Three AMAZING Spring Arts and Crafts Projects for Nannies and Parents

Have you ever had a “Crafternoon” with your kids or nanny kids?

As the winter months drag on and spring slowly begins, it’s easy to run out of ideas for keeping little ones entertained when you’re stuck indoors.

Below are three affordable, spring-themed arts and crafts projects that are guaranteed to brighten your child’s day (and yours!).

Pro Tip: The pine cone feeder project is a real crowd-pleaser. Kids love watching the birds and squirrels eat all of the seeds and peanut butter, and it often leads to some great conversations about local wildlife ☺️

Below are three arts and crafts projects that are a BIG hit with little ones.

So come and check out these easy and affordable spring arts and crafts activities. 

Pine Cone Bird Feeders

This project is good to do with children ages 12 months or older. Be prepared for quite the mess though 🙂

The materials needed are pine cones, peanut or sun butter (depending on whether there are any peanut butter allergies), bird seed, and string.

First, you will want to collect pine cones.

This can be a fun outing to the park or maybe even just in your backyard or down the street.

You’ll want to tie a string around the pine cone so you can hang them up from the branches outside.

This step is easiest to do before you paint the peanut butter on, just so it keeps things less messy.

Next, you’ll want to scoop out peanut butter from the jar, and cover the whole pine cone with that peanut butter.

This part can get messy, and the creamier and softer the peanut (or sun) butter is, the easier this process.

Refrigerated peanut butter can be tricky here. Even when it seems softened, it can still be pretty difficult to spread around, so we definitely recommend a creamy peanut butter for this.

Next you will want to dump some birdseed into a shallow pie dish or maybe even a larger bowl.

A bowl is better than a plate, just to help kind of contain the mess.

You’ll want to roll the pine cone coated in peanut butter around inside of the bird seed, and finally you want to hang your pine cone up near a window where you and your child can observe the different birds who stopped by for a snack. 

Here’s another tip: you can also do this project outside, which will even further help to contain the mess.

A dining room can easily get covered in birdseed, which is totally fine if your kids like to help clean up too.

Result: Kids tend to love this project (and often spend a fair amount of time sampling the peanut butter and even the birdseed :). The pine cones may only last a few days before the squirrels find them and clean them out. But little ones will have a wonderful time sitting in front of the window and discussing the different birds who fly over to check out the pinecone treat.

Hand and Footprint Art

This is great for children any age and it’s especially great for infants because they have tiny little feet.

Keep in mind that older kids’ feet can be surprisingly large, so for bigger children you may want to use the smallest feet you have on hand.

The materials needed for this are washable non-toxic paint, paper plate, paint brushes, permanent markers, and paper. 

First, you want to decide on a project. We found that Pinterest is the best resource for this.

Some favorite ideas include footprints for sunshine rays, shamrocks, and hand prints for tree leaves or flowers. You can also do a hand and footprint combination by making an Easter Bunny with a carrot, or a footprint base with a handprint flower. 

Next, you’ll want to cover hands or feet with paint. 

It works well to dump a small amount of paint onto a paper plate, and then dip an infant’s foot inside the paint. For wigglier kids, it can be easier to paint the foot directly. Expect plenty of giggling, as little feet tend to be ticklish!

So, you may opt to just paint the foot instead of pouring a bunch of paint out into a paper plate and dipping it. 

Next, you want to stamp the hand or footprint design on the paper. 

After you clean up hands and feet, you’ll want to paint the rest of the design.

It can help to paint the other elements and write the message on the paper first, so you know exactly where you want those footprints to go. 

And of course, if you decided on the footprints and handprints first, you’ll want to allow those to dry before you write any messages on your paper. 

Paper Bag Butterflies

This project is good for children ages 18 months and up. 

The materials needed for this project are paper bags, paint markers, or crayons, two doilies or coffee filters. You can also use paper plates or, for a fun variation, some craft foam, googly eyes and sticker eyeballs. You can also just draw these onto your paper bag, pipe cleaners, and tape. 

The first step is to decorate your paper bag with your paint markers or crayons. Kids often enjoy a combination of poster paint as well as paint with a paintbrush.

For younger kids, grasping a paintbrush is great for motor skill development.

Next, you’ll want to decorate the doilies coffee filters or whatever you chose for the butterfly wings and tape those onto the back of your paper bag, make sure when you do this step that the flap is in the front because the flap is going to be the butterfly’s face. 

Then, you will decorate the flap of the paper bag as the butterflies face with googly eyes your eyeball stickers, or just by drawing those on, and you will add a mouth as well. 

Then you will take one pipe cleaner and will fold it into the V, and you will curl the ends around to form antenna for the butterfly. As a bonus, you can make multiple butterflies, and then have a fun puppet show with your child!

And one thing to consider if you think your child will be flying these around outside, and they’ll want those wings to flap. Best to opt for the doilies or the coffee filters instead of a more firm wing with your paper plates or your craft foam. Floppy material will flap while more rigid material won’t 🙂

And that’s it for these fun spring arts and crafts ideas.

We hope this helps you have some fun crafting soon with either your own children or your nanny children.