Quilt Craft for Kids

You don’t have to be able to sew to make this fun quilt craft for kids!

This craft goes so well with a unit on frontier life, a study of textiles, and so much more. Even young kids can design their own quilt with this simple craft.

We made this quilt craft at our ranch school. Our students are ages 4 – 6, so I wanted to create a project where the kids could design their own quilt, but I knew that sewing or even cutting fabric was not realistic for our youngest kids. Cardboard, glue, and pre-cut fabric ended up being the perfect solution, and I love how our quilts turned out.

Supplies Needed:

• Cardboard
• Fabric squares – we used 2″ x 2″ squares
• Tacky Glue or another type of craft glue

If you can find a friend who has fabric scraps on hand, that is IDEAL. Quilters tend to have quite a fabric stash and may be able to share with you!

I have a local friend who posted on Facebook that she was getting rid of 2″ fabric squares, and it just so happened that the fabrics she had cleaned out of her stash so far were all blues and reds. This was perfect for us because all the fabrics look great together!

So then I needed a way for the kids to assemble the fabric squares into a quilt at their ages and skill level. I decided to have them glue the fabric on cardboard, and it worked SOOO well!

We cut out 8″ x 12″ pieces of cardboard from some large shipping boxes we had on hand. That size enabled the kids to make quilts that were 4 squares by 6 squares.

Also, I cut some of our fabric squares into triangles. This opens up new possibilities with the design!

Before making our quilts, we discussed the history of quilts in America (at a kindergarten level!) This type of bedcover began as a way to keep people warm with the materials they had on hand. On the American frontier, nothing was wasted. A dress, shirt, or pair of pants may have had a hole or some worn areas, but the fabric that was still usable could be salvaged and sewn into a quilt along with scraps of fabric carefully saved from another project. Over time and as the standard of living improved, quilts became a true art form with intricate designs and high quality fabrics.

We used q-tips to spread the Tacky Glue, and it worked quite well. I instructed the kids to spread the glue on the cardboard, NOT on the fabric.

Some kids laid out their whole quilt design first, and others just jumped right in. I noticed that the oldest kids (who are already reading) started at the top left corner and worked their way down, while the 4 year olds tended to start somewhere random. Either way, it didn’t matter! There was no wrong way to do this quilt project.

Here are some of the quilts our ranch school kids made. So adorable!

Then here are some quilts that Janie and I made. This project is fun for older kids too, and they can make more complicated designs!

In addition to making quilts, we also made butter in a jar! The kids were very impressed. We ate a whole loaf of French bread along with the butter we made!

Here’s the recipe: How to Make Butter in a Jar

Need more American frontier crafts? We have a whole collection!

See them here: The Best Western Crafts and Activities