Free Crafts That Introduce the Science of Everyday Materials

You probably would have never thought that crafts can introduce science to your young learners. These free crafts that introduce the science of everyday materials can be the beginning of an essential skill – visual imaging.

With hands-on crafts and science, both can enhance the quality of the other. Learning to observe through hands-on activities and artwork directly benefits students in science and mathematics.

Students who have poor visual memory and imaging ability often do poorly in science and mathematics (ASDC, 2013 The Art and Craft of Science, Robert Root-Bernstein and Michele Root-Bernstein).

Additionally, the article elaborates even more in saying:

As fewer and fewer students take art, music, and crafts classes in school, with some students even failing to learn cursive writing, fine motor control and simple manipulative skills that were taken for granted 50 years ago are today increasingly absent. Many of our students are truly “all thumbs.” They cannot carry out the simple procedures that introductory laboratory exercises demand, and the highly specialized and intricate experimentation that professional science requires is simply beyond their imaginations.

The article is quite fascinating; I recommend you read it. It says in very big words, what many of us homeschooling moms say in conversation.

We understand that taking away hands-on activities, like crafts, will be detrimental to our child’s imagination and education. It enhances their learning ability, particularly in the area of science.

Using these free crafts that introduce the science of everyday materials to our kids is a great place to begin this journey. It also is a simple and budget-friendly way to teach our kids to produce a maximum learning impact.

We are surrounded by common materials and objects all around us that have distinctive shapes, patterns, purposes, and properties.

Using crafts, a perfect hands-on, and fun activity, students can investigate and make observations that a textbook simply cannot teach.

When children are creating a craft, they learn about the structure and how objects come together to develop and create new things or formulate a purpose.

For instance, a child is collecting cans to decorate, then grow a plant. Their brains are working non-stop to create something beautiful, to determine where the plant should go to grow the best it can.

They understand soil, and a seed is needed, and because of photosynthesis, the environment.

The tin can (that would have been thrown away otherwise) creates a protective shield for the plant to go in. It is a material that allows the plant to absorb the water needed for it to flourish.

These free crafts that introduce the science of everyday materials will help your children have a fun and educational learning experience.

70 Recycled Crafts for Kids

Everyday Materials Science Year 1 Let’s Build | Hamilton-Trust.org

How to Grow Your Own Crystal Geodes – A Cool Science Experiment For Kids | Feels Like Home

Quick Egg Carton Geodes | Family and Craft Online

4 Engineering Challenges for Kids (Cups, Craft Sticks, and Cubes!) | Frugal Fun 4 Boys

DIY Spirograph Toy with Cardboard | My World Their Way

Material Science Activity – Building a molecular structure! |From Engineer to SAHM

25+ Crafts and Activities for Kids Using Everyday Materials | Frugal Fun 4 Boys

46 Craft Materials You Can Find In Your Own Home (For FREE) | Moms Collab

STEAM Projects with Craft Materials You Already Have at Home | What Do We Do All Day

Torch Made From Coke Can and Cereal Box | Instructables Craft

What Everyday materials are Made of | Live Worksheets

Describing, identifying, and classifying the scientific properties of materials around us is useful to us even through adulthood.

Introduce the science of clay, glass, metal, wood, rubber bands, wool, plastic, paper, and fabric with the free crafts below.

Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material that contains hydrous aluminum.

All About Clay Craft | Kinder Art

Making Clay Leaf Impressions | The Artful Parent

Clay & Rock Nature Crafts | The Pinterested Parent

Air Dry Clay- An Easy DIY Clay Recipe | The Kitchen Table Classroom

Clay Boat Science Craft | Playdough to Plato

Glass is made by heating ordinary sand to the incredibly high temperature of 1,700 degrees.

DIY Science Tool Kit Box Project (Glass and Yarn) | Green Kid Crafts

Rainforest in a Jar Kid Craft | The Crafting Chicks

Upcycled Rainbow Crayon Candles | Green Kid Crafts

Types of metal vary considerably, like aluminum, silver, and copper.

Did you know that most elements on the periodic table are metals?

Art activities for kids: Magnetic Painting | Fun Littles

Homemade Nature Suncatcher Wind Chimes (Jar Rings) | Hands on As We Grow

Tiny Dancers (A Homopolar Motor) | Babble Dabble Do (This is easier than it sounds)

Easy Kids Craft – Foil, Nuts and Bolts Art | My Bright Ideas

Metallic Slime Recipe | Growing a Jeweled Rose

Tin Foil Moon | Make Film Play

Montessori Jar: Cleaning Pennies | The Home Teacher

Recycled Crafts for Kids: Tin Can Planters | Darice Blog

Tin Foil Boat Ideas for the STEM Penny Challenge | JDaniel4sMom

Easy and Colorful Magnetic Sculptures! | Pink Stripey Socks

Wood is a structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants.

Stick Raft Building STEM Project | Kids Craftroom

Wire And Wood STEAM Building | Fantastic Fun and Learning

Geoboard Art on Natural Wood | From Engineer to SAHM

How to Make a Duct Tape Endless Wood Cube | Frugal Fun 4 Boys

Clay and Wood Block Structures | Green Kid Crafts

Rubber bands are made of molecules shaped like strands of spaghetti.

Did you know the rubber band expands when it gets colder?

Duct Tape and Rubber Band Mania Craft Books | Make and Takes

How to Make a Rubber Band Car | Crafts By Amanda

Homemade Toy Rubber Band Boats | Teach Beside Me

Kids’ Crafts: Make A Rubber-Band Powered Boat | Living on the Cheap

Easy Art Projects for Kids: Rubber Band Art (Resistance) | Babble Dabble Do

Wool is made up of cortical cells wrapped in a cuticle, wrapped in an epicuticle – a fibrous skin that helps repel moisture.

Wool hates water but loves mist.

Strength in Christ Wool Craft | Flame Creative Kids

Waldorf First Grade Handwork (Wool Clouds!) & A Cake Recipe | Frontier Dreams

Wool Geodes Craft | Honeybee Play School

Montessori Inspired Sheep Wool Transfer Work | Lets Play Learn Grow

Cotton Wool Autumn Trees – Fall Art Activities for Kids | Our Little House in the Country

Plastic is made from long chains of synthetic or semi-synthetic molecules.

Did you know that plastic waste takes up approximately 20% of a modern landfill and can take hundreds of years to break down?

Simple and Easy Rocket Craft and Experiment | Rainy Day Mum

Pop Bottle Firefly Project | One Little Project

25 Science Element Plastic Bottle Crafts for Kids | Play Ideas

Lava Lamp Science Project – How to Make a Lava Lamp | Natural Beach Living

Milk Plastic Jewelry And 50+ STEAM Projects for Kids | Kids Craftroom

Plastic Straw Recycle City Kite | KROKOTAK

How To Make Clear Bioplastics at Home | STEAMPoweredFamily

Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically and/or chemically processing cellulose fibers derived from wood and other substances.

We all know the paper has many uses.

STEM Challenge for Kids: Design a Paper Plate Marble Maze | Buggy and Buddy

Science Activity for Kids: Chromatography Flowers | Buggy and Buddy

How to Easily Make Recycled Paper with Preschoolers | You Clever Monkey

How to Recycle Newspaper Into Gorgeous Notecards – No Blender Needed! | Home Talk

Fabric is basically any piece of cloth. There are both natural fabrics and synthetic fabrics.

Using the Sun To Print Fabric | Lynda Heines Fabric Design

Science Craft – Water Color Tie Dye Pillows | Steve Spangler Science

DIY T-shirt Painting: Sun Printing on Fabric | KCEdventures

I see the benefits of craftsmanship in my husband. He has developed a love for woodwork, so much, so that is showing to be a lucrative skill. His imagination on how a piece should look meshes with his ability to engineer how the object should be made.

82% of surveyed scientists and engineers answered yes to the following question, “Would you recommend arts and crafts education as a useful or even essential background for a scientific innovator?” (LaMore et al., 2011, in press; Root-Bernstein et al., in press).

It is fantastic to think that we can introduce this very thing to our students with materials we already have at home. We can encourage creativity and enhance critical thinking with just a simple craft.

Introducing the science of everyday materials to our children through crafts is undoubtedly one of the many benefits we can provide to their homeschooling experience.