9 Super Cheap Art Project Ideas Your Students (and You!) Will Love

Written by:

Lillie Therieau

Jul 17, 2020

This YouTube playlist is full of super fun and accessible arts and crafts projects that your students (or you!) can do virtually or in the classroom. These are cheap art projects for a slightly older cohort of students, but could be easily adapted for younger children. They’re all user-friendly, and you’ll walk away with a unique creation that could hang in a home or spice up your wardrobe! Choose any cheap art project on the list and you will be sure to motivate even the most reluctant amongst us to get creative, because the cute end product will more than justify the journey!

Check out our groundbreaking Arts Education Curriculum & Resource Guide: A Comprehensive Experience for e-Learning, Hybrid Learning, and Homeschooling for more ideas about adaptable learning plans and ideas for the new shape of arts education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Linoleum printmaking is super fun and super easy– and it yields an incredibly polished looking result! This video will give you several ideas for beginners lino printing, including a stamp carved out of a regular potato. The only speciality tool you really need is a lino cutter, which is under $10 at any arts or crafts stores.

This video introduces three easy weaving projects/patterns to start out with. The artist also shows you to make a DIY loom to assemble your projects on! Weavings are incredible wall hangings and look super professional. Have fun toying around with colors and textures in your patterns to make your perfect piece of textile art. This cheap art project will teach you how to work with many different kinds of yarn, fabric, and wool within the weaving process, and help prepare you to go out on your own. Once you get a feel for it, the world is yours!

This fun and accessible tutorial teaches you the basics of embroidery, a skill that you can adapt for infinite possibilities. Spruce up an old pair of pants, t-shirt, or dress. Make adorable wall hangings or pillows. Give embroidered patches as gifts to your friends and family so they can add your art to any textiles they have! You’ll learn the most used stitches and what they’re best for, as well as how to plan out shapes and patterns. This video is a great crash course to get you all charged up and ready to stitch up a storm!

Recycled cloth face masks are sustainable and relevant! Elevate your mask from a boring necessity to another fun and bright accessory that adds to your style. This project explains how to use fabric you have laying around to make a well-fitting mask. You can control how the fabric is cut and where it sits, so you will be sure to make your favorite and most comfortable mask. As a bonus, this is a hand sewing tutorial, so no need for a sewing machine here!

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This super fun and hands-on process yields your very own paper. You can use brightly colored or printed paper to create super fun colors and patterns in your homemade paper. The finished sheets are incredible to use in bookbinding projects, paintings, screen printing, or any kind of future creative project. This is also a fun way to connect with history! Wold pulp used to be manipulated in this way to create the very first sheets of paper. Now the process is much more industrialized, but I’d argue that homemade paper beats boring old printer paper any day.

Learn how to make fun and individual-looking beads out of cheap polymer clay in this fab video! You can use any variety of bakeable clay, but I personally love Sculpey for the range of colors, sturdiness, and price. Create funky shapes, colors, and patterns with tips from this tutorial, and even incorporate glitter, sparkles, or painted details. These beads can make jewellery, be added to clothing, or adorn any sort of textile or hanging adornment. I am personally working up to a trippy bead curtain!

Suminagashi is a traditional Japanese art technique that makes stunning marbled paper. It’s a surprisingly easy process and is endlessly customizable. You simply fill a shallow pan with water and float ink on top of the water. You can then manipulate the ink into patterns and swirls. You can even add household cleaning items like dish soap, or oil, for surprising reactions! Finally, a sheet of paper is dipped in the ink, and your amazing pattern will be immortalized. These pieces look incredible, and no one will be able to believe that you created them all on your own. Wow your friends and family with suminagashi marbling! It’s easier than you think.

My final pick for this playlist is a super fun way to dress up your wardrobe during COVID-19, when you may not want to go out and shop for new items. This cheap art project teaches you how to dye clothing with vegetables that you probably have laying around at home. It’s a super sustainable activity, and is incredibly interesting to watch. Somewhere between an art project and science experiment, watching your clothes change color with the addition of simple onion skins or cabbage is wowing!

Check out other fun playlists full of ideas and info on our YouTube channel. And stay tuned for more adaptable learning resources, suited to whatever your classroom may look like this year, like this list of 5 Super Affordable Art Activities For Teachers on a Tight Budget.