10 Simple Sensory and Creative Activities for Kids to Spark Creativity at Home

Looking for simple, inexpensive ways to encourage creativity and sensory play with your children or grandchildren? As an artist, former children’s art teacher, mom, and now Grammy to a creative 3-year-old, I’m sharing 10 of my favorite DIY creative activities for little ones—many using things you probably already have at home or can find at the dollar store.

Before I ever started calling myself an artist, and long before I began creating art full time, I spent almost 8 years teaching art to children from my home studio. I also spent a year teaching art to 5th and 6th graders at a private school.

One thing I remember hearing over and over from some of my students surprised me--“I never get to paint at home because my mom says it’s too messy.”

I completely understood the mess part. Kids + paint + creativity can definitely equal a mess! But I also realized how fortunate I was to have grown up in a family where making things, getting messy, and using our imaginations was simply part of childhood. My own kids grew up with art supplies, crafts, mud pies and plenty of messes. And honestly? I did those things with them because I loved it, too. In many ways, I was reliving my own childhood right alongside them. My mom always did crafts with me. She let me cook in the kitchen. My aunt drew with me and helped me make little books. My grandma let me use her sewing machine and taught me to sew Barbie clothes and crochet potholders. And my great-grandmother--She made mud pies with us, along with flour and bread-dough fights.These are some of my most cherished childhood memories. Even now, thinking about them brings a smile to my face.

Creativity doesn’t have to be complicated. Over the years, I’ve had moms tell me they didn’t grow up doing these kinds of things and honestly didn’t know where to begin when it came to encouraging creative play with their own children or grandchildren. So I thought I’d put together a list.

These are 10 of my favorite simple, inexpensive sensory and creative activities for little ones—including several that my now 3-year-old grandson requests on a regular basis. You don’t need a fancy art room, expensive supplies, or a Pinterest-worthy setup. You just need a little space, a few simple materials, and a willingness to embrace some mess. To see some of my favorite art and craft supplies for toddlers, visit my Amazon store HERE . *As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

1. Rice, Beans & Buried Treasures-Fill a plastic storage tub with bags of white rice and dried red beans. Add inexpensive cups and scoops from the dollar store, along with little dinosaurs, animals or other small toys they can bury and discover. Let them scoop, pour, dig and search. And if you’re brave enough, take the shoes off and let them step right into the rice! I do this out on the driveway-spread out a big blanket and plop him down. Then I  can easily put the mess back into the tub. This is a great sensory play activity for toddlers and preschoolers because they’re using their hands, feet, eyes and imagination all at once. *Just be sure to supervise young children closely and choose materials appropriate for their age.

2. Paint Brushes + Water-This might be one of my favorites because it’s practically free! Pick up a couple of inexpensive chip brushes from the hardware store and give your little one a bucket of water. Then let them “paint” the sidewalk, driveway, fence or an outside wall. They’ll make marks, watch them disappear as the water dries, and then start all over again. It’s painting without the paint mess!

3. Pan Watercolors + Big Paper-Grab a simple set of pan watercolors and a large pad of paper. Show your child how to wet each color first and then let them paint away. Add spray bottles and see what happens when they mist their painting. Let them experiment with drips, puddles and mixing colors. Don’t worry about what they’re painting. The goal is exploration and creative play, not producing a finished masterpiece.

4. Tempera Sticks + a Cardboard Box-Tempera paint sticks are one of my favorite supplies for little hands.They make bold, colorful marks without the mess of traditional liquid paint, and they’re easy to clean up.Give your child a cardboard box, a pizza box or a big piece of cardboard and let them go to town.There’s something about being allowed to paint on a BIG surface that makes kids feel like real artists. If you're really feeling brave, but a large canvas and let it be a work in progress.

5. Go on a Rock Hunt-Take a walk and look for rocks with different colors, shapes and textures.Then see if you can make marks on some of the larger rocks.Even before you add any paint, there’s so much to discover.And I love using this as an opportunity to notice the incredible color palette God has already given us in nature.Look closely at a rock sometime. You’ll find browns, grays, whites, ochre, burnt sienna, teracotta and sometimes colors you wouldn’t expect at all.Nature is a pretty amazing art teacher

6. Make Nature Mosaics-Go on a little nature scavenger hunt and collect things like: Sticks, acorns, leaves in different shapes and sizes, rocks, flowers, grass, pinecones. Then spread everything out and see what you can create. Maybe it’s a butterfly, a truck or a dog. Or maybe it’s something that doesn’t resemble anything at all—and that’s perfectly fine! This is such a simple nature activity for kids and a great way to encourage imagination without giving them instructions for exactly what their finished creation should look like. 

7. Get Dirty! Sometimes the best creative activity isn’t an art supply at all. It’s dirt. Give your little one a shovel, a bucket, a metal pie tin and some water and see what happens. Dig. Pile. Mix. Make mud pies or pancakes. “Bake” them in the sunshine. Then decorate them with leaves, sticks, rocks or flowers. There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about this kind of play. And it reminds me of those mud pies I made with my great-grandmother.

8. Make Salt Dough-You only need three simple ingredients: 2 cups flour + 1 cup salt + 3/4 cup water. Mix it together until you have a dough that’s easy to work with. Then let your little one squish it, roll it, make shapes, or use cookie cutters.You can store the dough in the refrigerator for another day, or bake the finished shapes and paint them once they’re dry.It’s an inexpensive DIY kids’ activity that can turn into a little keepsake, too. Check out more of my DIY Christmas Christmas ornament ideas in my online Ornament Extravaganza online course HERE.

9. Make Slime-One of the simplest versions is just cornstarch and water. Mix them together and let your child discover what happens when they squeeze it, stir it, pick it up and let it fall through their fingers. It’s messy.It’s fascinating.And it’s a great sensory experience.I think kids instinctively understand something adults sometimes forget: Making a mess can be part of the fun.

10. Paint Rocks-Grab some inexpensive craft paint and a few brushes and turn ordinary rocks into something completely different.You could make: A little town of colorful houses, a family of ladybugs, flowers, faces, colorful abstract “skipping stones”, or absolutely anything your child imagines. There’s no right answer.

That’s the beautiful thing about creative activities for kids.Give them room to create and explore.

I think one of the greatest gifts we can give children is the freedom to create without worrying about whether they’re doing it “right.” Let them choose the color. Let them make the weird-looking thing. Let them use the paintbrush backwards. Let them mix all the colors together. Let them make a mess sometimes. And most importantly, create alongside them. 

You don’t have to be an artist. We are ALL created to create!

You don’t have to know how to draw. You don’t have to have a perfectly organized craft cabinet.You just have to be willing to sit down and make something together. Because years from now, they may not remember exactly what they made.But they may remember sitting at the table with you.They may remember the mud pies.The paint-covered hands.The rocks.The cardboard boxes.The laughter.

And maybe, just maybe, they’ll grow up remembering that creativity was something they were always free to explore.

Those are the kinds of memories I’m grateful to have—and the ones I hope to keep making with my grandson.

I’d love to hear from you! What are your favorite DIY creative or sensory activities to do with your little ones or grandchildren? Leave a comment and share your ideas. I’m always looking for another excuse to make a mess!

Shop my Amazon store HERE for some of my favorite art and craft supplies for toddlers. *As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Stacy Spangler is an Arkansas-based self-taught mixed media artist and art teacher creating colorful, textured artwork inspired by faith, memories, and everyday life. She has been teaching art since 2007 and painting professionally since 2015. Through her online art classes and in-person workshops, Stacy loves helping others find their creativity and discover the joy of making art. A wife, empty nester mom and Grammy, Stacy is grateful for this creative life, the people she loves, and most of all, the grace of a God who forgives and makes all things new. You can find her original artwork and prints at retailers and galleries across the South, or learn more at stacyspanglerart.com.