It goes without saying, all kids love coloring and painting, but there are some who REALLY love creating artwork (I was one of those)! There is nothing wrong with giving your child a coloring book and crayons or a little easel and a paint set to go ham on, but if you are looking to expand your toddler’s art options beyond that (thus developing their creativity and motor skills even more) try these five activities…
Before you start…
Consider this tip: start a “Scrap Box” by taking a storage tub and as you come across things that could potentially make great craft and activity supplies toss them in there. Mine has just about everything you can think of like toilet paper rolls, pieces of wire, oatmeal cannisters, cleaned out yogurt cups, scraps of paper collected in a plastic bag, packing paper, egg cartons, etc. I found that by doing this, some forethought, and lots of imagination, there was very little I had to buy except basic art supplies (crayons, markers, paint, etc), and thanks to all the the packing paper my husband and I put aside, I rarely have to buy kraft paper for drawing, painting, and other projects.
Streams of Color Pan Painting
Teaches/Reinforces: Cause & effect, color mixing or color theory, adhesion & cohesion of water (how water behaves), fine motor skills
What you need:
- A clean disposable roasting pan
- Thick sketch pad paper (or glue a few sheets of regular paper together to make one thick piece)
- non-toxic paint of at least 4 colors
- a paintbrush
- a small cup of water (only fill about 1/3 of the cup or less)
- optional: an eyedropper
- optional: two pieces of tape
Step 1: Roll up the tape to the top and bottom of the paper so that you can stick the paper to the bottom of the pan. Make sure to leave a little room at the top of the pan – that will be where you put your paint in the next step.
Step 2: Put little globs of each color paint, side by side, in one row at one side of the pan (not on the paper, on the actual pan just above the paper).
Step 3: Hold the pan up at an angle for your child, colors & paper facing your child. Have your child put the eyedropper into the cup to fill it with water. You can also skip the eyedropper and have your child be careful to pour a little water over each color glob. Watch the colors run down in streams, you can ask if your child wants you to tilt the pan back and forth to get more dynamic streams of color – this is their masterpiece!
Step 4: Lay the pan flat on the table and have your child take a brush and express their creativity with the streams of color, the remaining globs of paint, and the little pool of water that collected on one side of the pan. Once your child is done, put away the cup and eyedropper, carefully lift the paper from the pan and lay it out to dry. At this point, you can choose to rinse out the pan and save it for another activity (or use it as your new paint palette!) or just toss it in the garbage.
Bonus Step: Once your child’s masterpiece is completely dry, you can glue it onto a piece of construction paper or poster board fitted to “frame” your child’s stream painting. I like to use black, but it’s really up to you and your child. Enjoy!
Fizzy Dinosaur Egg
Teaches/Reinforces: Basic chemistry, dinosaur facts, fine motor skills
What you need:
(makes approximately 2-3 eggs, depending on size of each dinosaur toy)
- Little plastic dinosaurs
- Baking soda (8 oz. box)
- 1/4 cup of water (for making “egg” paste)
- 1 cup of water (for the big reveal)
- a long mixing spoon
- 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar
- 2-3 medium bowls for each color you want to make your egg – bowls will be for incorporating ingredients (tip: use glass so it doesn’t stain from food coloring)
- mixing bowl or some other large container (for hatching the eggs)
- about a teaspoon of dish soap
- Food coloring
- Parchment paper
- small cookie sheet or some kind of pan
- Rubber gloves (or else the food coloring will stay on your hands for days)
- Optional: glitter and/or small confetti
Step 1: Take your baking soda and pour equal amounts into each medium bowl.
Step 2: Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl.
Step 3: Working on one medium bowl at a time, slowly add water to each bowl. Make sure to use your spoon to stir as you pour water into the bowls. You want the consistency of a grainy paste similar to kinetic sand (example of kinetic sand here and here).
Step 4: Take a small handful of your homemade “kinetic sand” or paste and begin squishing and rolling it into a ball. Take a dinosaur and press it into the ball. Add more paste to the top and sides until the entire dinosaur is encased. Optional: before completely encasing the dinosaur, add some glitter and and/or confetti and press into the paste. Besure not to add too much confetti because it might create tiny gaps in your “egg” mold, making it easily breakable before your big reveal. Also optional: try taking some paste of a different color and press it into varying areas of your “egg” to make it more colorful.
Step 5: Lay parchment paper onto your cookie sheet and place your dinosaur egg on the parchment paper. Now place the cookie sheet to set the eggs in the freezer for at least 2 hours (overnight is best).
Step 6: Put dish soap to the bottom of your large mixing bowl or container (glass preferred so it does not stain and so you can see the big reveal from all angles). Now pour the vinegar into the bowl and fill the bowl with 1 cup of water.
Step 7: Take the eggs out of the freezer and place one into the large bowl and watch it fizz. For some extra tactile fun, give your child a large mixing spoon to stir the egg around to help their dinosaur hatch faster. If you prepared these yourself ahead of time, try to have your child guess which dinosaur is going to hatch and once the dino is revealed, look up some cool facts about the dinosaur. Enjoy!
Flowery Lion’s Mane
What you need:
- a large, plain paper plate
- Yellow construction paper (1-2 sheets)
- Non-toxic glue
- a fine point knife or scissors, X-acto, or artist’s blade pen
- A black sharpie for you OR a non-toxic marker for the Little
- Go outside and collect some pretty flowers!
Step 1: Cut your construction paper to create a big circle that will fit over your paper plate. Make sure to leave about a 1/2 – 1 inch of space around the outer rim of the plate (this is where you will be poking holes). Optional: Cut a piece of construction paper into two small circles for little ears for your lion.
Step 2: Glue your big yellow circle onto your plate (the side of the plate that normally sits on a table).
Step 3: With your knife, carefully create tiny holes, about 1/2 inch apart from each other. Make the holes wide enough for flower stems to fit through but small enough so that the flowers stay snug in the holes once poked through.
Step 4: You can use a sharpie or have your child use a marker to draw the lion’s eyes, nose and mouth.
Step 5: Have your child insert the flowers into the holes, one stem to one hole at a time. You might have to show him or her how to do it a couple of times until they are comfortable with doing it themselves. When complete, you have a cute lion mask with a beautiful flower mane!
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