Crepe paper, also known as tissue paper is a great thing to have in your kids craft box; it’s versatile, fun and colourful. I usually just stock up from EBay when we run low of any of the colours.

A few times a week we make time together to create something and I really treasure that bonding time because he’s growing up so fast. My son loves slime and painting too but if I would prefer not to deal with that much mess, I will encourage this activity.

We don’t ever worry about it being perfect as that would take the fun out of it; the control freak side of me used to struggle with this but I’m getting better!

Now let’s get to our favourite crepe paper kids crafts; ideal for 4-7 year olds but can be adapted.

Rainbow

This crepe paper rainbow is fairly easy to do but quite time consuming therefore it’s perfect for small children with a bit more patience.

All you need is the following:

· Coloured crepe paper and white (clouds)

· PVA glue

· Piece of card or old cereal box

· Pencil for outline

· Scissors

First of all draw your outline of the rainbow and clouds, it doesn’t have to be perfect so if your child is a bit older they may want to do this themselves. We just did the outline but if it would help your child you can do lines to separate the colours. If your child has a shorter attention span you can make a smaller rainbow as well.

When we did it ours we waited until we finished before cutting out the rainbow shape although you could do that first if you wanted.

Next pick your colours, we used the most of the main rainbow colours but you could just use what you have or do a pastel version.

Start adding the bottom block of your rainbow by screwing up small pieces of pink crepe paper and sticking them on with glue until you’ve filled a section of the rainbow. Younger children can do the screwing up of the tissue and you can stick it on if it’s more suitable.

Once you are happy with the thickness of the section you can move on to the next colour and continue this process until all sections are filled.

When it’s filled, leave to dry and then cut around if you haven’t done this already.