Cattail Crafts for Children. Kids find cattails fascinating to collect, hold and touch, and using cattails in crafts are a wonderful way for children to work with them. Cattails are perennial plants that grow abundantly in areas where the soil remains wet--marshes, swamps, wetlands, bogs, ponds and rivers. They can grow up to 6 feet high and have a velvety brown puffy cigar shaped "tail" that sits atop sturdy light green stalks.