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With the sunshine disappearing a bit this week, we have been trying to find things to do indoors and found that creating an arts and crafts session for your little ones shouldn’t cost the earth. With a few basic materials, you can create a whole afternoon of fun.

What you will probably need to buy:

• Some paint and brushes
• PVA glue and some tape
• Plain / coloured paper
• Lots of newspaper to cover the floor

The rest can be found around the house and garden. How many times have you thrown away tissue paper from presents or clothes that don’t fit? Find a box or large container and call it your “craft box”. Collect things like toilet rolls, buttons when they fall off or decorations from cards and you will find that they will soon mount up!

Getting your hands involved

The very best crafts are those made with little hands and what better than finger print pictures? Just paint your little ones finger tips and they can make pictures to their hearts content. We made yellow chicks at Easter but for the artistic ones amongst you, try making little penguins by painting the finger tips black and touching up with a little white paint for their tummies and yellow for their feet and beaks. The best example of this we have seen is on RedTedArt, where there are some amazing ideas!

Painting potatoes

One of my favourite memories from my childhood was making shapes in potatoes, painting them and stamping them everywhere! With a little help from mum in cutting the shapes (I would recommend using a cookie cutter shape) you could even create truly unique wrapping paper for a birthday gift!

Shake & Make

Children love making a noise, so grab a clean empty plastic bottle and simply half fill it with rice. Tape up the top (to stop little hands trying to unscrew the top) and let them paint or apply stickers on the outside of the bottle. They will love having their very own maracas but I can’t promise you will love the noise! 

But if the creativity creates too much mess, you could simply pack it all up and head out for the day (weather permitting of course). In true Lilypad style, we love making sure that this doesn't cost the earth, so we use one of our favourite sites MyfamilyClub to find the cheapest tickets for days out to the Zoo and Theme Parks.

Creating children's memories, whether on paper or as a day out doesn't need to cost a fortune, you just need to be a little crafty at finding the best deal.