These carving crafts for kids activities are intended for kids ages 6 and up. The first activity listed is for the 6-9 set while the second activity is more for 9 years and older. Your kids are gonna love them!
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Both activities pair perfectly with the age-appropriate activity lists in the post Holy Week Activities for All Ages. They also fit well with lessons on money/coins, ancient history, art forms, working with different media, woodcarving, play dough activities for older kids, food art, or even just for a cold/rainy (or quarantined!) day.
Playdough Inscriptions: Carving Craft for Kids 6-9
We all know kids love play dough. I don’t think you ever outgrow it, really. My middle schoolers love to just sit and squeeze lumps of play dough as fidget toy or stress reliever while watching tv or listening to readalouds.
(I have reviewed some of my favorite readalouds such as Amari and the Night Brothers and The Silver Arrow here on my website. You can access them under the Reviews tab above. I have curated lists of age-appropriate and fun-to-read books in my Bookshop.org store as well.)
A great activity for working those fine motor skills and getting in some knife/carving practice without putting small hands and fingers at risk is play dough inscriptions.
Supplies:
- playdough
- plastic knife
- toothpicks
- straw
- rolling pin (optional)
- paper (optional)
- pencil (optional)
Instructions:
- The first thing the kids should do is draw out their design on paper. This step is optional but will help when they start to carve.
- Then, have the kids either roll the play dough out into small balls about 1-2 inches in diameter. Larger is fine too. It will give them more space to work.
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- Or, they can make a long, snake-like cylinder about 1-2 inches in diameter and slice medallions out of it. A serrated knife and very light pressure would be best here so as not to squish the play dough.
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- Next, they can squish the small balls flat into a medallion shape. They want them to be at least 1/2 inch thick if not thicker.
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- Or, make adjustments to their sliced medallions to get them into the desired shape.
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- Then, carve!
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- Real coins have raised inscriptions. So the kids may want to use a toothpick to lightly draw out their design onto the medallion. And then carve away the outside of the design, leaving the image raised.
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- The good thing about play dough is, if they make a mistake, they can just squish it up and start over!
The steps are similar for carving anything in addition to coins/medallions as well. Draw out the design, choose what size and shape of play dough you need, and get to carving!
Stamp Making with Potatoes: Carving Craft for Kids 9 and up
This carving craft for kids is the same activity as the one titled “Inscribe Coins” in the post Holy Week Activities for All Ages.
Your kids will love an opportunity to do “real” carving on potatoes! And, what’s more, they can actually use them with ink pads as stamps after they finish carving. If you are using it as a coin study/activity, be sure the carved images are round.
**This activity requires supervision as kids will be using real knives to make small, detailed (read: near fingers) carvings.**
Supplies:
- potatoes (washed to cut down on dirt)
- sharp knife(s)
- cutting board or cardboard (empty pizza boxes work well)
- paper
- ink pad
- pencil (optional)
Instructions:
- The first thing your kids may want to do is draw out their design on paper. This will serve as a guide once they start carving.
- Next, cut the potatoes to the desired size. Halves, thirds, or even large medallions will work depending on the size of the potato. Be sure to only remove the peel from the carving area, not the entire outside. The peel will give leverage for support.
- Using one hand to support the potato and keep it from moving, begin to carve. Since these will be stamps, the carved image can either be inverted or not depending on how you want your stamped image to look.
- After completing the carving, use the ink pad to stamp your images onto paper. It’s so fun for the kids to see what they made come to life!
My kids were thrilled with this activity. They got to use real knives. And they were carving potatoes. So exciting. They enjoyed getting to use their creativity and try out an art medium they had not done before.
I will say, the actual carving was more difficult than they anticipated. And the potatoes get a little slippery once the peel is removed (remember: only remove it from the carving area). So their images did not turn out as detailed as they originally planned. No worries, though. They still turned out great!
My book Resurrection Moments has lots of kid-friendly, family devotions for Ash Wednesday, each Sunday in Lent, and every day of Holy Week. These carving crafts for kids, along with all the others listed in the post Holy Week Activities for Kids, pairs wonderfully with the devotions in the book. You can purchase the book in print form here in the Chasing Those Moments Shop. Or it is available in print and ebook forms on Amazon.
For more age-appropriate activities, click the Activities tab in the drop-down menu above.
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