30 Best Crafts for Teens and Tweens

Encourage your tweens and teens to step away from screens and busy their hands with creative pursuits. From puff-painted school supplies and Perler bead friendship bracelets to confetti-clad bookmarks, sun prints and custom graduation caps — we’re sharing 30 inspiring craft ideas for all skill levels your not-so-little kid will love. First up? Hand-painted pinch pot planters.

Hand-painted pinch clay planters are the perfect project for adding some zest to your tween’s bedroom or teen’s dorm window. These striped cuties are easy to craft using polymer oven-bake clay, rubbing alcohol, wooden skewers, cotton twine, small wooden rings, acrylic paints and a paintbrush. Gather supplies and hit the link below to watch our video tutorial and read through our step-by-step guide to help your tween make a set of their own this weekend.

Presenting the perfect craft project for your tween or teen to tackle before heading back to school this summer: puff-painted notebooks. Snag a set of cheap notebooks from your go-to value store and stock up on puff paint in four or five of their favorite colors. Set them up with a movie, a snack spread and leave them to dot away with the help of our step-by-step video tutorial linked below.

Carve out a Saturday afternoon with your high-schooler and catch up while crafting personalized block prints for making custom-printed tees, totes and more. To make them, you’ll need linoleum rubber blocks, a carving tool, and block-printing ink. Follow the link below for our step-by-step instructions, materials list and video tutorial.

Whether your tween is gearing up for sleep-away camp or heading to high school, this Perler bead friendship bracelet will provide a stylish reminder of your love while they’re off doing big things. These eye-catching bracelets are easy to make, too. All you need are the old-school Perler beads you know and love, plus embroidery thread, a jump ring, jewelry clasp, scissors and two embroidery needles.