With more time spent inside during the winter season, your children may be growing bored of the same activities. Movies, video games, puzzles, board games, schoolwork. If you’re looking to stick to your winter budget but need to occupy your children with activities that will keep them off of their electronics, then these low-cost painting projects will surely do the trick.

1. Cereal Box Paintings

Painting is the most popular media found in collections globally with 83%. This is compared to collage, drawings, and works on paper with 15%. Why is painting so popular? While professional works of art in galleries are painted by adults, children also love painting. It’s a calming activity that allows you to express yourself and your creativity. One simple painting craft your children will love is painting old cereal boxes.

You likely recycle your empty cereal boxes. Instead, save them. Keep them in their original form, and tape or glue plain white paper onto each side. You may need to cut the paper so it fits. Then, have your children come up with their own cereal. Encourage them to be creative with a funny name, a crazy flavor, and a cool logo design for the made-up brand. If you have cereal boxes, white paper, and washable paint handy, this craft will cost you little to no money. Not only does it get your children thinking creatively, but they will be fun displays to admire in your kids’ playroom or another area in your home.

2. Homemade Labels Using Wine Cork Stamps

Do you have a bunch of wine corks in a display or in a kitchen drawer in your home? These bottle stoppers can be handy for a painting project as well. Wine corks make great circular stamps. If you need to make cards or create labels for envelopes or jars of jam, there are plenty of circular designs that wine cork stamps will come in handy for.

First, lay down some old newspaper or another cover for the table you’re going to paint on. Use paper plates to hold different paint colors. If you’re looking to create labels for jars of jam, you’ll need some heavy-duty paper. If you’re looking to decorate envelopes or cards, get out the necessary materials that you plan on sending out. Then, have your kids get creative.

Did you know that almost 80% of Americans claim to experience daily stress? This statistic is fairly drastic. Making art is a very calming activity. A craft like creating labels for jars could involve using purple paint to create grapes, and a craft like decorating envelopes for holiday cards could involve using brown paint to make the head of a reindeer. These are fun, low-stress crafts that allow your family to spend time together. Not only this, but these crafts are very low-cost, too. Utilize the supplies you have in your home, get together with your family, put on some soothing music, and let the fun begin.

3. Birdhouse Masterpieces

Another fun, low-cost painting project for your kids is painting birdhouses. You can find plain, wooden birdhouses at your local craft store or online fairly cheap. Along with washable paint, cover a table to protect it from spills. Give each child a paper plate with many color options, and let their creative minds get going. This project allows your child to choose a design, a color combination, and perhaps a pattern for their own birdhouse.

Once your kids are done painting their birdhouses, get out some other craft supplies you may have laying around. Buttons, stickers, glitter, and string are good options. Plug in a hot glue gun and let it heat up. There are over 45,000 home electrical fires every year in the United States, so you want to protect the safety of your home and your family by being sure your kids understand that you are in charge of the hot glue gun. Once your children have told you how they want their buttons arranged on their birdhouse, glue them on. After they’ve dried, you can help your kids tie string to the top so the birdhouses have a way to be hung outside. Stickers, glitter, and other accessories can also be added to their birdhouse masterpieces as finishing touches.

4. Painted Rocks for Your Front Yard

If you live in a colder area, your garden and front yard may be covered with snow. Perhaps your yard can use some pops of color with hand-painted rocks. Bundle up your children and have them find rocks in a variety of sizes while you prepare an area inside your home for the project. Paint, paintbrushes, glitter, and the rocks will likely be all you’ll need. This very low-cost project is perfect for kids.

Perhaps your children will choose to stick to a theme and have all of their rocks be similar colors and patterns, or maybe they all want to create their own set of rocks as their own. Let them explore their creativity. Once the rocks have dried, arrange them in your front yard. Passersby will admire your kids’ work, and you will smile every time you pull into your driveway, too.

Cereal boxes, wine corks, rocks, and paint are items you likely already have in and around your home. Buying birdhouses, washable paint, and paintbrushes are cheap items to buy, too. These very low-cost crafts are great activities to engage your children in creative thinking. Get started today!