Can anyone help me with some toddler craft ideas for the following themes...

[Pennies]

Weather & Seasons (esp Autumn)
UK wild animals
Common birds
Food
Instruments
Fish & Sealife
Family

I have a large playroom that I want to decorate with craft stuff that the children have done but my skills just p[retty much extend to printing pictures of whatever we're into off from the internet and them colouring them in / scribbling everywhere but within the outline. Some of the stuff I see done at nursery looks such fun and I'd love to try and recreate that at home but don't know where to start.

Also if anyone could recommend a book to help with ideas that would be great.

TIA

[tassisssss]

we've done lovely autumn trees...you paint a trunk for the LOs and get them to put hand prints round the top for branches in yellow/red/orange colours

then finger prints along the bottom for fallen leaves

[Sunshinemummy]

What about making things from natural items in a pre-printed outline, e.g. give them an outline of birds and feathers to stick in. Or what about making pictures using leaves in different colours collected during autumn? Fish and sealife pics could be mae with silver paper (shame you don't get milk bottles with foil tops anymore if you see what I mean).

[cluelessnchaos]

fish and sealife, we made fish out of old blank cds, bit of glitter glue, wobbly eye, cardboard in app places, and you can hang in a mobile

[Sunshinemummy]

Also, again in a collage theme, for food what about cutting food pics out of mags and letting the toddlers choose ones to stick to something?

[PandaG]

also fish - heavily crayon fish and seaweed on white paper, paint over with dilute blue paint, the fish will still show through.

[Niecie]

I use the Usborne Big Book of Playtime Activities for the toddler group I help organise. That has lots of animals, fish and birds in it.

For food you could get a paper plate and make food out of tissue paper or alternatively, stick on food pictures you have cut out of magazines (supermarket free ones would do)

[Niecie]

For seasons, snow scenes or snowmen using cotton wool. Cut out paper umbrellas and decorate with glitter and stickers.

Actually we do a lot of decorating basic shapes with glitter and stickers - always goes down well and suits all ages.

[MingMingtheWonderPet]

Instrument
Empty plastic bottle. Fill with lentils, rice, pearl barley, pasta etc etc and then decorate bottle.
Voila!

Empty box with elastic band pulled over it to strum.

[lucykate]

family - decorate wooden pegs to make a peg doll of each family member

uk wild animals - make an animal sock puppet