Craft Ideas for 2.5 y-o

[mamandedeux]

Does anyone have any good craft ideas for a 2.5 y-o who can't\won't use scissors, pencils, paintbrushes? 

I thought of finger-painting and playdough, but that's it. Surely there has to be other fun things to do on cold winter days? Any good websites?

Thanks!!!

[grethel]

Stickers/foam stickers? It's not terribly environmentally friendly, but my 2 year old loves peeling the stickers off the paper (or the foam off the backing) and putting them on paper. A similar alternative that we also do a lot here (and which is greener than buying stickers) is cutting out pictures and letters from magazines and catalogs and using a glue stick to make collages. If your LO won't do the gluing, you can wield the glue stick and let him/her stick the pics.

My dd also likes stamping. If you don't have rubber stamps, you can cut apple or potato slices into shapes and use those.

Also, how about lacing cereal Os or macaroni onto yarn for necklaces? Putting other sensory items like whipped cream or shaving cream on a plate for touching/molding? Putting a sheet of paper in the bottom of a cookie sheet with a few blobs of paint and rolling a small ball or marble around on it to create designs?

Here are a few sites for toddler activities - maybe some will sound like fun.

Productive Parenting - Preschool Activities, Toddler Activities, Baby Development

Playopedia | Childhood 101

No Time For Flash Cards

[colsxjack]

Our 2.5 yr old also loves stickers and is getting into stamping.

Although she loves painting and "colouring". She also likes gluing with a glue stick.

She likes when we put paint on a picture and she folds it in half to make a butterfly.

We bought some felt and cut out people shapes and clothing shapes and she dresses them.

Her attention span for crafts is very short. And she will not do anything unless we do it with her. For the first few months of crafting, she would only watch us and participate by telling us what to do. She wouldn't actually touch the paint or supplies. We just kept at it. Now she will actually paint with a brush and colour a bit.

[CalaRei]

Check out the Artful Parent blog for good ideas, and be sure to check out the books she recommends, too (Young at Art and First Art).  One thing I like to keep in mind is that I'm exposing them to materials to let them explore and not really expecting a finished craft or outcome from our endeavors.  I try to work in "do art" time daily, also because it's a sneaky way to work on fine motor - like scissors use.  Sometimes I give them a catalogue and scissors and let them see what they can do.  I *do* enforce rules like "not in the mouth" with certain things, and I try to be ok with "accidental mess" but mindful of when it becomes "making a mess to get mama's attention" instead.  It's sort of a balance.

Stamping is a good one, my two like that.  And stickers, as mentioned.  Chalk (actually mine like using a wet sponge to clean the board better, but whatever).  Dye pasta and macaroni, then string it.  Fingerpaint in a plastic bag to squish around.  The favorite tissue paper bits on contact paper.  Glue/gluesticks/contact paper and glitter/sand/colored salt.  Spin art painting in a salad spinner.

[CanBoo]

My 2.5 year old loves glue pieces of scrap fabric, yarn, and ribbons onto a piece of paper.

[crunchy_mommy]

Does she dislike pencils & scissors? Not physically able to use them yet? Or just not into them? Just curious, might help us to give you better ideas. For ex., my DS doesn't like crayons, but loves markers. He's not into finger paint, but he loves painting with a brush.

My favorite website for kid ideas is Pinterest. Love it!!

Some ideas:

packing peanut sculptures (you want cornstarch-based peanuts, or you can buy them in the kids section of craft stores) -- just wet the ends of the peanuts and you can stick them together to create sculptures

tear up colored tissue paper & glue it on a shape you've cut out for her (experiment to see whether she prefers glue sticks, glue bottles, glue dots, glue in a cup to dip the tissue pieces in, etc.)

put finger paint in a ziploc bag & she can squish it around, 'write' in it, etc. without getting messy

string together paper clips to make necklaces, bracelets

cardboard piece sculptures http://www.thechocolatemuffintree.com/2011/05/cut-up-cardboard-box-sculpture.html

cut a bunch of shapes out of felt and she can arrange & rearrange them on another piece of felt (felt sticks to itself a bit) - you could do pieces of a snowman, or parts of a house, or just random colorful shapes

string any O-shaped cereal (Cheerios) onto a string -- then she can eat her necklace

[mamandedeux]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy 

Does she dislike pencils & scissors? Not physically able to use them yet? Or just not into them?
 

Just not into them.

Super ideas. I'm actually hoping for a storm or something to keep us house-bound so we can try some of these crafts.

Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CherryBombMama]

You've already thought of finger paint, but how about finger painting in the bath tub? My boys paint the walls, the tub itself, each other, etc.and then its so easy to clean them up and the tub. They were in there for an hour today doing this

[ZippyGirl]

Another vote for stickers.  I went to the office supply store, were they sold packs of tiny stickers.  My DD had a ball with them, and they seemed really good for her fine motor skills.

Block-style crayons were a favorite of my DD's when she was a toddler.

Beading and stringing things together.

[JudiAU]

Don't forget bathtime painting and puffy paint and play dough or glitter glue.

Also, take a good luck at your pencils and crayons. Are they truly easy to use? The better quality ones just glide across the page and require a lot less skill. Lyra ferby pencils are fat and easy to hold and very easy to manipulate. What about coupled with a cute holder, my kids love them.

[woodsymom]

We make "mosaics" with colored paper or magazine scraps. Just quickly cut up colored paper scraps (junk mail, old magazines, construction paper), big enough that little fingers can pick them up easily. Pour a little glue in a shallow dish, then have your child use a Q-tip to dab a dot of glue on each scrap. Stick the scraps on to a piece of paper to create a "mosaic".

My DD1 (almost 3) loves to do this. Sometimes I draw simple shapes for her to glue inside the pencil lines, sometimes she just sticks them all over page. She's a very active child, but this will keep her attention for quite awhile. A glue stick would probably work too, but my DD's favorite part is putting on that "dot of glue".

[jennrichie94]

You can find a bunch on this blog...I check it one in a while when I am at a creative block for craft ideas.