Toddler craft activities?

[beccalou79]

Hello all, I have a 2.5-year-old who's really into painting and coloring, and I really want to give her more opportunities to dabble in the arts. What do you all do with YOUR toddlers in this arena? I'm getting a gift card to Hobby Lobby for my upcoming b-day, and I wanted to get her some stuff there-- are there any art supplies you could suggest that are age-appropriate?

TIA!

[PenelopeJune]

I was just coming to post the exact same question about MY 2.5 year old! I'm looking for any craft/activity ideas. He just spent over an hour playing with some dried beans, a pot, a scoop, and a muffin tin. Any ideas would be fantastic!

[textbookcase]

Hi, ladies! This is a great site for all sorts of activities. They also have a list of other blogs/sites (towards the bottom of the first page)

http://artfulparent.wordpress.com/

[leafylady]

My mother always suggested painting with pudding. They did do it at daycare and loved it.

In general, you want things that are fun and sensory. There's a great series of books that you can probably find at the library by searching toddler art or preschool art.

[LaughingHyena]

Personaly I try not to do to many structured art activities with little ones. Just keep stuff on hand and see what they come up with.

There are lots of recipes for homemade finger paints, play dough etc which always seem popular.

We keep junk mail, wrapping paper etc for cutting up and sticking. When DD was little I kept a bag of ready cut up bits so it was easy to get out. Now (3 1/2) she prefers to cut her own bits.

We also keep glue, markers, crayons, paper, scissors etc handy.

DD is a bit older (3 1/2) and enjoys stencils, stickers, glitter and a couple of hole punches which cut fun shapes, a good pair of children's scissors would be a good buy too.

[purple peaches]

Tyler is enjoying making cards to give - he is a lil older three at the end of next month. we use foam stickers - because they are easier fro hsi hands and glitter galore - he likes the glitter glue pens. and stamps.