International Friendship Day is fast approaching, and your children are excited about it. If you want them to have fun celebrating their friends while also learning about the value of friendship, hands-on activity can help.
Here are a few craft ideas you can use to enhance their Friendship Day celebration and their creativity:
Create a friendship flower garden.
You will need:
Markers
Colored pencils
Paper
Scissors
Cut out pieces of paper into shapes of petals. You can color them differently and then write different characteristics of a good friend, and for each petal, there could be a trait to look out for in a friend. You can use words like, a good friend is kind, helpful, and respectful.
Each child can write the things they like about their friends and glue the petals together to form a flower. After that, you can glue the different flowers onto a chart to show off a beautiful friendship garden.
Make friendship bracelets.
Fads and trends come and go, but one thing has remained true: friendship bracelets will never go out of style. Every generation might tweak the technique, but the friendship bracelet has stood the test of time.
Here is what you will need:
Yarn (different colors and thicknesses)
Multi-colored rubber bands
Multi-colored beads of different shapes and sizes
Lettered beads
Cardboard
Knitting needles
Charms
Free downloadable tutorials
Whether you use lettered beads or knit your bracelet, add charms or make a combination of all, and explore different color combinations, the goal is to make your bracelet pretty and memorable. Let your imagination run wild because the possibilities are endless!
Using colorful strings, loop together different words that describe friends, like kind, fun, generous, or even the other names of your friends.
Another option can be using different colored yarn to weave or knit different designs of bracelets. Then, accessorize them with beads or charms to make them cute. You can also try other techniques to create unique designs of the same bracelet type, whether knitted or woven.
To make it even more interesting, add friendship necklaces to your collection. Try connecting two pieces of an old puzzle and painting them over them. Next, sprinkle glitter on them for a bit of razzle-dazzle. Then, using a marker, write best on one piece and friends on another.
When you join the two pieces of the puzzle together, it will read “Best Friends!”! Gift one piece to a friend. When you are apart, you can think about them as the missing piece, and they will think of you the same way. For more information, try this tutorial from Red Ted Art.
Draw to your heart’s content.
Never underestimate the power of pictures in conveying powerful messages. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all!
Ask your children to draw a picture(s) of their best friends. Provide paper, markers, and colored pencils, and give a few guidelines to spark their imaginations.
For instance, you could ask them to draw a picture of their favorite thing to do with their best friends or simply a photo of them and their friend circle. Gift this to a friend on friendship day.
Create homemade cards.
Remember, the goal is not just to celebrate your friends but also to impart important lessons on friendship. What better way is there to do that than by making cards full of compliments for your friends?
Compliments evoke happiness and boost self-esteem and are an excellent way to teach your child kindness and make others feel good about themselves.
You can write down a list of compliments your child wants to tell your friends and then put them all on a card as a gift this friendship day.
Rock the day.
Everybody loves fun outdoor activities, and rock painting can be a sure way to add to the fun.
Here is a list of items you need:
Rocks
Paint
Paint brushes
Write your friends’ names on one side of the rock, and add a few compliments on the other. Leave it to dry. After a few minutes, your pretty rock will be ready to gift to a lucky friend.
Painted rocks make great additions to that cute little friendship garden you made earlier. Now everyone can look at the beautiful garden and enjoy all the colorful art together.
Make a paper doll chain.
Making paper doll chains is easy and inexpensive. You can make your children customize each doll according to how different and unique each of their friends is. This activity is also a great chance to sneak in a lesson in diversity and acceptance.
You will need:
Colored pencils or markers
Colored yarn
Scissors
Magazines or newspapers
Tiny beads or even seeds
Glue
After you cut the paper doll chain out, the children can use different colored threads to put hair on the dolls, magazine cuttings to make outfits for the paper dolls, and small beads for the eyes.
An adult should be within reach to help with the scissors and the glue.
Build a Friendship Sundae.
Friends and ice cream are some of every child’s favorite things. Now imagine what great fun it will be to roll these things into one!
For this activity, ask your children to cut out different papers in the shapes of ice cream scoops and then write the characteristics of a good friend onto each scoop of ice cream. You can then color or paint them and stack them together using glue to make a beautiful friendship ice cream cone!
Pin It.
Armed with some safety pins and a pile of beads and charms of different colors, shapes, and sizes, you can make friendship pins for the special people in your life.
You can use these to accessorize other items like shoes and bags, or even just wear them on your clothes. Pretty cool, right?
Craft Ideas for Teenagers.
If you have teenagers, don’t leave them out of the fun. While they might be over the friendship bracelets or painting of rocks that might appeal to the younger children, there are plenty of craft ideas that could appeal to them, too, depending on what they like.
Teenagers love to customize their spaces, so here are a few ideas to try out with them:
Bedazzled Phones.
Their materials could be slightly more sophisticated, but they can handle more responsibility.
You will need:
Hot glue gun
Glue sticks
Resin
Glitter
Acrylic paint
Beads, sequins
Clear phone cases
Paint brushes
Stickers
Put a few drops of paint into a small tub of water and dip the phone case in it for a cute marbled look. Then, you can seal it with resin for a lasting effect.
Alternatively, using some hot glue and a few shiny beads and sequins, you can accessorize the phone cases according to your or your friend’s tastes.
The possibilities are limitless with this project, and there are plenty of cute and fun ideas to try out.
Macrame Keychains.
Macrame is easy to learn, and you possibly already have the materials around the house. Key chains are perfect gifts for teenagers as they learn to drive. They can use them to decorate their backpacks.
You will need:
Keyrings
Beads
Yarn
Scissors
Free instructions downloaded from the internet
T-shirt Headband.
Making a headband out of an old t-shirt is a fun and resourceful way to recycle.
All you need is:
Sharp scissors
A hot glue gun and glue stick
Measuring tape
An old t-shirt
Cut strips across the two layers of the t-shirt to make double-layered strips. Without unfolding the layers, pull the strips tightly until they roll themselves. Make knots and design them into a headband.
Fun with Mason Jars
Your teenagers most likely live for texting, and you can bring all that virtual fun to life by making emoji mason jars. Pretty cool, huh?
What you will need:
Mason jars/ old glass jars
Paint
Paint brushes
Paint your favorite emojis onto the jars, and gift them to your best friends.
You can also try creating fairy glow jars. In addition to the list above, you’ll also need:
Glow-in-the-dark paint
Long paint brushes that will reach the bottom of your jars
A sheet of paper to cover your workspace
Regular glue
Glitter (optional)
Squirt the glow in the dark glue on the paper for easy access. Dip your paintbrush into the glue and paint the bottoms inside the jars first. If you paint the sides first, the brushes might get in the way and cause smudges when you paint the bottom.
You can use one color or as many as you wish, using whatever design or technique makes you the happiest.
After painting the jars, put them outside to dry with the sun’s UV rays to help the paint glow brighter in the dark. You can choose to glue some glitter onto the lids of the jars or leave them plain. And with that, you have some fantastic and unique gifts to give your BFFs for friendship day.
Bottom Line.
Did you enjoy these friendship craft ideas? Remember, friendship is a valuable gift, and to make good friends, you must be one too. As you try all these great craft ideas, remember to keep it light, fun, and easy, just like every great friendship should be. Now, go ahead and put a smile on your friend’s face.