Crafts for Preschoolers

Hello L.,
I am a family child care provider and most of my activities are hands on and based on art or science. Have you tried "Mailbox", you can order a montly sub. or get the yearbook. Also online. Tons of great craft ideas and more. Another good one is a mag. "Family Fun". I have lots of ideas but need a better idea of the topic. Feel free to email me with theme or topic. ____@____.com

I'm a Mom of three, 15,19, and 22. Family child Care provider for 8 years. Married 24 years.

I know this answer is late since you posted in April but my friend's daycare used Smarty Crafts. She gets the parents to buy the kits each month and the kids to the crafts together. The kits are great b/c all the materials are provided and educational. check it out. www.smartycrafts.com

My kids are currently 2 1/2 and 3 1/2. Here are some crafts I've done with them in the past year. You can let the older kids simply be creative or you can give them more specific instuctions appropriate for their age.

Gluing pompoms - I gave one child the lid to a shallow box and the other the bottom of the box. We called them picture frames. They glued different colored and sized pompoms into the lid in random order. Then I attached a string and gave them to the grandmas who hung them on their walls. I also made snowflake shapes out of popsicle sticks and the kids glued white, blue and gray pompoms to them. In both instances I put a little bit of Elmer's glue on a plate so they could dip the pompoms into the glue. (Older kids could be asked to make a flower, rainbow, animal, etc.)

Stickers - We put spring themed stickers on plastic cups to use as vases for Easter flowers. (Older kids may be able to spell out their names or words with alphabet stickers.) Foam stickers are fun, but my youngest has only recently just learned how to peel off the backing without getting frustrated. As an alternative, they make foam shapes without the sticky backs that could be used with glue.

Painting - We painted small rocks to put in our garden. We've painted pictures on paper with watercolors and fingerpaints and we've used brushes, cottom swabs, cotton balls, sponges, etc.

Stampers - My kids love stampers. We make holiday signs, cards, etc. I recently found "rolling stampers" at a dollar store. They love how they can make a whole line of little stamped images. I buy kid-friendly ink pads with washable ink.

Caryola Color Wonder products - My kids (and older neices and nephews) are amazed at how the colors magically appear. They have finger paints that are nice because they are "no mess". I pull those out when they really want to finger paint but we have only a little bit of time or I can't supervise as closely as I would with regular paints.

Scratch Art - I found these on the Oriental Trading website. They are pieces of paperboard with a black, wax-like coating. You scratch off the black coating to reveal the colors underneath. They come with pointy scratching tools but you could also use popsicle sticks. We chose the heart shaped ones to use as valentines, but they come in a variety of shapes.

Play doh - My kids will play with this for hours. They love to be creative. They have a variety of "tools" to use.

Have fun!

Go to cbd.com (christian book distributors) and look up child craft books, they have some nice ones and they usually have nice discounts.

Something fun (and not terrible costly) that my 3 year old son recently enjoyed was we purchased small terra cotta clay pots (lowes, walmart, ect) and he painted them with acrlic water based paint and I sealed them with spray afterwards. They will be Mothers Day presents for Grandmas, and his Aunt it was fun and I think age appropriate for both your children.

Good Luck.

one thing i can think of for both ages are the stick on letters and pieces that you peel the backs off of and put on paper, felt, door hangers, etc. many of the dollar stores sell them in packs as well as craft stores and walmart. my daughter is now 6 going on 7 and she still LOVES to do them. they come in many different styles, items and colors and they do not require any glue and they came. oddly enough, i forget what they are called but they are spongy like and you peel off the white backing and they self-stick to things. you can make sooooo many different items with them and they stick on almost anything. we use them all the time and even 2 year olds can do them.

Have you tried googling "preshcool crafts"? You will find TONS of great websites with lots of craft projects! Good luck!

Try your local library, they have a kids and usually a homeschooling area that has books for young children. The preschools books my library ahs are great for kids at home to do crafts and still be learning songs and things.

Some of the crafts that my 2 yr old brings home from daycare are paintings using various techniques like ice cubes, cotton balls and the neatest one was marbles rolled in blobs of finger paint. The toddlers will probably enjoy just seeing the colors and the mess, and the older kids will probably get a kick out of seeing how the pictures change with different "tools". Other things that I have found interesting are those foam craft kits that you can probably cut out yourself. That may be good for the different ages again because of the many options that the kids can create. Hope this helps.

http://www.crayola.com/

Hi L., check out the Family Fun website .. they have a wide range of crafts, and you can tailor them to the ages of the kids ...

Perfect for you, go to
www.orientaltrading.com
Request a catalog, they have a few different ones a year. Anyway, they have a ton of ideas and crafts prepackaged, cheap and in large quantities. I used to work at a public school with special needs kids and I got these all the time. Some of the favorties where the foam crafts, many differents ones and they go with the holidays, but its mostly just glueing or pasting parts togther. And then they older ones can color with markers and stickers or something. You just cna't beat the price and quantities! Good luck, Jennifer

Check out the Family Fun magazine! It has tons of great craft ideas, snacks, etc! My favorite magazine!!!

http://www.dltk-kids.com/

I've found a lot of cool ideas online at familyfun.com. Check into that - you can search on there by age/age groups. Hope this helps. God bless!

E.

Hi L., There are tons of things you can do with glue and bits and pieces!! My girls loved making "spoon puppets". I would go to the dollar store and buy a bag of wooden spoons or plastic spoons that were shapped like wooden spoons, get some eyes, felt, pipecleaners, hair, whatever. You can find everything you need between the dollar store and michaels, walmart, joannes. I liked to pick a story and make puppets to go with. I recommend the gold bottled tacky craft glue it's just as cheap as elmers but works better on crafts. My girls also liked making christmas orniments for family and friends (you can start those projects now for next christmas). Kids also like making matching t-shirts to wear on outtings. WE did this every year in scouts! I would buy white boy undershits and a different color fabric paint for each child (the small $1 sized bottles) First you line the t-shirts up on a big table, then you put the paint on a paper plate and have the child put his hand in it and put his/her hand print on each shirt. Make sure you have a layer of waxed paper or newspaper in the middle of the shirt so the color doesn't seep through to the back. I always pre-painted the year or the troup number on the shoulder as well as lined them. It takes 24 hours for the paint to dry enough for the shirt to be worn or washed. As a leader I would buy myself and my co-leader white polo shirts and have the kids do those as well so we could all match. The kids loved them and wore them even when they didn't have to...and they are great keepsakes. You can find great projects in the Brownie badge book, The Idiot's guide to Crafts with Kids, as well as many other great craft books and magazines. Have fun, and think outside of the box! Even with glue, paper and your kitchen spice rack you can find fun and education too!! Best wishes