Exciting Art and Craft Activities for Your Tiny Tots and Toddlers

Mary Lou Cook quotes that “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

The quote above summarizes nothing else but the essence of a child’s imagination and creativity. Words will fall less even if a poet desires to describe in words the joy a toddler feels when he gets a crayon or pencil to scribble for the first time, this infuses in him a sense of achievement and opportunity to paint, whatever is in his mind.

Besides the above there are many more reasons which emphasize the importance of Art & Craft on toddlers:

• Helps improve concentration of the child
• Boosts creativity and Imagination
• Increase observation power and exploration
• Develops fine motor skills
• Improves eye-hand co-ordination
• Help energetic child to sit for longer period of times
• Chances of learning about colors and shapes

Creativity and artistry are the natural instincts possessed by every child which determines his personality and formulates his manual dexterity. There are a lot of Art & Craft Activities that can help children to develop his creative and imaginative skills.

• Crayons: The first thing parents could do is that they can provide crayons to their kids and observe a thrill in their kids when for the first time they scribble on paper and could spot various  colors and shapes coming out of it.

• Finger painting: It seems to be messy, but in real it’s one of the most pleasurable activities for the kids. At first, let them explore on their own on paper with colors. For little older kids parents  can come up with many ideas:

• Tell them to draw a rainbow with seven different colors.
• Draw an aquarium and ask your child to draw and color fishes using his thumb.
• Draw a flower and let your kid use index finger to color the petals.
• Draw an insect and ask your child to color it his thumbs and fingers.
• After some time doing this activity they will begin to draw different shapes with different sketch pens like bird, fish, hut, insects, flower, peacock etc. There can be several more such ideas, just straighten out your creative side.

• Play Dough or Clay: Kid’s love playing with dough or clay. They squeeze it, roll it, pull it, shape it and make imprints in it with different objects like keys, fingers, palms, pencils etc., and simply explore their imagination out. Non-toxic colorful play dough can be given to children as they are safer.

• Brush Painting: Many children in their third year enjoy painting with paintbrush and poster paint or water color. Here, parents can help their children by letting him do the free hand painting for some time and then drawing picture for him to color in with the help of brush and paint. Don’t forget to appreciate your child’s effort when he attempts to color into the pictures. You can also tell him to make an intriguing mirror image effect, just by painting on the one half of the paper and fold the other side. This way beautiful greeting cards can be made and shared with their peers.

• Vegetable Printing: You may be amazed to know that how various vegetables cut through root and dipped in tempera paints can be used to give some interesting patterns and pictures:

• Using Onions: Cut an onion horizontally and vertically and give it to your child. Your child can use it as stamp to stamp the paper with various colors and create wonderful patterns and art.
• Using Potato: Take a medium sized potato and cut into two halves, and carve out a design into it, this can be used by your child to stamp on paper with different colors. Similarly you can make and stamp many designs and you also can make a name stamp which your child will love to print on paper. You can also cut a potato in four pieces and your child can use it to make a flower using these pieces by holding them in different positions, you can draw leaves as well and use a vertical piece to draw the stem.
• Using Ladyfinger: You can draw a flowery bush and ask your kid to stamp the petals using cut ladyfinger, it gives spectacular patterns and the flowers designed through it look quite beautiful.

• Sponge Painting: Sponges that come in animal shapes or usual kitchen sponges that you can cut into fantastic shapes, dipped in poster paint and stamped onto paper, makes an appealing medium that is quite easy and convenient for little fingers to manage.
• String Painting: Take a number of strings of different widths and have your child dip them in paint, then drag them transversely on a large paper sheet. This way amazing pattern come up with it and when children use for colors in the pattern it looks amazing.
• Rubber Stampings: Rubber stamps comes in various animals, human being, birds, shapes sizes, and designs as well as in alphabetic and numeric shapes and when they are in the child’s hands it’s all fun for them to color with them and make different designs and patterns on the paper with the help of color – but you need to keep watching them while they are doing this activity or you may find your home decorated with these stamps all over the wall and bed covers colored with these stamps and colors.
• Chalks: Colored chalks in bright colors are appealing to most children. You just get a chalk board and see your child’s thoughts and imagination as blend of colors and patterns on that board. Colored chalks can also be used on black construction paper, your child may be delighted to find that something hold on the black background too.
• Rubbings: Put a white paper over an object that has an interesting engraved texture – a piece of bark or a coin for example. Then have your child rub a crayon or color pencil to and fro firmly on the paper to appear an enthralling effect.
• Coloring Books: Nowadays great variety of coloring books are available in the market and online stores and you are the best judge to decide which one is suitable for your child, but here are a few varieties of books available which can be real delight for your child:
• Magic Pencil Books: These books comprise white sheets and children have to rub HB lead pencil or color pencil on them, which exposes hidden pictures on those pages, it is ideal for novices as it just requires scribbling on part of children and stunning pictures come forth.
• Magic Painting: In these books, children simply have to apply water with a brush and see the magic of colors. The books are sure to mesmerize children as they experience the magic of colors budding on pages with just with the touch of their brush.
• Crayon Coloring book: These books are specifically created to introduce crayon-coloring and show children how best to make neat and attractive drawings. Colored drawings have been given on one side which serves as guidelines to draw similar pictures and color them. The child is, however, free to use his own thoughts and imagination.
• Activity Books: These books are specially designed for children to begin enjoying different forms of creative drawings, that include join the dots, puzzles, mazes, puzzles along with mazes, coloring etc., it is not only funny and enjoyable but also helpful in improving natural power of creation in the children. These books also help to arouse a child’s reasoning power and meant for grown-up children.
• Wipe & Clean Activity Books: These books allow a child to make mistakes, wipe them away and try the activity or puzzle again. It is really an enjoyable and very simple way to learn for the kids.
• Paper Models Books: These books facilitates simple cutouts inside just to fold and paste them according to instructions and they will be pleased to see beautiful butterflies, racing car, boat, houses, aeroplane and several other marvelous objects made by them. These books help the kids to develop observation power, imagination and construction skills.
• Collages: With this medium a child can make a lot of things and lot of designs. Bits of fabric, feathers, macaroni, seeds, beans, beads and buttons, clippings from magazines, glitter, and other lightweight household material can be used and with the help of nontoxic glue they can pasted and then a great collage is ready. Similarly leaves, acorns, twigs, small pine cones, small stones, sand, can be painted or otherwise adorned on paper or cardboard collage.
• Origami: Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding to create interesting objects of different shapes. It is both exciting and enjoyable to find how, with the help of a piece of paper, one can create almost endless items of different shapes. This fascinating activity provides plenty scope to the creative talents of children and offers long term entertainment and fun to them.
• Scissors: Older children like to practice cutting paper with scissors. These days, children safe scissors are available online. These scissors are specially designed lest the children get hurt.