July Crafts For Toddlers and Preschoolers

If you need some inspiration to keep your kid entertained this summer then check out these July crafts for toddlers and preschoolers.

I’m sharing four fun themes with easy ideas perfect for little hands to make, shark and sea animal crafts, Fourth of July, sunshine and summer weather and picnic crafts.

They’re all low prep and only use basic craft supplies, making it easy for you to get creative at home, in preschools or in kindergartens.

Easy July Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers

I love the warm summer weather and getting to spend more time outdoors but there’s definitely times when I’ve needed an easy activity to do indoors with my kids too and that’s exactly what these July themed crafts are for.

There are so many great topics that you can try out in July but I’ve picked four of my favourites for this as well as including some ideas for other summer themes you might like to try.

As with all crafts and activities for toddlers and preschoolers you will need to supervise your child throughout the activity especially where scissors are being used or smaller parts like pom poms or buttons.

More Themes for July

If you need more inspiration for themes to try this July why not try out one of these:

• Ice pops
• Water play
• Summer fruit
• Pool crafts
• Camping
• Pirates
• Process art

Free Printables For July Themed Activities

We have loads of printables on this site to help make creating activities as quick and easy as possible for you.

Our free templates are a great starting place for easy crafts or for using as coloring pages, these are some of the ones that I’ve used for our crafts below or that I think would be good for July themes.

• Shark template
• Octopus template
• Sun template
• Firework template
• American flag printable
• Flip flops template

Sharks and Sea Creatures

Sea animals are a popular topic for kids during the summer months and with Shark Week taking place in July this is a great theme for younger children.

Shark Craft

This easy shark craft uses q-tips and our printable template to make a fun craft that’s a great way to support fine motor skills too.

Shark Suncatcher Craft

I really love this big shark craft from And Next Comes L and I think it would work perfectly as a collaborative art project if you’re looking for a shark activity to make with a group of kids.

Seahorse Craft

Tissue paper is a great craft material to use with toddlers and preschoolers with its texture and sounds from scrunching or tearing making it a fun sensory material as well as being one that’s both cheap to buy and easy to find in stores.

This seahorse craft is one that my daughter made when she was two years old and gluing the scrunched paper was a good way to practice hand-eye coordination too.

Paper Plate Turtle

Paper plate crafts are always popular both at home and in preschools and kindergartens, they’re cheap to buy and their thick texture means that they can cope with the large amounts of paint or glue that younger kids can use.

I’ve used cotton wool with this craft to help support kid’s pincer grip and as a fun alternative to using a paint brush but I’ve also shared in the post some alternative ideas that you could use instead.

Fourth of July

Independence Day is a huge celebration in the USA and these easy crafts are a great way for even young kids to join in with the fun.

Fourth of July Dot Marker Printables

These do a dot printables for 4th of July are a great way for kids to make some easy patriotic art.

There’s four free designs to download with a firework, USA flag, Uncle Sam hat and a watermelon.

Fourth of July Fireworks Craft

This free printable comes in both black and white and color designs and can be decorated by kids by making simple stamps out of toilet rolls or paper straws dipped into colored paints.

Paper Plate Flag Craft

Grab some paper plates and large paintbrushes for little hands to make these paper plate American flags.

Handprint Flag Craft

This cute craft makes a great keepsake and it’s easy for kids to paint with the large sponges that we’ve used.

Sunshine and Summer Weather Crafts

Get inspired by the sunny days and warmer weather and try out some of these simple craft ideas.

Paper Plate Sun

This cheerful sun craft was a collaboration between my one year old daughter who painted the paper plate and my four year old son who helped create the handprints for the sun’s rays.

Summer Dot Marker Printables

I love the cute sunshine design in our summer dot art printable pack and if you’re looking for more summer thems you’ll find sandcastle, melon, popsicle and flower designs included too.

Potato Masher Rainbow

As a mom I know that it’s always good to have a few different ideas to try and keep your toddler entertained and using a potato masher to paint with certainly fits the bill!

The large handle of the potato masher is great for little hands and it’s a fun way for kids to paint their own rainbows.

Clothes Peg Sun Craft

My kids made this simple sun craft when my daughter was two years old and my son was five.

It’s an easy activity to introduce an educational element to as well, for example you could write numbers on to the edge of the paper plate and then draw the corresponding number of dots onto the colored clothes pegs.

Picnic Crafts

With the warmer weather a picnic topic is great as a seasonal craft for toddlers and preschoolers, you can link it up with fruit and vegetables, healthy eating, bugs and insects or favourites like ice cream.

Paper Plate Watermelon

To me watermelons are the most summer themed fruit there is and I love the gorgeous bring colors which make them great for kids crafts too.

As always where small parts are involved you’ll need to supervise children while they make this but the pom poms give the craft a fun texture, you could even try swapping them out for real watermelon seeds.

Paper Weaving Picnic Blanket

Paper weaving is a really easy craft for kids and as all you’ll need is paper, scissors and a ruler it’s a really low cost craft too.

Simply cut straight lines into one piece of paper and then cut another piece of paper into strips. Weave the paper strips under and over the pieces in the first piece of paper to create a weaved picnic blanket effect. Bright colors or classics like red and white would look great for this.

Paper Plate Butterflies

To make this craft we’ve used an easy paint splat technique. Not only is it lots of fun but it can be a good way to explore color mixing too.

Paper Bag Bear Craft

Like many mom’s I’ve done quite a few teddy bear’s picnics for my kids over the years! This cute craft works well as a picnic craft as once kids have made their paper bag craft they can pop some of their food i it to take to their picnic too.

More Monthly Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers

This post is part of a series of monthly themed crafts for kids. If you’d like some more inspiration for the season why not check out our June crafts for toddlers and preschoolers for more easy ideas or plan ahead with our August crafts for toddlers and preschoolers.