Craft and activity books aren’t just for little kids. These tween activity books are the perfect way to beat summer boredom – or any time of year.
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Some of these books were sent to me complimentary from each publisher. All opinions are my own, except the ones that belong to my kids.
Summer starts off perfectly. The kids need a break from school and you need a break too. The lazy days of summer are wonderful. But at some point, not having anything on the schedule turns into boredom. When cabin fever strikes, I’ve got a handful of tween activity books to keep them happy for the rest of summer – and even into the school year too.
Now that both of my kids are in the middle school age range, they’ve started to outgrow a lot of the things they loved to do when they were younger. Lucky for me, they still love books. They also enjoy craft and activity books and I’ve found five that are a bit more challenging.
Our favorite craft, DIY, and art books are ones that we can come back to over and over. Most of the projects are fun and some even inspire new creative ideas. While most of the craft books out there are for younger kids, these tween activity books appeal to kids in middle school and maybe even teens.
Best tween activity books
“Girl Plus Pen: Doodle, Draw, Color, and Express Your Individual Style”
by Stephanie Corfee
About the book: Be inspired to draw with a pen, make mistakes, and embrace your own quirks and imperfections. This art journal encourages users to let the drawings flow without worrying about making mistakes. It includes step-by-step drawing tutorials, freeform pages, and prompts to inspire creativity.
My thoughts: This is definitely a more feminine book as you might guess by the title. The pages are filled with pastel watercolor illustrations and a lot of the tutorials are flowers, unicorns, and other stereotypical “teen girl” doodles. While my daughter gushed over the book when it arrived, she was initially afraid to “mess it up” by drawing in it!
“Hand Lettering A to Z: A World of Creative Ideas for Drawing and Designing Alphabets”
by Abbey Sy
About the book: Learn the basics of hand lettering to create your own fonts. It including an overview of supplies, example alphabets, and inspiration for art projects.
My thoughts: If you haven’t tried hand lettering or don’t love your handwriting, there are several fonts in this book that might be intimidating. The easier ones, like those that take advantage of a ruler or are drawn on a grid, would be fun for beginners.
From my daughter: “I used one of the fonts called Woodpecker (plus the dangles below) to make our DIY game level counter.”
“Kawaii Doodle Class: Sketching Super-Cute Tacos, Sushi, Clouds, Flowers, Monsters, Cosmetics, and More”
by Zainab Khan
About the book: Kawaii is Japanese for “cute” and this book shows you how to draw 75 super-cute characters like nature, food, and other inanimate objects with smiling faces.
My thoughts: This is a great beginning drawing book for anyone who loves cute, comic-style art. I used these tutorials to make my kawaii corner bookmarks.
“The Art of Drawing Dangles: Creating Decorative Letters and Art with Charms”
by Olivia A. Kneibler
About the book: Learn a unique and creative way to embellish letters with dangles, which are part zentangle and part doodle. Add charms hanging off of alphabet letters and whole words, draw page embellishments, and create mandalas and other shapes. The last chapter includes projects to make using your new dangle artwork.
My thoughts: To be honest, I think I like this book even better than my daughter did. It takes the concept behind adult coloring books and bullet journal doodling and makes it into something that’s easy to learn. The style is relaxing to draw and the step-by-step illustrations make even the complex mandalas look easy enough.
From my daughter: “This book is very fun and creative! It shows examples of how to draw letters and shapes, but also shows suggestions on different ways to do it.”
“Lazy Crafternoon”
by Stella Fields
About the book: Have a lazy afternoon making a few dozen crafts with basic craft supplies and everyday household items. The simple, step-by-step instructions and photos are great for tweens and teens.
My thoughts: I had fun doing a couple of these crafts, which I shared in this blog post. They’re the kind of thing you’ll find on your favorite craft blogs and are fun for adults too.
“Stick Sketch School: Mastering the Art of Stick Figure Critters”
by Billy Attinger and Rachel Kochackis
About the book: Learn to draw about 60 animals with a simple stick figure tutorial for each one. This includes a little bit of everything: wildlife, pets, ocean creatures, dinosaurs, and mythical creatures. There is also an ongoing “adventure” throughout the book as the author takes the reader on a sort of safari with a mysterious creature to discover at the end.
My thoughts: This reminds me of the Ed Emberley books I loved as a kid. The instructions are simple and anyone can draw a stick figure. The end result actually looks like whatever animal you’re trying to draw, which is a big encouragement to kids (and adults) who don’t think they’re good at drawing. Bonus: There are several more books in this series!
From my daughter: “This book is easy to follow. I like all the animals, but the dragons are my favorite.”
“Rubber Band Engineer: Build Slingshot Powered Rockets, Rubber Band Rifles, Unconventional Catapults, and More Guerrilla Gadgets from Household Hardware”
by Lance Akiyama
About the book: Combing everyday household items with lots of rubber bands to make things like slingshots, catapults, pneumatic robots, and helicopters. Each project includes a complete materials list, step-by-step photos, and explanations of physics or engineering when helpful. Recommended for age 13 or older.
My thoughts: This book really does use mostly household items. I’ve come across projects that call for “everyday” items that I don’t have or worse, don’t know where to buy. This uses things like popsicle sticks, pencils, hot glue, and masking tape. The projects aren’t simple, though, and probably require some skill and adult supervision for younger teens. {Many projects include sawing or drilling into wood.}
Expect most of the projects to take half an hour or more to complete. This is nice because the result is something that will last a while too.
“The Unofficial Guide to Crafting the World of Harry Potter: 30 Magical Crafts for Witches and Wizards”
by Jamie Harrington
About the book: With step-by-step tutorials, you’ll be able to transfigure simple supplies and things around the house into iconic elements from the books and movies and new inspired crafts like remembrall rings, Butterbeer lip balm, and pygmy puff bath fizzes.
My thoughts: This book is one of our favorite tween activity books. It’s really cute and a must-have for any Harry Potter nerd. I made a magic wand pen and a composition spellbook for a blog post.
“The Star Wars Craft Book”
by Bonnie Burton
About the book: Fans of all ages and skill levels can bring the best of the galaxy far, far away right into their own homes with projects for playtime, home decor, holidays, and more.
My thoughts: This book is perfect for people who don’t think they are crafty. Most of these crafts are really easy. Kids will love following the basic tutorial for things like the Chewbacca sock puppet and adults can take a simple craft like the R2D2 beanie and really make it look great.
“The Star Trek Craft Book”
by Angie Pedersen
About the book: This includes a collection of 25 unique crafts, including accessories and toys, ideal for enterprising crafters of every skill level.
My thoughts: There are quite a few easy crafts in here, but also plenty that could take you hours to complete if you want to go detailed. You’ll find crafts like perler bead art and felt pillow covers, as well as photo and info on the series.
Check out some other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:
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