Toddler Crafts Ideas

[Lissa]

Does anyone have some good, easy craft ideas for a 2-yr-old? She likes stckers and coloring, but I'd like to try something different. Maybe something she could make for a keepsake?

I think anything with handprints is charming. You could have her do one of those plaster-of-paris handprints, or paint on canvas or a t-shirt.

[Shawn]

Give a toddler, paper, crayons and stickers all by themself is a usually great for a child.

But I do agree handprints are great keepsakes. You can even make the handprints t-shirts for grandma and grandpa.

ALso, the footprints seem to be hot right now.

Have you tried getting fun foam and letting them glue that together? You can get the tiny kits for $1.00.... they have stuff like flowers and animals. THey are real easy and it can help them with perceptions.

[Lissa]

Thanks for all the ideas! She has made a plaster of paris handprint, but I never really thought of doing the t-shirt thing. I just think she gets tired of coloring, although some days she really goes to town making pictures!

Another easy idea is to put shaving cream on a cookie sheet with sides and let her "draw" pictures. It's similar to doing fingerpainting. This can also be done outside and just hose her off when she's done.

[MKS]

My son is three & has not used his "real" highchair for
over a year. It is now his "activity" chair. He gets in there
to play with his play dough & other messy things. Then I
have a much smaller area to clean up. He loves the play
dough with some cookie cutters & things that squeeze
out spaghetti/hair. Also at this young age, a glue stick is
something they can manage with out too much problem.
I don't know if you will end up with keepsake quality
stuff but the child will enjoy sticking things you have cut
out of magazines or just bits of cut or torn construction
paper to one larger paper. We have hung some on the
refrigerator. I haven't been brave enough to try the
finger paint yet, but we did do chocolate pudding one
time. (Make sure the clothes are not stainable or just off
& the "painting surface" is clean enough to eat off.)
I did take some cute pictures while he was doing that.
I have to try the shaving cream. It is great to be reminded
of these things. I think we'll do an art project today!

Martha

[Middleagedmommy]

My son is 3 1/2 now... he was interested in crafts at about 2 also. One of the things we started to do right away was making cards for people. I found some inexpensive blank white cards with envelopes at the local craft store. It came in a bundle of 50 so we had plenty to play with. I gave him everthing I could think of to decorate them. Stickers, washable markers, crayons. I even started to cut cute pictures from magazines and old birthday cards we had laying around. Then I got one of those glue sticks for him to attach them with. We even had a bag of colored feathers laying around so we used them. Once he got started making a card he was hooked. For months we were making cards every day. He would get up every morning, I wanna make a card. So I would ask him who it was for. Pretty soon he was making them for everone he knew and loved.

When he got a bit older we needed a gift for fathers day so I gave him the same craft stuff, but I used an old coffee can with a lid on it and added colored sticks to the mix. he made this great decorated can for Daddy. Then he realized if you put wooden balls into it and put the lid on, it made noise. so the can turned into a noisemaker.

I also used to strip him down to his diaper and let him go nuts with washable paints and brushes and a big pad of white paper. He really never liked to finger paint. Didnt like the feel on his hands I guess. But he took to a brush right away. I would do it on the kitchen floor. I would set him in the middle with the brushes and the paints and would surround him with 5 or 6 sheets of paper in a circle. He went from picture to picture. and he knew exactly which person he was making each pic for.

He still loves to do these things, Though he is more distracted by his bike and dog now to spend as much time as he used to on them. But For a while he was a regular picasso.

Oh yeah, Then we started make soaps together. The meltable kind in the microwave. I let him pic things to go into them and the color he wants and I mix the soap. the coloring and the scent. I let him help stir it between zaps in the microwave as its being melted. then I pour it in and he puts the objects into the soap. little plastic cars. Sea shells. Little scuba divers. all those little plastic toys you get in goodie bags at parties like glow in the dark aliens and bugs anything small enough to fit into the mold. He especially likes the bugs. I started finding cheap things to put in the soap everywhere I went. party stores and 99 cent stores and the cheap dollar toys at the grocery stores that you can get 6 in a package for a buck. The basic soap bar type mold I use was not too expensive, maybe 5 bucks but I have gotten a lot of use out of it. The soap bricks seem like a lot of money but they usually go on sale from time to time and I stock up. I use the clear glycerine one for my sons soaps. It's has been great because I can control the amount of scent and color in them. He breaks out usually from most scented and colored soaps but not these and he loves using soap he helped make. He even gave some of them in the gift bags at his 3rd birthday party. They were a big hit.

[Sue]

We just did crafts for preschoolers at VBS. One of the best ones was when they painted rocks. We then added goggle eyes with tacky glue. And they were topped with figure eight shaped tissue paper that was scrunched up to make wings. We added a bow to my daughters so that it would be a girl
Another one is to take the paintings that he has made and cut shapes out like a Eric Carlie theme. We did flowers and grass. She was thrilled to see her work come to life. I have also cut out the painted coloring pages and mounted the figures on aluminum foil. Wow, what a new look to Little Bear.
One more easy craft is to take small sheets of clear contact paper, give him cut out tissue shapes, like hearts, fish, stars, etc,
to put on it and top his composition with another piece of clear contact. This can be hung on the window or I like the mirrors.

The more you work with him the better some of his skills will become. And the more confident he will be in life.
Happy crafting and creating smiles.
Sue, Mom of 5 and with her own art degree!
Boy that was a long time ago!

[lawnangel]

I also have taught VBS and Sunday School and besides, have 3 kids. I know the little ones love to use glue. And anything can stick to it.........glitter, torn paper, yarn, buttons, etc. Just watch that cute little mouth!!

[Hatvany]

If you make the hand print project with your son. Take a board about 12X16-20. Cut a circle out on one side to place the handprint in. Then on the other side make a clock and place it in your childs room. This is a woncerful keepsake for the child because he knows when the handprints were made and he has something decorative to keep. My father did this with handprints we made when my daughter was little. Dad's gone now but my daughter (28 now) treasures her clock.

Jackie