Camp Crafts for Kids to Make

June 9, 2025 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

I love throwback crafts during the summer, and making camp crafts at home or as part of a camping unit/summer camp at school is a great way to get kids engaged in some classic crafting.

The first thing I think of when I think of camp crafting is lanyards, and while I think of lanyards as being the full necklace style you wear around your neck, kids will probably get tired of weaving before then so you can make shorter lanyards for keychains like these from Oh Yay Studio. You can use plastic lacing, paracord or even yarn to make these.

There are tons of variations on paracord bracelets and keychains that are fun for kids to make. This keychain from Artsy Fartsy Mama is easy to make and fun for kids to use as backpack charms during the school year.

Friendship bracelets are another classic to make at camp or over the summer. The easiest ones are just braids, like these from The Soccer Mom Blog. The original pattern includes an essential oil diffuser button bead, but you can leave the oils out and just have a cute braided bracelet if you’d rather.

Or you can use yarn to make classic bracelets with this tutorial from Simplify Create Inspire. This one uses a cardboard circle to help keep your strands separate until you need to knot them.

While we’re on the subject of yarn, you can’t forget the God’s eye (which is the only craft I really remember making the time I went to camp). There are a bunch of tutorials for these, and once you start making one you’ll probably remember how to do it without any assistance. I like this one from Make and Takes, which includes fun beaded accents, too.

Bring a little nature into your summer crafts by decorating walking sticks for you next nature walk. You can paint them, like these from Crafts by Courtney, or wrap them in yarn like Babble Dabble Do did. Or find a Y-shaped stick to make a shaker like this one from Minie Co., or use them for weaving, which I shared at Our Daily Craft.

Do you have a favorite camp craft for kids? I’d love to hear about it!

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Book Review: Borders

My brother went through a phase where he was obsessed with maps. He loved to look at maps and he would draw maps of places real and imagined. He even drew maps that followed our route when we’d go to visit our grandparents in another state!

I assume there are still kids who go through map phases, and kids with an interest in history and how things got to be the way they are. Both kinds of kids will enjoy the book Borders: Understanding the Lines that Unite and Separate Us by Karim Ressouni-Demigneux, with illustrations by Karine Maincent.

The book describes how the original borders were natural, such as oceans, rivers, mountains and deserts, and while some of those borders are still in use today, many borders are human made, decided by treaties or carved out by colonizers. It covers the history of people congregating in one place and how city-states evolved into empires, how maps are drawn and how human conflicts can reshape borders.

There are stories about walls that reinforce borders, how borders work in the air and at sea, how people cross borders with passports or as refugees and how climate change is altering the borders of some countries.

You’ll also learn some fun border facts like the fact that if you stand in the middle of the bridge over the Zambezi River you can be in four countries at once because that’s where the borders of Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe meet. Or how there is only one border crossing between India and Pakistan that’s closed each night in an elaborate ceremony.

The book talks about time zones, border towns and places where countries and parts of countries are inside other countries and places where borders are less important such as the European Union.

While there are serious subjects in the book, it’s still a fun read that’s sure to interest those kids around ages 8-12 who like travel, maps and weird but true facts.

About the book: 72 pages, hardcover, published 2026 by Blue Dot Kids Press. Suggested retail price $21.95.

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