Celebrate a child’s graduation day with these fun arts and crafts activities for kids! These fun and easy ideas are perfect for kids to do at home. If you are celebrating a preschool graduation or elementary graduation, try one of these projects to make graduation day extra special. Creating graduation crafts gets children excited about growing bigger and learning at school. These crafts also encourage hands-on creativity. Show your little graduate how proud you are of their hard work by organizing a fun craft project.
7 Graduation Arts and Crafts for Kids
All About Me Handprint Diploma
Make your own graduation diploma that commemorates this learning milestone! Kids can create a diploma that has their name, handprint (using washable paint), their favorite school subject, their favorite food, their favorite book, and their favorite color. Remember your child’s graduation day with a homemade diploma! Another way to celebrate graduation is with a personalized activity book for the parent and child. All About Me is a custom time capsule book for kids ages 2-8 that captures the child’s favorite things and drawings. It’s a perfect book to fill out at graduation and save as a childhood keepsake.
Coffee Filter Flower Bouquet
Flowers are usually customary as a graduation gift. Instead of gifting flowers, little graduates can make a bouquet themselves! The best part? These won’t wilt upon arrival. To make them, flatten several round coffee filters and draw colors in circles or patterns. You can scribble circles in rainbow colors, with red on the outside, to make a rainbow-swirled flower. Place the filters on a plastic bag and mist with a water spray bottle. Watch the colors start to blend and set aside to dry. Once they are dry, take a coffee filter and fold it back up around a pipe cleaner. Pinch the filter at the bottom and wrap tape around it. Do this with the rest of your flowers and you have a beautiful bouquet fit for any proud graduate!
These handmade flowers pair perfectly with a fun graduation gift for kids, like a personalized book. On the child’s graduation day, surprise them with a book like I Wish You More on Your Graduation Day. Personalized with the child’s name, this sweet gift delivers endless good wishes to the little graduate.
Graduation Badge
Create a photo-personalized badge the little graduate can wear on their special day! To make this craft, you’ll need construction paper, scissors, and a photo of the child (preferably their face close up). Cut out a 3-inch circle from construction paper. Cut two ribbon shapes from construction paper and glue them to the bottom of the circle. Take the child’s photo and cut it into a circle. Glue the photo to the construction paper circle. Trace the shape of a graduation cap onto black paper, cut it out, and glue it to the top of the child’s photo—so it appears the child is “wearing” the paper cap. Glue a safety pin or clothespin to the back of the badge and it’s ready to wear! Kids can wear their badge with pride all day and celebrate this school milestone!
Plastic Cup Graduation Friend
Kids can make their own graduation buddy to play with as they celebrate! For this preschool graduation craft, you’ll need a plastic cup (choose an old one to recycle), googly eyes, marker, glue, a paper fastener, paper, and string.
First, put the paper cup upside down. Cut black paper into a square and glue it onto the flat top of the paper cup. Push the paper fastener through the center and fold the ends inside the cup so it’s not sharp. Wrap string around the fastener, tie and knot, and cut the string 2 inches in length. This is the graduation cap for your paper cup friend! Glue googly eyes on the cup. With markers, draw a mouth and anything else you like—freckles, glasses, a beard. When finished, your paper cup friend is ready to celebrate graduation with you!
Inspirational Kid’s Coaster
Make a waterproof coaster kids can use that also reminds them daily to love themselves. For this graduation craft you’ll need: a ceramic tile, colored pencils, decoupage glue, clear acrylic spray for waterproofing, and a paper template—cut to fit the ceramic square, with the words “Be Bold. Be Brave. Be YOU.” already written on it.
First, the child will color the paper however they like. They can draw themselves on it, add hearts and flowers—anything they like! The next step requires an adult. Brush a layer of decoupage glue on the ceramic square. Center the paper onto it and rub down to eliminate air bubbles. Let this dry a bit, and then brush a thin layer of decoupage glue over the square and paper. Once the square is completely dry, spray the clear acrylic sealer over it. Add felt pads to the bottom, so the coaster won’t scratch surfaces, and it’s ready to use! This children’s coaster project is a great way to start your day with positive affirmations to boost a child’s self-esteem and confidence.
Graduation Goal Setting Activity
For this graduation craft, kids will color their own graduation cake and add candles on top that have their wishes for the future! Graduation is the perfect time to think about the next year and to make new goals. Once the child has colored their graduation cake, glue construction paper candles to the cake. Discuss the child’s wishes for the future and write them onto the candles. These can be personal wishes or wishes for the world. Here are some examples: I wish for peace. I wish to get better at counting. I wish for everyone to be treated equal. I wish to spread more kindness. I wish I could learn how to sing. All of these goals, great and small, are things children can strive to achieve. As the child works on these goals, you can snip off the flame portion of the candle because the child has achieved that wish! This graduation activity is a great way to boost a child’s self-esteem by showing kids they can make their own dreams come true and make the world a better place.
Reading Chart Bookworm Craft
Graduation is not only a time to celebrate, but to use what you’ve learned! Encourage kids to use and improve their reading skills after graduation and all summer long. This bookworm craft will help kids see their improvement and track the number of books they’ve read. To make this craft, you’ll need to cut out large circles in every color of the rainbow. The child can draw a face on the first circle, as their bookworm’s head. Use painter’s tape to attach it to the wall. Every time the child reads a book, they can add a circle to their bookworm and grow its body. Preschool children can listen to books read aloud or practice words until they learn how to read sentences. Kids will love seeing their bookworm grow—a visual reward for their hard work!
Resources:
https://www.chickenbabies.com/2013/05/summer-reading-charts-2013.html?m=1
