Art/Fun Activities to do with Toddlers

[PoetryLover]

My DS is almost 20 months old and I'm wanting to start an art or otherwise fun activity a day with him. So far I've let him color with markers and am considering making play dough and buying some cheap cookie cutters. I have nontoxic finger paint. What are some fun activities you've done with your toddlers that they've loved? Simple things you've cooked together? Any cool websites?

Many, many thanks!

[jdg]

With my 16-month-old we've done a lot of crayons. Sidewalk chalk has been a big hit. We just tried homemade play-doh. She didn't "get" it, though she liked the colors and we ended up using it for matching/colors ("can ou hand me all the red pieces?"). We'll probably try that again several times to see if she gets more adventurous with it. We've done fingerpaints, but they're a production - strip her down for the painting (which happened outdoors) then straight into the tub. She LOVED it, though. Next up on the list may be washable paints with paintbrushes, though this will likely be the same production as the fingerpaints. We'll probably wait until closer to your DS's age before arming her with a paintbrush!

[cloudbutterfly]

If you live near an Ikea, I highly recommend getting one of their easels.  I think ours was $15 for a wooden easel, and it has been a huge inspiration to my 22 month old.

We've been doing a lot of painting with tempera paint for the last month or two.  We started with the Melissa and Doug no-spill paint cups and the paint brushes with big fat rounded ends, but I let him use a big 8-well palette and some brushes of mine in a variety of thicknesses and I don't know if he'll ever go back to the less messy equipment.  I'm really liking the Crayola tempera paints...much better than the other brands I bought at first, and pretty cheap on Amazon.

We've been doing crayons for a long time, both fat triangular ones and regular thin ones.  Markers were a big hit.  Sidewalk chalk and sidewalk paint...I'm sure he'd be thrilled to do sidewalk paint again, but he used most of it up the one time we did do it.  But it was awesome, apparently.  We've just branched out to colored pencils...I sit there and draw on the paper with him, and we both have fun while he gets closely supervised with them.  I picked up some fiberglass preschool scissors for him, but he's not quite ready to work them yet.  Maybe with a few more lessons.  He really loves glue and tape, and he likes to have me cut pieces out of construction paper for him to tape together to make trains.  We've done some playdough, too, and he's started to get what the purpose of it is, those he mostly directs me to do things for him.

Mainly, though, that easel has been key to getting his interest in creating things himself going again.  For a long time, he just wanted me to draw trains for him.  Now I still get to do that, but he is quite prolific now...it's awesome.  :-)

ETA:  Cooking...DS loves making muffins, scrambled eggs and smoothies!  He also likes directing me to cut things (okay, 99% of those things are trains) out of felt.  I cut out wheels and funnels and coal and so on separately so he gets to put them all in the right spots, but he enjoys the process of cutting them out just as much as playing with them later.  And felt is cheap...we have a huge stack of it and he occasionally shouts, "fah!", signs scissors, and starts repeating a color or name of a Thomas train until I start cutting.  :D

[crunchy_mommy]

My DS is a bit older (2.5) but his favorite things are anything that involves glue or scissors. He loves cutting pictures out of magazines and gluing them down. He likes cutting paper into tiny tiny bits, and also likes making snowflakes cut from folded paper. Another thing he loves is spreading glue on a piece of paper and then shaking the dry spices from the kitchen onto it -- kind of like using glitter but less messy and more fragrant. Painting is always a hit, though he prefers to use a paintbrush rather than finger paint. He also LOVES simple woodworking projects, which require a bit more supervision but he has actually made some cool things using just wood, hammer, nails, sandpaper, & paint. Stickers are a big hit too here.

[TigerMama09]

This is my fave blog for play based learning...  They have THE coolest, most fun ideas!

http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/

~Melissa~

Single Mama to Miss Priss (3 y/o)

[cloudbutterfly]

I remembered one other thing.  I can't remember where I got this idea, but it's been fun.  We get a lot of cardboard boxes thanks to doing most of our shopping online, and DS loves to paint or draw on them, or turning them into train cars.  I made an engine shed for him out of a really sturdy white box I had...it looks pretty cool with marker scribbles all over it and he still loves playing with it months later.  We've also collected the boxes and taped them up to make giant blocks.

[Kedrosami]

Some ideas: http://www.productiveparenting.com/aspx/activitylibrary.aspx

[dejagerw]

cornstarch and water makes a fun goop.

[PoetryLover]

Originally Posted by dejagerw 

cornstarch and water makes a fun goop.

What measurements do you use with the cornstarch and water? I'd like to try this with my little guy today. I saw a recipe for cornstarch and glue, but I'd rather use water if I can.

Many thanks!

Edited by PoetryLover - 9/29/11 at 11:23am

[PoetryLover]

Thanks so much for the links!

 

Originally Posted by radicaleel 

Some ideas: http://www.productiveparenting.com/aspx/activitylibrary.aspx

I love how they break it down by age! That is very helpful.

Originally Posted by TigerMama09 

This is my fave blog for play based learning...  They have THE coolest, most fun ideas!

http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/

~Melissa~

Single Mama to Miss Priss (3 y/o)

These activities do look fun, indeed. I can't wait until I have a little time to read the blog more and choose some to do first.
 

Originally Posted by cloudbutterfly 

I remembered one other thing.  I can't remember where I got this idea, but it's been fun.  We get a lot of cardboard boxes thanks to doing most of our shopping online, and DS loves to paint or draw on them, or turning them into train cars.  I made an engine shed for him out of a really sturdy white box I had...it looks pretty cool with marker scribbles all over it and he still loves playing with it months later.  We've also collected the boxes and taped them up to make giant blocks.

DS loves playing with cardboard boxes. I think they may be more durable for him if we stuff them with newspapers. I have to find a place to store them, though, as we live in a super small apartment currently. I love this idea, though!

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy 

My DS is a bit older (2.5) but his favorite things are anything that involves glue or scissors. He loves cutting pictures out of magazines and gluing them down. He likes cutting paper into tiny tiny bits, and also likes making snowflakes cut from folded paper. Another thing he loves is spreading glue on a piece of paper and then shaking the dry spices from the kitchen onto it -- kind of like using glitter but less messy and more fragrant. Painting is always a hit, though he prefers to use a paintbrush rather than finger paint. He also LOVES simple woodworking projects, which require a bit more supervision but he has actually made some cool things using just wood, hammer, nails, sandpaper, & paint. Stickers are a big hit too here.

I'll have to pick up some child safe scissors. I love the glue and spices idea. He also loves stickers. 
 

Originally Posted by cloudbutterfly 

If you live near an Ikea, I highly recommend getting one of their easels.  I think ours was $15 for a wooden easel, and it has been a huge inspiration to my 22 month old.

We've been doing a lot of painting with tempera paint for the last month or two.  We started with the Melissa and Doug no-spill paint cups and the paint brushes with big fat rounded ends, but I let him use a big 8-well palette and some brushes of mine in a variety of thicknesses and I don't know if he'll ever go back to the less messy equipment.  I'm really liking the Crayola tempera paints...much better than the other brands I bought at first, and pretty cheap on Amazon.

We've been doing crayons for a long time, both fat triangular ones and regular thin ones.  Markers were a big hit.  Sidewalk chalk and sidewalk paint...I'm sure he'd be thrilled to do sidewalk paint again, but he used most of it up the one time we did do it.  But it was awesome, apparently.  We've just branched out to colored pencils...I sit there and draw on the paper with him, and we both have fun while he gets closely supervised with them.  I picked up some fiberglass preschool scissors for him, but he's not quite ready to work them yet.  Maybe with a few more lessons.  He really loves glue and tape, and he likes to have me cut pieces out of construction paper for him to tape together to make trains.  We've done some playdough, too, and he's started to get what the purpose of it is, those he mostly directs me to do things for him.

Mainly, though, that easel has been key to getting his interest in creating things himself going again.  For a long time, he just wanted me to draw trains for him.  Now I still get to do that, but he is quite prolific now...it's awesome.  :-)

ETA:  Cooking...DS loves making muffins, scrambled eggs and smoothies!  He also likes directing me to cut things (okay, 99% of those things are trains) out of felt.  I cut out wheels and funnels and coal and so on separately so he gets to put them all in the right spots, but he enjoys the process of cutting them out just as much as playing with them later.  And felt is cheap...we have a huge stack of it and he occasionally shouts, "fah!", signs scissors, and starts repeating a color or name of a Thomas train until I start cutting.  :D

An easel is a wonderful idea! Maybe that could be a Christmas Present this year. I also have to get fat crayons and some sidewalk chalk. I didn't even know they sold sidewalk paint!

Originally Posted by jdg 

With my 16-month-old we've done a lot of crayons. Sidewalk chalk has been a big hit. We just tried homemade play-doh. She didn't "get" it, though she liked the colors and we ended up using it for matching/colors ("can ou hand me all the red pieces?"). We'll probably try that again several times to see if she gets more adventurous with it. We've done fingerpaints, but they're a production - strip her down for the painting (which happened outdoors) then straight into the tub. She LOVED it, though. Next up on the list may be washable paints with paintbrushes, though this will likely be the same production as the fingerpaints. We'll probably wait until closer to your DS's age before arming her with a paintbrush!

Painting is a huge hit. We did some painting with DS a year ago (I feel like a horrible mama for it having been so long) and it was a big production, indeed.

Thanks everyone for the replies! Keep 'em coming!

[thelucc]

I did an activity with 2 toddlers and a 7 year old last weekend. I wrote about it and included materials I used and stuff. It was super easy!

http://everythinggoeswithpink.blogspot.com/2011/09/easy-fall-craft-for-kids.html

[cloudbutterfly]

Originally Posted by PoetryLover 

DS loves playing with cardboard boxes. I think they may be more durable for him if we stuff them with newspapers. I have to find a place to store them, though, as we live in a super small apartment currently. I love this idea, though!

An easel is a wonderful idea! Maybe that could be a Christmas Present this year. I also have to get fat crayons and some sidewalk chalk. I didn't even know they sold sidewalk paint!

Painting is a huge hit. We did some painting with DS a year ago (I feel like a horrible mama for it having been so long) and it was a big production, indeed.

The great thing about the cardboard boxes is that they just go in the recycling when I'm sick of them!  ;)  I wish we had more room to store them...I thought about covering them with wrapping paper (or maybe something with more texture) and making them pretty, but we have a very tight space for all our stuff to fit in.  Stuffing them with newspaper is a great idea, though, if I think of somewhere to store them.  And someone who gets the newspaper, since we don't!

Get the washable temperas for painting for sure...that helps a lot.  I just have him paint naked over the hardwood floor and have a damp cloth for cleaning hands and the floor before anything gets tracked around.

The sidewalk paint is fun, but our patio is really rough, and it seemed to take a lot of paint to get it to show well.  It supposedly works better on smoother sidewalks.  I think there are homemade recipes out there, too.

Another fun thing is to let them paint on a real canvas.  Joann Fabrics always has their canvases on sale, and then with a 40 or 50% off coupon they're reasonably priced for a fun activity.  I offered one with a big brush and a plate full of blue paint with a little white swirled in, and it actually looked really cool.  I have more to have him do one in each other of the rainbow for our family room...I should get on that.

[Mom2M]

Originally Posted by TigerMama09 

This is my fave blog for play based learning...  They have THE coolest, most fun ideas!

http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/

~Melissa~

Single Mama to Miss Priss (3 y/o)

Thank you for sharing this site! I love it and can't wait to try some of the things on here.