of paper and a selection of vegetables from the fridge. Cut the veggies into cross sections, paint and print. Find out why crafts benefit kids here:

6. Pebble people

Why not collect lovely pebbles on your next walk and use them to decorate with little people, animals, messages or cute motifs? Sharpies are a great choice for this type of project as they provide marker-proof colour but without the mess of paint.