In our techno-age, it can sometimes seem like a struggle to get our kids to unglue themselves from the various screens that dominate our homes and lives, and become excited about creating. Countless studies have shown that boosting creativity in your child’s development leads to greater health and happiness, and what better way is there to get your child to create than scrapping down with a bit of DIY. The following are some tips to get your kids up off the sofa and into the workshop!

Make Something Your Child Wants

This could be a box for their toys, a desk for their room, even the most boring of DIY tasks: shelves. But the important thing is to make it fun. Allow your child to design exactly what they want – this can be as wacky or elaborate as they like – encourage them to use their imagination. Obviously, you are not about to build together a SpongeBob shaped cupboard. But you can try together to see how to incorporate your child’s ideas into something achievable.

Go shopping together for the materials, the wood, the paint etc. so your child can be part of the whole process. As they watch their design come to life, they will surely be enchanted by the magic of creation, of seeing an idea in their head materialize as a fully 3D object, one they will surely treasure and feel inordinately proud of.

Get a Kit

Another way to drum up interest is to get your child a DIY kit. These range from furniture to clocks to chemistry sets to radios, remote control planes and so on. Your child will benefit from the patience and practical thinking required to assemble it, while also catching the creativity bug big time. Again, the process of watching something come from nothing can be extremely gratifying, no matter your age.

In addition to this, you can always buy your child some tools. Tools which are theirs. They will likely be pleased to have such a grown-up present, yet there are many age-appropriate kits available which come in different colours and themes.

Get Crafty!

It’s no secret that children love arts and crafts, once the X-box has firmly been put away. As with making furniture with your child, next time you need a fancy dress costume, or something else artsy for whatever project or party, make it together with your child. Design it together, shop for materials together and create together! There is really no better way to instill a passion for do-it-yourself projects in your kid than to start early and keep on doing it!

When the kids have downtime I can’t stand them being sat in front of the TV or playing computer games so I always try to keep them entertained with an activity that uses their brain or something that gets them outside and active. Particularly difficult in the holidays but I’ve found that a small D.I.Y. project really entertains them and gives them a sense of reward. Here’s 6 fun D.I.Y. projects to keep them entertained.

Lego Challenge

Lego is amazing and flexible, challenge your kids to create something different than what the box says. Difficulty levels will depend on their age but set it as a challenge so they feel a sense of achievement afterwards, if you have more than one child, add a little competition to proceedings. The beauty of this project is that you can knock it down and start again with a different challenge.

Make a Robot

Craft ideas like this will entertain the kids for hours, robots can be simply made by coating empty cardboard boxes in tin foil and adding some flair with buttons, string, nuts and bolts or whatever’s lying around. This project will peak your kids’ interest and allow them to express some artistic flair, plus they get to dress up at the end.

Make a Volcano

One for the older kids here and a task that may inspire their scientific side is making a Volcano from household goods. For the volcano simply coat a plastic bottle in newspaper and glue to make a volcano shape with a hard edge. For the lava simply put bicarbonate or soda in the bottle and add vinegar for the explosion, encourage your kids to add flair to volcano and watch your volcano blow.

Create a Scrap Book

This one is a little old school but can entertain the kids for a good length of time and give them an account of all their memories. All you need is a book, some glue and some memories, kids can put ticket stubs, photos and thousands of other mementos in their specially designed book.

Bottle Rocket

Take a soda bottle and grab some bicarbonate of soda and some vinegar, wrap the bicarb in cling film and twist the cling film over it then pop the bicarb in the bottle. Next you need to place a hole in the bottle cap, create a cone to fit to the bottom of the bottle and you have a rocket, use a tube for the launch and simply add the vinegar, replace the cap and put the bottle cap down in the tube then wait for the boom. Definitely one for parents to supervise.

Music Centre

One of my faves is this music center, simple and entertaining for the kids. Take any number of pots and pans, empty glass bottles with varying amounts of water and well, anything that makes a noise. Let the kids decide what order to put them in and give them some wooden or plastic sticks and watch them go. I placed old pots on a piece of wood and some old tubing, with bottles and a bucket or two and the kids played with it for hours. Easy, fun and noisy, just what the kids love.