Top 5 Bonfire Night and Firework Activity Ideas for Kids!

As the age old tradition approaches, more and more people are finding alternative ways to celebrate Bonfire Night. For some, the loud fireworks and colourful displays can be a sensory overload especially for young children and animals. If you’re looking to find a safer alternative way to celebrate or simply looking for some crafts to make the holiday even more magical then look no further! Here are our top 5 Bonfire Night ideas! Perfect for messy play or decorating!

On a roll!

For most of us, we want to find activities for our little ones that are equally as entertaining as they are budget friendly. With this in mind, this first Bonfire night idea is the perfect quick activity to entertain the little ones. Take a look at these amazing and super easy to replicate firework paintings!

All you’ll need is:

• Black paper or card
• Toilet paper rolls
• Scissors
• Any decorations you desire such as paint, glitter or glitter glue to make your masterpiece!

Using your scissors, cut multiple incisions into bottom half of the toilet roll tube, making a starfish like shape that you can bend easily! Then all you need to do is mix up your paints and glitters etc and start dipping; find a container you don’t mind getting messy and let your little ones dip their cut out tubes into the mixture, followed by pressing down onto your black paper/cardboard! Just like that you’ve got your very own sparkling and striking fireworks! You can use anything to paint your tubes but we recommend some glitter to really mimic that vibrant flare fireworks have!

A Glittery Masterpiece!

This simple DIY hack also involves a lot of glitter but is much easier to create, it’s ideal for younger children as it is a great way to improve their fine motor skills!

Now when I say simple I MEAN simple; all you will need is some glitter (and any extras you prefer) and a brush of some sort! A great way to get your little ones involved is to let them lay out the glitter with you, you dont have to be very methodical with this part so let your kids go crazy and get messy! Once your glitter etc is laid out then your little one can use their brush to flick the glitter and paints around, making bursting firework shapes in a flash!

Sparkle Baby Sparkle!

Not thinking about fireworks?? Here’s an easy design for some child safe sparklers that won’t break the bank! We’ve used this example in one of our amazing messy play trays but with a little extra effort you can make your own mini sparklers for your little ones to keep a hold of!

For this craft idea you will need some sort of small stick and some glittery pompoms! For your messy play tray, simply display your sticks wherever you want and dot your sparkly bits and bobs around the stick to mimic lively sparklers! If you want to make safe sparklers for your little ones to keep then simply use some glue to stick your pompoms in your desired formation and secure to the stick, creating your very own super sparkly sparklers without the added heat! ;)

Making Magic!

Another one of our beautiful Bonfire Night ideas, this hack is SUPER easy to make and the finished product is absolutely mesmerising! With this DIY you have the freedom to customise the colour and textures of your tray to make a sensory spectacle!

The basics of the tray solely consist of easy to obtain household items. You can use anything from cereal to coffee beans but this beautiful tray is made out of these dry ingredients;

• Lentils
• Dry oats
• Popcorn kernels!

If you still wish to add that sparkly flare, the franchisees over at Little Learners Middlesbrough used some tinsel to mimic sparks! You can use other things such as glitter, steel wool segments or sparkly pompoms! Simply arrange your ingredients in a swirly pattern along with anything else you wish to add and watch your play safe Catherine Wheel firework come to life!

Fun Without the Fire!

For some, Bonfire Night can be a tricky holiday; the loud noises and extravagant colours can be overwhelming for some, especially those with very young children or animals. However, don’t despair, here’s an easy and engaging idea that is completely safe and perfect for getting the little ones involved!

The idea behind this tray is to utilise your surroundings! Encourage your little ones to explore the nature around them and gather all natural materials to make your very own child safe bonfire! Why not make a competition to see who can find the biggest stick or prettiest leaf? Take your sticks and bundle them together to mimic the bonfire base. Then, using materials like orange paint, feathers and glitter glue, you and your little ones can design your very own crackling bonfire scene! This craft is great to keep the kids active even in the cold weather!

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our top Bonfire Night ideas! Hopefully this has given you some inspiration on some alternative ways to celebrate Bonfire night without missing out on all of the fun!

Have fun and stay safe!x