Crafts for Toddlers

Often parents find craft ideas for toddlers a waste of time and effort. They often wait till their child is older, to start off with craft activities. However, crafts have several positive effects on toddlers. These type of activities not only promote hand-eye coordination and stimulate their creativity, but also help toddlers build a positive self-image. It assists in overall child development. Several parents have testified to the fact that after introducing different crafts, their kids argued and fussed less. Moreover, disciplining them also became a lot easier. 

Various Craft Ideas For Toddlers

One can use craft activities to introduce the alphabets, nursery rhymes, festivals, national holidays, etc. to toddlers. Toddlers love craft activities as it gives them the opportunity to practically understand the task set up for them, and they can act independently. There are ample number of craft activities one can do with paper, however, toddlers are too young for paper craft. All they can think at this age is tearing the paper to bits. So it's better to wait till your child grows a little older before you introduce paper crafts. What toddlers love is paint! They simply love getting themselves messy. Considering this fact, let's have a look at some craft activities that can be carried out.

Alphabet A Letter Activity
letter activityThis activity dwells on the short A sound only. To teach the alphabet A, one can adopt the thumbprint ant activity. This activity requires a marker, sheet of construction paper and child-safe finger paints. On the construction paper, one is to draw an ant hill using the marker. Next, have the child dip his/her thumb into the paint and make a thumbprint onto the construction paper. After several thumbprints are made, one can use the marker to draw 6 legs, eyes, etc for the thumbprint ants. The child is to be allowed to draw ants wherever he or she wishes within the ant hill. Toddlers love dipping their thumbs into the paint and pressing them onto the paper. They may end up using themselves as the canvas as well!letter activity
Alphabet B Letter Activity
letter activityTo teach the letter B, one can make use of the fingerprint bumble bee activity. All one needs for this activity is one sheet of construction paper and yellow child-safe acrylic paint. For the bee's body, one needs to press the child's thumb or index finger into the yellow paint and get an imprint onto the paper. For the body stripes, eyes and wings of the bee, use a black marker. Draw the eyes, stripes and wings as shown in the picture. As you and your child finish making each bee, keep repeating the word bee. This way your child has learned something at the end of the activity.letter activity
Nursery Rhyme Activity
nursery rhyme activityThese nursery rhyme activities are great to teach nursery rhymes, like, 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', 'Baa Baa Black Sheep', 'Humpty Dumpty', etc. In order to teach the nursery rhyme 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' in an interesting manner, one can try out the cotton ball sheep activity. All one needs for this activity is a sheep printout, some cotton balls and glue. Show the child how to dip the cotton ball into the glue and paste it onto the sheep template. Children find pasting activities a lot of fun. You can prepare your own homemade glue, by mixing one cup flour, with 1 cup powdered sugar. Add 1 ½ cup of water and mix, till a smooth paste is formed. Pour this mixture into the saucepan and add 1 tsp vinegar. Heat on medium heat till the consistency of the paste become glue-like thick. However, this glue may take longer to dry!
Playdough Activity
playdough activityPlaydough helps develop a child's motor movements. It also strengthens the child's muscles and prepares his or her hands for writing activities. You can either make playdough at home or purchase playdough with child-safe ingredients. Toddlers love kneading playdough and enjoy making different shapes with them. Buy some playdough tools like a rolling pin, blunt pair of scissors, etc. You can also purchase an alphabet cookie cutter kit, with which your child can practice the alphabet. You can also teach your toddler how to roll a ball of dough into an apple or orange. This way you can teach your child names and shapes of fruits. There are umpteen things you can teach with playdough. It's best to place a large plastic sheet on floor, onto which your toddler can play with the clay, thereby minimizing the amount of cleaning later on.playdough activity
Handprint Activity
handprint activityAll toddlers are bound to love this activity, after all it does permit them to get paint all over their hands. For this activity you will need a large sheet of construction paper. We are looking at a size, such that your child can comfortably sit in the center of the paper and make handprints on the paper around. If you don't manage to get such a large sheet, just tape 4-5 sheets of construction paper together. Place different shades of paint in large bowls, thereby making it convenient for your child. Then allow your child to dip his or her hand into the paint and make impressions of it on the paper. This activity is very messy, however, it's a lot of fun.handprint activity
Egg Painting Activity
egg painting activityThis is another fun activity you can carry out with your toddler. You would need hard-boiled eggs and your choice of paint. Commercial egg dyes, food colors, water-based felt pens, etc. are used to paint eggs. There are different ways to go about egg painting. You can either give your child white hard-boiled eggs and ask him or her to paint the egg with the paint. Or else, you can dye the egg first and then ask your child to make designs on it, using crayons.egg painting activity

Besides the above-mentioned crafts for toddlers, there are several other activities that one can try out. Toddlers enjoy coloring, therefore one can buy loads of coloring pages and crayons to keep them busy. One can be creative and introduce different crafts to toddlers, making learning fun for these tiny tots. For more ideas check out these craft ideas for toddlers and have fun, while your toddlers enjoy messing themselves up!