I need low (or no) budget crafts for 3 and 1 yr old

[Koalamom]

My kids are tired of block, books, and playsilks, and we are too broke to buy more toys and the kids need something to do. My dd is 3 and ds 1, and he is very active and would make a mess if he could. I talked to my grandma the other day and she suggested painting rocks, playing with cardboard boxes- using empty seing spools for knobs of the cutout doors, making bean bags...

I know these ideas sound simple, but I need ideas that are simple, cheap, and for young kids.

[PatchChild]

-add food coloring to bubbles and blow them at paper for bubble prints. Or, blow bubbles into the bubble liquid until it's foamy, then press the paper onto it
-paint with matchbox cars. Roll the wheels through the paint, then drive on paper
-chalk roads on the driveway and then ride bikes on it. Or run on it. Or scale it down to walkway size and drive little cars on it.
-go on a nature walk, collect a bucket of leaves, sticks, rocks, etc. and then go to town with a bottle of glue. Decorate a rock, make a collage.
-melt old crayons into new ones
-tape a big piece of paper to the wall or a door and put out coloring materials, it is amazing what a change from horizontal to vertical can do.

[LaughingHyena]

Playdough, my recipie is 1 cup plain flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon of oil, 1 teaspoon of cream of tater and a few drops of food colouring. mix all ingredients and cook over a low heat until its dough. It keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for several months.

sticking, save junk mail, magazines, wrapping paper, sweet wrappers, fabric scraps. For little ones I kept a box of shapes/pictures ready out out for them. Now DS prefers to cut out his own shapes.

They also liked filling in colouring pages by sticking on little balls of tissue paper. Google for toddler colouring pages and you should find lots.

for painting I used to give them a couple of blobs of paint on a cookie sheet. They loved swirling the colours together. Sometimes we would lay a sheet of paper on top to make a print but most of the time they were not bothered. Saved us lots of paper!

You can make nice sun catchers using clear stick plastic and tissue paper. Give you LO a sheet of stick plastic, sticky side up and get them to cover it in tissue paper.Stick a second sheet on top and hang it in the window.

here are some of my favourite websites for ideas
http://www.dltk-kids.com/
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/search/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/cat...reschool.shtml

[saoirse2007]

[woodchick]

How about a couple buckets of water, two paintbrushes and the outside of the house/front steps?

My mom says my brother and I would 'paint the house' for 'hours' when we were little. My girls now LOVE to paint the house and will happily do it for 30 minutes at a time

[kayabrink]

If you can find a huge box, (fridge is best) you can make a playhouse with them- cut door windows, let them colour paint or glue scrap paper on walls for 'wallpaper' (comics pages are great). Use scrap fabric or lend them a pillowcase for curtain. Often kids will play foe a long time in the house once construction per se is done.
With a smaller box you can make a car- cut out top and bottom, use string or ribbon to mKE SUSPENDERS TO HOLD The box around kids' waist level.
sorry bout typin, nak