10 Friendship Crafts for Preschoolers

The theme of friendship is so important in a preschool classroom. It’s never too early to help little ones understand how to be a good friend, why they should be kind to one another, and how to recognize their classmates’ best qualities.

These 10 friendship crafts for preschoolers help foster community in the classroom and between students, teaching them that there is nothing more beautiful than making new friends. 

Flower Kindness Craft 

This flower kindness craft can be an individual or class activity. Kids can work in pairs and make their craft about each other, or the class can gather and create each flower one friend at a time. The idea is to make a large flower, with the petals cut out of construction paper, and the friend’s name in the middle. Each petal will feature a reason the preschooler is a good friend (teachers or parents may need to help with spelling and writing). Then, the friendship flowers can be hung up around the room so each student’s best friend qualities are on proud display. 

What better way is there to show kindness than to share ice cream with a friend? Your preschoolers will be “ice screaming” with joy as they complete this free “Ice Cream Invite” Hidden Pictures activity from our Kindness Connections enrichment kit!

Friendship Is in Our Hands Craft 

This is another activity that may work best if done as a group, which fits, because it’s all about friendship. Trace a hand and then lead a class discussion on the qualities that make someone a good friend. When the class has agreed on the best five qualities, write one on each finger. This could also be completed by individual students with a little adult help to write out what each preschooler thinks makes someone a good friend. 

Friendship Art 

A true visual of the ways friendship is a collaboration, this sweet friendship art craft is one your preschoolers won’t soon forget. It’s simple to set up, but will have a big impact. Lay out as many sheets of white paper as are kids in the class and tape them all together underneath so it appears to be one large canvas. Provide preschoolers with washable paint and paintbrushes and let them paint, instructing them to work together and spread their artwork over multiple pages so it’s a big group effort. Once it’s dry, give each child a piece of the mural to keep. The kids will be delighted to take home a piece of art their friends helped to create. 

Friendship Quilt 

Every preschooler can contribute to a piece of classroom art with this lovely friendship quilt. Provide paint, stickers, buttons, pompoms, and any other craft materials you have on hand and allow preschoolers to get creative making their own piece of the “quilt.” They can start with their own paint handprint and then decorate all around it with items they love and that represent them. At the end, the craft projects can all be combined and hung together as one friendship quilt. 

Friendship Bracelets 

We can’t talk about friendship crafts and leave out friendship bracelets! Thanks to Taylor Swift, the little ones in your classroom may already be familiar with the concept of designing a beautiful bracelet with the generous idea of giving it to a friend. For these bracelets, bring in some sensory and math skills. Provide fuzzy sticks, bits of cut-up colorful straws, and beads so kids can get creative in making their own friendship bracelets. At the end, students can choose who to give their bracelets to or they can all be combined into a bag and preschoolers can pick one out at random.  

Friendship Tree 

Here is another collaborative craft to show preschoolers how beautiful it is when everyone works together. This friendship tree is made up of all of our friends’ handprints - just use a large sheet of paper and draw the outline of a simple tree. Then, let preschoolers place their painted handprints all over to create the “leaves.” This can help the class build a sense of community thanks to the visual reminder of the tree showing how friendship can make things grow.  

Friendship Bites 

Combine a lesson on friendship with a tasty snack that also gives preschoolers a chance to learn about measurements. These friendship bites are a delicious way to show little ones that it takes many “ingredients” to make a good friend. Let students take turns helping to measure out oats, peanut butter (check for allergies first!), honey, M&Ms, and chocolate chips. Combine the ingredients and roll the resulting mixture into balls for a no-bake friendship bite.  

Buddy Bookmarks 

Encourage reading and let preschoolers make something nice for each other with buddy bookmarks. Cut out pieces of cardstock into long rectangles and let students decorate them with paint, glitter, stickers, markers, and crayons. Help them write their own name on the bookmark and the name of a classroom friend. It may help to set kids up in pairs in advance so they can trade bookmarks with each other when the craft is finished. Punch a hole in the end of each bookmark and loop a piece of yarn or ribbon through it. Now, each preschooler has a reminder of their good friend when paging through a favorite book. 

Pasta Friendship Necklaces 

This fun, sensory friendship necklace craft helps develop fine motor and math skills. Set up bins of pre-dyed pasta in several colors (here is a great tutorial) and give each preschooler a loop of yarn long enough to be a necklace. Let them lace the pieces of pasta over the yarn to create a necklace for another student. Encourage them to make patterns out of the different-colored pastas for an added bit of math practice. Then, kids can exchange their friendship necklaces with each other and proudly take home a craft made by a preschool friend. 

Friendship Color Mixing 

Teach preschoolers about the magic of friendship with this friendship color mixing craft. Let little learners work in pairs, each dipping their hand into a primary color paint. They each do a handprint on a shared piece of paper and then dip their hands in their own paint again. Then, they squish their hands together to make a new color and put their side-by-side handprints of that color on the paper as well. The class could also work together on one large piece of paper and let their mixed handprints create a big work of friendship art.  

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About the Author:

Valerie Williams is a seasoned writer and editor who has spent her career creating content in the parenting and women's wellness spaces. Her bylines include Scary Mommy, SheKnows, Forbes Health, and others. When she's not helping women and families live their best and healthiest lives, she's spending time with her husband and teen kids, walking her dogs, reading, cooking, or attending HIIT classes at the gym.