Craft Ideas for a Toddler - Page 2

[Pam_and_Abigail]

I'm looking for a recipe for fingerpaints. I have one that calls for soap flakes, but dd is only 8 months (am I pushing the art thing too much do you think? Maybe I just want an excuse to fingerpaint myself!)
She still puts EVERYthing in her mouth. I like the idea of using foods like applesauce... What works well? Does the food colouring stain? That's why soap seemed like a good idea, but I don't want her to eat soap. She eats the following fruits and veggies so far:
apples
strawberries (possible allergic reaction to them)
peaches
pears
sweet potato
brocoli
string beans
carrots

She already plays with her food on her high chair tray, so is there any point in introducing paper? Am I really rushing things? I made giant crayons for her, and so far she just tries to eat them. What signals should I look for for readiness for art?
Thanks

[anythingelse]

Today we made a pig t shirt with this transfer-

http://www.janbrett.com/gingerbread_...rs_the_pig.htm We spritzted fabric paint on the sleeves, my dd likes to do that.

[FreeRangeMama]

We take old boxes, tins, and containers with lids and paint or collage them for gifts. We put pom poms and feathers on to make birds or flowers and use lots of glitter. We just made a container to hold all of ds' toy animals out of an old hot chocolate tin. I covered it with white paper and we looked through old magazines for pictures of animals. We also added lots of animal stickers. We also found the letters of ds' name and cut those out and glued those on. When finished I covered the whole thing in clear packing tape so he can't rip the pictures off, and so I can wipe it down if necessary. He loves it and shows everyone. We do "themes" like that whenever possible. We also make bird feeders out of old soymilk cartons (just paint white, then fingerpaint when dried). I either varnish it when ds is not around or cover in packing tape to preserve the 'artwork'. We also paint washable surfaces around the house (our fridge is a beautiful work of art LOL).

Laurie

[JessicaS]

Peanut Butter Playdough

12 oz peanut butter
6 tbsp honey
1/2 to 1 1/2 cups dry milk

I haven't tried it yet but it sounds fun and they can eat it

[LaLa]

There is also a HUGE post of ideas in the toddler boards (as a sticky up top)

[thejmeister]

One thing that Emma (16 months) likes doing is painting with water. I give her a piece of colored construction paper, a little ashtray-type dish of water, and a paintbrush, and she goes to town. Simple, but fun.

[TigerTail]

what great ideas! sammy is nuts for making collages at the moment; i give him a basket of precut images (i let him use his safety scissors a few times, but then had issues with him cutting his fmbg cd pants, my sateen 230 thread count sheets, etc- i think i'll do the cutting for awhile yet ), a few sheets of paper, a glue stick, and sit back and watch the fun. he makes stories up with pictures; it is a blast to hear his explanations.

ps abimommy i ate too much of that peanut-butter playdough as a kid and threw up all night. my gorge would rise for years, just thinking of it. i don't know if i could make it now!

pps alison- not to be pedantic, but it's 'oobleck' like in, 'bartholomew and the...'. i love my suess! btw, when i last made some, my dh was amazed, he'd never sween such a thing. he played with it more than sam!

suse

[JessicaS]

LOL!! Oh gross!

[kilrust]

Hi mamapie,

After doing childcare for ten years I have found that a lot of boys don't want to do the "craft things". If his cognetive skills are ok try going outside to do things. The sandpit is a great place, make anything you like with damp sand and use it eg roads for cars, make a volcano with a hole down the middle and put some bi-carb soda (and having said that and being in Australia I hope thats what it is called in the USA) and get some vinegar mix in a couple of drops of food colouring and and watch the lava pour out of the volcano. Plant up a small garden for him, plant some seeds onto cotton wool, alfalfa or something similar so he can watch it grow and eat it as well. Don't worry if he doesn't want to do things like that if he goes to kindy, school ect at a later time he will be doing plenty of it then. Another nice thing to do if you live away from Grandparents is to make up scrap books with the childrens work, mark the date on each piece of work and then you (the parent/carer) will also be able to see the progress your little one has made. Taking photos of activities your child is doing is also nice as well, again put them into your scrap book for the grandparents or whoever you are doing one for. Blowing bubbles is another great idea especially on a day with a little bit of breeze. I have photos of the children and the yard is full of bubbles and I always got doubles of all photos. Another activity to do with photos is to make up place mats either using clear contact or laminating them. If you use clear contact just have your little one put whatever where ever on one piece of contact (if you put blue tack on the unsticky side it helps keep it in one place on the table) and then put the other piece of contact on top. You can also do a colour/ shape chart the same way.
If you want any other ideas you can email me and I can send u as much info from across the miles as I can.
The only other comment I have is that I never used to encourage children to play with food as I find that they continue to play with it in the years to come and it is hard for the very young ones to know the difference between play and eating if they are allowed to play with noodles, fruit, vegies ect. I also never used the table that we ate at for the same reason. They always knew that if we were sitting at the big table it was a meal time.

Enjoy your day

Ruth


Have fun

Ruth

[ShariMama]

Man o' man, I just gotta say, you guys are good! I have a B.A. in art and haven't come up with nearly as good stuff. But maybe it's just too much formal training.

[ShariMama]

Oh, just thought of something creative for the not-so creative. My son (2-1/2 ish) loves to take pictures. He has a little, cheap, old, broken camera that works only well enough that he can advance the "film" and release the shutter. It clicks and makes noise and he can run around composing pictures all day long. No mess, no fuss, no cost, happy boy. It's a good balance to the projects that take half the day to set up and the other half the day to clean up.

[Mama Lori]

Buy a bag of popcorn kernels (very cheap). Get a big piece of paper and you or your child can squirt various pools of glue throughout the page. Then let your child stick handfuls of the kernels and stick them down in the glue. When finished with this part of the project, let it dry very well. Then, let your child paint the kernels different colors. Makes a nice textured pattern. Usually something to dump in the garbage a few days later, as it's not exactly easy to store or hang up (unless you glue them down really well and the paper is sturdy I guess) but it's all in the process.