Paper Fidgets and Games to Make for Kids

These paper fidgets and brain teaser games are great to have on hand for road trips or when kids say they are bored. Older kids can make the projects themselves and then play with them, or you can take care of the setup and just let them play.

The hexaflexagon (instructions from Chaotically Yours) is a fun flippy floppy folding shape that can be used as a fidget. It’s made with a single piece of paper cut into strips, folded, and glued. There are videos as well as text instructions in the post if you need help figuring out how to make it. Using different patterns on the paper makes it extra fun to play with.

This magic paper art cube from Hello Wonderful is kind of like a puzzle in how it fits together. It’s a bunch of little cubes that are joined together and can be folded and stacked in different ways to make different images show on the faces. And while they have provided printables you can color and cut out to attach to the cubes, you can also just follow those size templates and draw anything you like to include on the puzzle.

Here’s another one with cubes but it’s actually more of a puzzle that can be solved. There are different puzzle options available to print and assemble from What Do We Do All Day, but the concept is the same whether you’re using numbers or patterns: try to line up the cubes so that no one number or pattern is visible on more than one face at the same time (so no matter which way you turn them, you’ll see each number or pattern exactly once). It’s a challenging brain teaser, but the solution is also in the blog post should you need it.

Looking for more fun paper crafts? Check out this post full of things to make out of paper (for kids and adults) from The Craft Patch Blog.

Learning Activities with Fidget Spinners

Multiplying and Dividing Decimals Printable Games

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Road Trip Printables

Whenever you go to the beach with kids, you’re sure to come home with some seashells and more than a little sand. Let’s use some of those treasures to make fun crafts.

This handprint craft is made with a sand-infused salt dough and some little shells from the beach. It’s a cute way to remember how little your kids were on that beach trip. Find the instructions at From Under a Palm Tree.

Here’s another take on sand dough that was used to make little ornaments and sculptures. Get the details from Pink Stripey Socks.

Moms and Crafters used air dry clay and seashells to make these cute necklaces. She used the storebought clay but you can also make your own air dry clay if you’d rather.

Crafts on Sea used a shell to make a whale, but I’m sure you could take this idea and make lots of different creatures. I love the idea of sea creatures made with shells like fish or a jellyfish or an octopus using the same method. They also have a seashell decoration made with salt dough that’s really cute and would be fun for kids to paint. Poke a hole before it dries for hanging if you want.

Or take a bunch of little shells and decorate a frame like these from Rhythms of Play. They used a handprint instead of a picture but you could also put in a picture from the beach trip.

This is probably one for the mamas to make because it uses epoxy, but I also wanted to share these cute and easy shell hair pins from Thrifty Mama Ramblings, which kids are sure to want for their mermaid pretend play.

Or how about some sensory play straight from the beach? Use store bought sand if you don’t have a beach nearby to make this beach sand slime from The Mama Notes. Thrown in some shells and kids will love playing with this one.

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