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Good sites/resources/projects for crafts/art/sensory play for young toddlers?



Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:34:52 -0600 misc.kids
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Donna Metler...
Geee, what a convoluted subject line! Anyway, I'm looking for various
activities I can do with a young toddler/older baby. She's not quite up to
most of what I find when I search on "Toddler crafts" (for example, she's
not up to pasting pieces of paper together which seems to be a common theme
in toddler activities), but she is up to picking up a marker and scribbling
with it (when it's not in her mouth), likes playing with food (so would
probably really like playdough or a safe clay), etc.

Chookie...
Um, there you go. Playdough and drawing. Try different media -- big fat
crayons and big fat textas are good. And Duplo. Why do you need lots of
different activities?


toto...
There are plenty of websites, but here are some activities.

Remember that process is more important with toddlers than product,
so don't worry if you can't save a product to look at.

Fingerpainting is always good. Get the shiny fingerpainting paper
and some fingerpaints and let her paint. She can do this on an
easel if you have one. It's actually better for toddlers to use an
easel for fine motor coordination.

Shaving cream or whipped cream on a flat surface is fun too.
Or you can paint with chocolate pudding too - makes a mess,
but lots of fun.

Clean mud is fun - toilet paper and ivory soap shavings and water
make this concoction.

Playdough is great. You can make your own (lots of recipes
and I can post some if you wish). Toddlers can help make the
dough and you can vary it with different textures by adding
glitter, sand, uncooked rice, etc. You can also make it smell
nice by adding spices or dry koolaid.

Make rubbings by placing something with a nice flat design
under the paper and showing her how to use the side of the
crayon to make the design come out.

Use stickers. Great for fine motor in terms of pealing the
stickers off to place on paper (be creative, stick the stickers
on your nose or hand or other places as well).

Get contact paper, tape it to the table sticky side up and let
her paste cut out paper to make a collage.

For gluing, try glue sticks instead of glue with a paint brush
or use the tap n glue top for a glue bottle that lets little ones
get only a dot of glue out.

Get those paint with water books (no mess and fun, but
you have to figure out which brands work best - some are
very poor in quality).

You can also paint with water outside on the car or side of
the house just to pretend.

Get some squirt bottles and put in water and a little bit of
paint to color it - then paint on the snow if you have a
snowstorm or tape up a big piece of paper and squirt
paint on it.

Use sidewalk chalk to draw on construction paper (you can
have her dip it in water to make a darker mark)

Let her try cutting even if she isn't coordinated at it yet. If
you hold the paper she may be able to get some cuts. You
can use narrow paper and let her cut all the way across
it to make the pieces for a collage.

Paste things other than paper, like macaroni or pieces of
rice, etc. She can stick her finger in the glue to put the glue
on the paper - glue made of flour and water works fine and
is non-toxic.

Try marble painting. Put paper in the bottom of a square
or rectangular pan that has reasonable sides on it. Dip a
marble in paint and let her tip the pan around to paint on
the paper.

Or dip some little cars in paint and let her move them around
on the paper to make tracks.

Use sponges to paint - I cut up a sponge into several smaller
pieces, but you can buy sponge shapes like animals and
letters.

Use stamp pads. This takes a little strength, but that will
develop as she uses them. There are lots of different stamps
you can get for her to stamp with (you can also get markers
that stamp instead of being used as traditional markers or
get bingo markers and she can stamp circles to her heart's
content).

Try putting paper on a plastic tray and putting metal objects
in some paint on the tray, then moving a magnet wand around
under the paper to create a painting.
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