Open Ended Painting

For toddlers painting (or any “art” activity) is all about the process.  Toddlers don’t care much about what they are making, so long as they are having fun making it.

Finger painting is a great activity to do with toddlers.  Most of them love getting messy (although some do not like it and that is perfectly normal too).  And they are curious about how it feels.  It’s great for talking about colors and for mixing primary colors together to see what happens. 

This activity for finger painting is perfect for toddlers- or anyone really.

What you’ll need:

Finger paint
Table/highchair
Paper

Put some finger paint on the highchair or table and let your toddler paint the table. 

 Hailey loved painting her tray.

When she was done I took a piece of paper and and pressed it onto her painting- a way to save the painting she had done. 

The finished pictures, hanging to dry.

Tags: finger painting with toddlers

Father's Day Picture Frame

Now I know that Father’s Day is over, but I couldn’t post this before Father’s Day or Rich would have seen what Hailey made for him.  (She also made this for her grandfathers and has not given it to them yet, but I don’t think either of them read this blog.)

Anyhoo, this is a cute picture frame that can be used for Father’s Day.  Or, it can be used for a cute gift for anything.

What you’ll need:

Craft Sticks
Paint
Hot Glue Gun
Regular Glue
Puzzle Pieces
“I love you to pieces” on construction paper
Adorable picture of your child

Hailey works on painting her craft sticks.

I used a hot glue gun to glue the pieces to create a frame.

Hailey glued puzzle pieces onto three sides of the frame.

The frame with “I love you to pieces!” glued onto the fourth side.
(get it? I love you to ‘pieces’- for puzzle ‘pieces’)

Add an adorable picture of your child.

Depending on how you want the recipient to be able to display the picture- you can add a piece of cardboard to the back of the picture so that it will stand up.  Or, add a magnet to the back so that it can be put on the refrigerator.

Tags: Father's Day picture frame, gift from toddler, Toddler and Preschool Activities

Playdough Fun

Hailey loves playing with playdough.  She asks every single day if she can play with it. 

Playdough is a great learning tool for toddlers.  It can be used to teach colors and shapes, letters and numbers.  It can be used to talk about textures and to strengthen the muscles in your toddlers hands. 

When Hailey plays with playdough I provide her with some “tools” such as a rolling pin, Popsicle sticks, straw, cookie cutters, etc.  Or sometimes I don’t give her any tools so that she can just use her imagination. 

There are some great playdough recipes for making it yourself, which is great to do with toddlers too.  So far though we have just used the store bought playdough.

Every time we use the playdough Hailey insists that we write certain names like Pa, Grandma, Daddy, Dottie and Brooke. 

And we also take time to make some shapes and practice saying their names.

Playdough is cheap and fun and easy to clean up.  It’s an all around great activity for toddlers and preschoolers.  And it just so happens that I love to play with it too!

Ladybug Craft

One of the themes I am focusing on this month with Hailey is ladybugs.  We have read some ladybug books (She loves “The Grouchy Ladybug” by Eric Carle) and looked at pictures of ladybugs.  So, the other day we made a ladybug.

What you’ll Need:

• Paper plate
• Markers or paint  (I had planned to use paint, but we were all out of red paint I didn’t feel like dealing with the mess)
• Black circles (I pre-cut these because Hailey is too young for scissors) and a face for the lady bug.
• Glue
• A cooperative toddler

 Directions:

Paint or color the paper plate.  Then glue on face and spots.  Simple!

The completed ladybug. 

Remember- when doing art activities with toddlers the process is much more important than the end product.  Hailey had a blast making her ladybug.

Tags: Ladybug Craft, Toddler and Preschool Activities