Hi all... My MIL has been recruited to babysit my nieces for part of the summer because my BIL has recently had some financial difficulties and can not afford to pay his baby sitter.... so does anyone have any cute ideas for crafts that are cheap and relatively easy? or websites that I could find ideas at?.. These girls are 10...
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

We just planted pumpkins today. I got some clay pots, paint, & stickers and let my boys put whatever they wanted on the pot. Then just plant the seeds with some fertalizer. They had so much fun making there own custom pots and they get to water it every day and watch it grow.

If she doesn't mind the mess some cardstock, sticks of kid-friendly glue, kid scissors, old magazines and crayons will keep them occupied forever! (that's what I do with my kids).

Taking a walk down the "project kit/kid" aisle at Hobby Lobby is a great inspirataion. They have lots of things that are under $10 and/or you can just get the idea from there and get the materiels cheaper elsewhere (or you might even discover ideas for things you already have about the house).

Also, not a "craft" but the library is an EXCELLENT thing to do with kids. Most offer programs during the summer that she could sign the girls up for. Plus, you can find LOTS of craft idea books at the library ;-)

When I was a camp counselor at a YMCA one of the crafts we used to do was to take 2 popsicle sticks and make a + sign out of them (or use 2 sticks from outside if you want), then we'd take multicolor yarn and weave it over one stick, under the other until it amost fills the sticks. It kinda makes a hanging ornament thingie... I really have no idea what you'd call it. :-D

Anyway, it's super cheap. Especially if you use sticks from outside and leftover yarn in your house. You can always knot colors together so that they have more than one color on it.

Good luck!

I love the oriental trading company craft magazine.. alot of times they have really cheap crafts or at the very least you can get ideas from them. Michael's or Hobby Lobby, depending on what's in your area have neat little free craft idea papers. and Wal-Mart does have some ok craft stuff and are pretty cheap.

-You could get some plain white tees and some fabric paint and let them design their own t-shirts.
-The God's eye that Pookie talked about with the popsicle sticks and yarn.
-Let them build stuff with popsicle sticks - it's amazing what kids come up with.
-For July 4th, I had the kids at work make an American flag mosaic. I had cut up red, white, and blue construction paper into little squares.
-Those latch hook kits if they're into that kind of thing.

HTH

This (http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/) site has some cute ideas. I just goggled "kid crafts" and got a whole slew of sites with ideas.