Activities such as toddler arts and crafts are the best solution of incorporating a fun factor, creativity alongside the pedagogy that is development construction promoted through playing activities. It is a joy to see your toddler learn about the pleasures of squishing paint between his or her fingers or to hang the first scribbled masterpiece on the refrigerator.
All of the activities mentioned will help your child with developing milestones as well as teach important lessons through laughs and unforgettable moments. This paper discusses 15 easy but involving arts and craftwork that can be well enjoyed as examples of creative play activities to toddlers. The materials are readily available and almost no preparation is necessary; they are process-oriented and not product-oriented because with toddlers the end result is never better than the experience itself!
Creating Your Friendly toddler household Art Zone Stress-Free on the Money Matters
To provide an attractive area devoted to the crafts activities, one does not need bulky equipment and costly materials. Actually, the simple can promote greater imagination and self exploration.
Select an area that:
- Has washable flooring or can be covered with a splat mat
- Offers good lighting (natural light is ideal)
- Allows for easy supervision
- Can be dedicated to creative play opportunities
Simple Setup Options
- Small table covered with a plastic tablecloth
- Portion of kitchen floor with a washable mat
- Outdoor space on mild days
- High chair tray for very young toddlers
- Cardboard box lid as a contained art tray
No-Mess Toddler Arts and Crafts That Keep Little Hands Busy
For those days when you simply can’t face another clean-up session, these no-mess activities deliver creative fun without the usual aftermath:
1. Contact Paper Sticky Art
What you need: Contact paper, lightweight things ( feathers, tissue paper square, fabric scraps)
How to do it: Affix contact paper to a table or a wall, with its sticky side up. Allow your child to affix to the surface lightweight objects. The feel of objects that stick to the adhesive surface is a treat to any toddler. When they are through, fold the contact paper over to keep their work intact.
2. Zip-Lock Bag Painting
The materials you will require: Large zip-lock bag, Washable paint, Tape
How to do it: Squirt various colours of paint into a large zip-lock bag, seal the bag, add a second seal prevents leaks or reinforce the seal with tape. Then put the bag in the hands of your toddler and watch as he or she smashes the colours together. They can enjoy the processes of mixing colours as well as building strength in their hands at the same time. To go further, to create more engagement, put the bag on a window to have backlit effect to stimulate the senses.
3. Water Painting
Materials the following: Cup of water, paintbrush
How to do it: Place a cup of water and a paintbrush in the hands of your toddler and then send her out to paint the pavement, the fence or the deck. They will enjoy seeing that their marks will come up and then fade off as the water gets dried up. This general practice helps with the concept of cause and effect as well as brush control-and, once again, there is no clean-up!
These basic art activities promote discovery through art without requiring a long clean up process. They are great as a first line of introduction in teaching even a stubborn toddler the concepts of art or as a way of keeping up with creative routines during those days when life gets too busy.
Fine motor skills that parents can help kids develop by use of sensory-rich arts and crafts projects:
4. Textured Finger Painting
What you will need: Finger paint, texture additives (sand, rice, corn-starch)
How to do it: Finger painting now has more color and texture than ever by adding texture to your paint. Add dried sand to make it gritty, rice to make it it bumpy, or cornstarch to make it silky. Glisten various textured paper such as corrugated cardboard, sandpaper, or bubble wrap to add something unusual to a sensorial play situation.
5. Playdough Creations with Tools
What you need: Playdough and safe material (plastic knives, cookie cutters, rolling pins) How to do it: To use the tools to cut, stamp, squeeze and to roll.
The resistance of the dough provides perfect exercise for developing hand muscles. This develops physical skills while fostering creative thinking. You can also try this simple recipe for homemade playdough:
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1/2 cup salt
- 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1.5 cups boiling water
- Food colouring
Mix dry ingredients, add oil and coloured boiling water, then knead until smooth.
6. Pasta Threading
What you will need: The pasta that has too many holes (penne, rigatoni), thick yarn or pipe cleaners
How to do it: Demonstrate to your toddler how they can add the pasta on the string so as to make a piece of necklace or a decorative string. This activity advances accuracy, hand-eye coordination and patience. In the case of younger toddlers, you can tie one end of the string to the table with tape so it is easier to handle.
7. Sticker Art
Materials required: Stickers of all kinds, paper or cardboard
How to do it: Stickers and peeling task involve advanced controlling of the fingers and concentration. Offer big stickers to younger toddlers, and as skills grow, give them smaller stickers as well. Allow many different surfaces on which/where stickers can be placed, such as a piece of paper, cardboard shapes, or even plastic containers.
All these sensory exercises stimulate toddlers as they learn at their level and are also challenging enough to improve their skills. The experiences of fine motor development combined with sensory exploration are attractive to children to engage in and produce strong learning.
8. Leaf Printing (Autumn)
What you’ll need: Fallen leaves, washable paint, paper
How to do it: Collect fallen leaves in various shapes and sizes during an autumn walk. Help your toddler apply washable paint to one side of a leaf, then press it onto paper, paint-side down. When lifted, the leaf’s shape and veins create a beautiful print.
10. Mud Painting
What you’ll need: Mud, sticks, appropriate surface
What to do: Mud “painting” with sticks can be made following rain and giving mud a suitable surface. This craft both aligns children with nature and introduces a special sensory experience through touching that store-bought items cannot provide and introduces children to the earth and helps them to develop hand-eye coordination.
Nature activities are unique when it comes to child development because nature is highly relaxing when used with children whilst also being free-flowing during the creation process. These projects are very low cost, but also offer high-value learning opportunities that change season to season, ensuring art experiences remain dynamic and exciting all year round.
Transform Everyday Items Into Exciting Toddler Arts and Crafts Materials
The most engaging art materials for toddlers are often found right in your home. Repurposing everyday items not only saves money but also teaches children about sustainable creativity:
11. Cardboard Tube Stamping
Supplies: Toilet paper tubes and/or paper towel tubes, paint and paper
How to do it: Have your toddler dab the end of a tube into paint, and stamp on to paper. Different sized tubes create varying circles. For more interest, bend the end of the tube into different shapes before dipping in paint.
12. Kitchen Utensil Painting
What you are going to need: Painting supplies, a range of kitchen items (whisks, potato mashers, fork backs, etc.).
What you do: Put paper in a shallow tray, put a little bit of paint there and watch as your toddler makes marks with various tools available to her. The textures and patterns derived by the use of common kitchenware often amazes and delights the young artisans.
13. Bubble Wrap Stomp Painting
Materials required: http://bubble wrap, washable paint, large paper
How to do it: Lay a big sheet of bubble wrap on the floor, the side painted on, and dab some washable paint on it in different colors and shapes. Wrap in paper. Cause your toddler to walk, dance, or jump on top making printed footprints to the bubble impressions.
14. Ice Cube Painting
What you will use: Water cube moulders, water colours or food colour, water, popsickle sticks
What to do: Mix in watercolours, or food colouring and water, and put in the ice cube trays using popsicle sticks before freezing. These colourful ice cubes are perfect in painting a piece of paper by your toddler once frozen. Melted ice has varying consistency and this forms varying patterns.
15. Salt Dough Handprints
What you’ll need:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup warm water
How to make it: Combine the ingredients, roll the dough, and allow your toddler to press the hand in the dough. Dry in the air at 120 C at least 2-3 hours until the product is dry. These then can be painted and preserved as cherished developmental moments after they have cooled.
Such recycled art projects offer more than entertaining artistic activities: they give children an introduction to the concepts of sustainability and resourcefulness. When children are exposed to the use of simple everyday household materials to make fun crafts, they become flexible thinkers and capable problem solvers; something that goes far beyond the art table.
Toddler creativity is a beautiful mess that.
As we have worked through these 15 arts and crafts activities, one thing that has remained true is that working with toddlers, process is vastly more important than the outcome. Those crooked handprints, blot-like paintings and crumpled collages are some of the most important milestones and the joyous revelations of development. Our creative exploration activities do more than keep toddlers busy: they enhance the cognitive, physical, and emotional skills that toddlers require as they grow into adults. We are instilling in them a sense of the importance of their ideas and the willingness to use them through experimentation to make discoveries as well as the idea that self-expression will result in a feeling of joy.
feed your childs creativity at okinja early learning
At Okinja Early Learning, we know that every smear of paint, lump of clay, and crayon on paper are part of the developmental milestones in your child. We respect each child and encourage him/her to express his/her creative individuality where real play-based learning takes place.
