Simple art projects (or crafts) for pre-schoolers?

[HappyMommy2]

Let's share the ways we entertain our little ones. 

Mine are 5, 3, and 1 month.  I need things to entertain the big kids while stuck inside. 

Three easy things that we did this week are:

     1. Paper plate pizzas.  We used red tempera paint as sauce.  And cut out toppings from construction paper (shreds for cheese, circles for meatballs, mushrooms, etc.)  We sprinkled the toppings on the wet paint so it would stick.  Came out cute!

     2. tissue paper between clear contact paper. Cut out in cool shape and hang in window.

     3. Cheerios on a string/ribbon to make a necklace.  I thought they were too old for this, but they loved it today.

Let me hear yours!!

[lovesea]

I culled the sock drawer recently and have kept hold of all the odd ones. My ds loves giving little shows, so I thought they'd make great puppets.

[PatchChild]

We do tons of "projects" around here.

This week involved stringing beads. Nothing fancy, just beads. Also, painting on bubble wrap and making prints. Huge hit! Tape the bubble wrap down, paint all over it, then press paper on top of it. Peel it off and you get great circle prints. We made a bunch of cards this way.

Turning DS loose with a magazine and scissors is fun. Also, giving him control of the tape. I think he would happily just tape all day long.

Pipe cleaners are fun. Combine them with beads and you can make great shapes.

Marshmallows and toothpicks. Just watch how many they eat.

Painting with cars. Tape paper down, roll small cars through paint and drive them on the paper.

Big paper! Bigger changes everything. I tape a big piece of paper to our basement door and suddenly stickers and markers are so much more fun.

[ecoteat]

DD also loves scissors and a magazine. Even better if it's with a big sheet of paper and a glue stick!

Look up slime recipes: Borax slime and Oobleck are my favorites. And play-dough. This is the recipe I use: http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/artclayrecipes.htm

Dance party! Crank up the stereo with some good funky music and run around in circles like crazy people for as long as you can stand it. (Oh, wait. You asked for crafty things. Making movement is crafty, right?)

[Disco Infiltrator]

DS absolutely loves to make clocks from cake rounds. He stamps them and puts glitter glue on them, I put on hands I cut from foam using a brad. Loves it. We also do a lot of cutting of paper, glitter glue, elmers glue and drawing. He loves paint but I don't love the mess. He'll also just play with dried beans.

Also, a friend of mine is really into activity bags and organizes swaps (one of which I'm going to participate in soon). Here's here blog post about activity bags. If you have a group of parents big enough you could start a swap. There are TONS of ideas in the links she posts.

http://naturalparentsnetwork.com/activity-bag-fun/

[ElliesMomma]

thanks for this great thread.

Edited by ElliesMomma - 5/28/11 at 11:15pm

[Subhuti]

We've liked potholder weaving ... my four and six year old.  Klutz has a good starter kit and instructions.  Plus their loops are easy even for a four year old.

Beading is a big fav here for all ages.

I get them to dictate stories to me, I leave spaces for illustrations ... then I put them in a binder and they color the pictures to the stories they are writing ... ongoing project.  I do mine on Word so we can easily go back to it --- even if we misplace some of the early chapters, we can reprint.

Paper chains

Making dog houses out of cardboard boxes and packing tape ... painting them.

[Bugglette]

I LOVE http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/   Especially Letter of the Week!

My son is 3 and I watch a 2.5yr old and a 1yr old, there are projects/crafts for all of the kids.