July has come to a close, and August has greeted us with continued summer warmth, long days, and time to explore. As a child I remember spending days-on-end in the summer discovering new things, playing with friends, and making new things. My friends and I (with a little help from our parents) would build forts, create craft projects, build new universes out of boxes, blocks, LEGO, or anything else we could get our hands on. Looking back on these great memories, these projects not only occupied our time and enticed our creativity, they helped us learn, communicate, problem solve, and expand our imagination.

After waxing nostalgic about the days of our youth, we decided to give to you our Top 5 kid friendly summer craft projects (and because we are iCreate to Educate, you might just be able to animate some of them).

1) Full Body Animation! We have to give credit to our friends over at MAKE magazine for this. They have taken the concept of stop motion animation, and introduced using real people to create the animation. Take a look at their article, break out the iPad, and get animating with your kids!

2) Make your own Superhero Mask! That’s right…what kid doesn’t want to be a superhero? Make it out of cardstock, paper, or get fancy and make it out of felt or fabric. There are no limits to this project, so get creative and make it awesome!

3) Marshmallow People. If you “like” us on Facebook, you may have seen our post a week ago about creating marshmallow people. This simple craft is a great treat, and is simply created by decorating marshmallows with cake decorating gel. Let your children draw a face to create a character, and explore their imagination. The best part about this project is when they are done they get to eat their creation!

4) Create a Puppet Theater! Sometimes it rains in the summer, but that is no reason to sit around and pout! Using simple household items to create a puppet theater and simple puppets. Cutting an opening in the side of a cardboard box can simply create a stage. You can let your children decorate the box directly, or cover it in paper and start with a clean slate. As for puppets…socks, paper lunch bags, crayons, markers and a spare button have never been handier. You can make this project as simple or complex as you and your children wish, and it can bring hours of fun to your family.

5) Go on a nature photo hunt. Use your camera, phone, iPad, or whatever other photo taking device you have, and get outside. Take a walk to the park and see how many different birds you can photograph, see how many cool bugs you can find, how many people have a dog, and what other amazing things are just outside your door! Taking the time to observe your surroundings, discover new things, and learn! When you are done with your photo hunt, use the images to create a slide show or an animation to remember your adventure.

We hope this gives you some new ideas, or maybe just sparks old ones. Have fun creating with your children, nieces, nephews, friends, or just the child inside us all.

Don’t forget to share your creations with us! We love to see what you are creating, and love to get ideas from all of you as well! Enjoy your summer, stay creative, and have fun.