My son will be 3 in July. does anyone have any good suggestions on crafts that I can do with him, besides painting and coloring? I gave him some glitter glue tubes yesterday which he had a blast with, and he's already used up two bottles because he doesn't understand portion control. And obviously, this would be an expensive habit to keep up with.
I'm looking for cheap ideas with stuff I could use around the house or get at the dollar store.
At that age, my kids were huge on Play-Doh. BTW, make sure you buy the Play-Doh brand. The Rose Art brand is cheaper, but the dye comes off on the kids' clothing.
They like to help you make biscuits. if you have the room and don't mind flour on the floor……………
How about bubbles? Our little ones love to mix up solution (usually dish detergent) and blow them outside
And this website has tons of things for little ones to do.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/make/
Make rainbow macaroni noodles.
This is a good way to explore dexterity and rainbows.
String to hang on trees or windows. Or glue on to a page.
There are loads of ideas online (and in books you can buy used, at amazon.com) re craft ideas for small children! Here are just a few:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=na…
The main thing you want to do is just to let him *play* with things– explore the way things feel and what they do when he uses them this way or that way, etc. (iow, don't expect "projects" for a long time, especially from boys –and by the way, very few kids will have inherent ideas about portion control for a long time!!… I always just gave my son and my students as much as I allowed them to use at a time and let them know that they could work on small things, or take awhile to change what they'd done around, or go on to something else–usually something easy for me).
For materials, use anything you can find that's inexpensive or free… water, gravel or sand, mud (for pies, or shaping/drying), measuring spoons/cups and plastic bowls, cheap paints like tempera (powdered will be cheapest), which are also washable, white glue (washable, if you really need that), homemade clays like saltdough or various others, paper of all kinds including newspaper or even rolls of cheap newsprint paper or butcher paper, tape, fabric scraps, kiddie scissors once he can use them and show him how to tear instead, etc., etc.
For painting, e.g., have him use all kinds of implements to apply or stamp or drag/etc., the paint to investigate… use sponges (regular, natural, or foam–perhaps cut into shapes), brushes, sticks, cotton balls, fingers, wads of scrunched plastic wrap (perhaps taped at one end) or aluminum foil, etc., etc…. one fun thing is to have him grab a sponge or cotton ball with small tongs from your kitchen then paint or stamp with those. Shaving cream can be fun… just buy cheap stuff, squirt it out on paper, color it with a bit of acrylic paint or tempera (or food coloring) if you want, then fingerpaint or shape and let dry. Many other kitchen materials like various flours and starches can be made into paints and clays too.
For the glitter glue, e.g., you can make your own with cheap white glue (Elmers GlueAll, or Elmers Washable School Glue) and cheap glitter, in a squeeze bottle or applied in other ways. Or laundry starch, etc., should work the same way as a medium for the glitter…. or let him shake the glitter onto glue he's applied.
Just a few ideas,
Diane B.
I need some craft ideas for my toddler.?
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