Some people love crafting, and some people hate it. Whichever category you fall into, it’s a safe bet that your kids love playing with you, regardless of the activity. So, why not encourage family crafting? Engaging your children in arts and crafts can actually provide immediate and long-term cognitive benefits. That’s right — it can make them smarter.

Crafting can fire up multiple brain areas at the same time, making the left and right sides of the brain work together. It accelerates fine motor control and promotes social development, including understanding emotions, problem solving, and self-esteem. All this and some lasting fun memories? Sign me up.

These easy crafts use only what most families have around the house. No last minute trips to the store for us!

DIY Marble Run

For this craft you will need:

• Toilet paper, paper towel, or wrapping paper tubes

• Cardboard base

• Tape

• Paint (optional)

• Glue

• Marbles, pom poms, or even rolled up balls of clay or play dough

Make as many towers as you can with the amount of rolls you have. Stack them on top of each other and tape them together end to end. Leave about a third to be used for the chutes. Stand them up next to each other and mark where you want to cut the holes to plug in the chutes. Make them big enough to fit the chute and to allow the marble or other object through. Create chutes by cutting the rest of the rolls in half lengthwise and then taping them together end to end to create a slide. Insert them into the tower holes, testing them before you glue them in. Make sure the chutes are pushed all the way into the towers so that the marbles can’t drop behind them. Alternate option: Use painter’s tape and attach chutes to open wall space.

Paint Bubbles

For this craft you will need:

• Dish soap

• Paint (watercolors, tempura, whatever you’ve got)

• Cups

• Straws

• Paper

Cover your work space … this one’s messy.

Choose your paints (more than one color is a bonus). Mix a half cup of water with a generous squirt of dish soap and some paint. Have your kids (or an adult) use the straws to blow a bunch of bubbles into the cups. Tip: try to keep them from drinking the paint. Take the paper and lay it gently on the top of the bubbles, moving from color to color, to create the imprint. Let dry and enjoy your masterpiece.

Melted Crayon Stained Glass

For this craft you will need:

• Old crayons

• Wax paper

• Cheese grater

• Iron

First, grate the crayons on the cheese grater, creating separate piles of colored crayon shavings. You can keep them apart using a muffin tin or small bowls. Or, live on the wild side by throwing them together on a cutting board.

Arrange the shavings on half a piece of wax paper, fold the other half over the shavings (or put another piece of wax paper on top). Add a layer of paper towel (to protect the iron) and then iron the “sandwich” to melt the wax. Use a no-steam setting.

Repeat the process to make as many as you’d like. Once the wax melts are cool, cut them into triangles, or leaves, or other shapes. You can hang them around the house or yard, on windows, etc. Or sew the pieces together across the top (or glue them to a ribbon) to create a bunting. Beautiful!

Lunch Bag Kite

For this craft you will need:

• Brown paper lunch bag (color doesn’t matter)

• Cardboard base

• Markers and stickers (or crayons, etc.)

• Tape

• Craft stick, popsicle stick, or a small, sturdy stick

• String or ribbon

Begin by decorating the paper bag on all sides. Then, cut or punch a small hole in the middle of the bottom of the bag. Tie the string or ribbon to the center of the stick, and then push the stick through the hole you made in the bag. Be sure the stick lies flat against the bottom of the bag so that it doesn’t come back out. Tape around the hole on the outside to keep it from tearing, then let it soar!