What 'equipment' do I need for crafts with toddler, please?

[Birdiegirl]

Sorry this has probably been done to death but I need your help as I am the most uncreative person ever.

DD is 2.5, and I want to gather up stuff for her so she can mess about and make things basically. Also I'm 8 weeks pregnant and feel as rough as a badgers behind so I'm hoping I can supervise whilst lying on the sofa

So far on my list I have:-

Glue stick
Old magazines - for cutting up
Toilet roll inserts
Coloured paper
A4 paper

Also planning a visit to Wilkie's and maybe Hobbycraft to get some other bits - any recommendations?

Also what do you use to store all the bits and bobs in? And can you give me a few ideas of what to make, please?

Sorry about all the questions, but I genuinely have no clue what to do. And I feel really guilty as poor dd has been overdosed on Cbeebies the last few days as I'm not fit for much at the moment.

Thank you.

Stickers - hearts, stars, dots, whatever you can get.
Pre cut shapes (foam or card)
Coloured paper and card
Paper plates (useful for doing food related things and masks)

Googly eyes
Masses of newspaper to protect furniture from paint
Floor cloth for when things get knocked over
Old lentils and pasta to glue onto things

Thanks Cindy, I'm making a list and hopefully get out of my pyjamas to the shops this afternoon!

We're currently watching Mr Maker, but this time I'm actually paying attention to him

Thanks Tunip, good advice!

I too do lots of cutting out from magazines! Old birthday cards are good for this too!
I would recommend going to some of the bargain shops (homebargains/ B&M/ poundland)
Last time got a 20 pack of coloured card for 89p and 4 x glue sticks also 89p!

I bought an offcut of oilcloth from the local haberdashery to use as a table protector (newspaper goes very soggy with paint!) cost about £1.

Got some cheap finger paints and a big fat brush, also do potato stamps (really basic shapes!)

bags of pom poms and feathers are good too. Glitter (if you can stand the mess!), crayons, pens, coloured card. squeezy pva glue might stick things on better.

yy to paper plates too, good for paints/ glue and painting on!

A Hoover

Cloths and cleaning spray

A strong constitution.

(Get glitter glues, not glue and glitter!)

Poundland have loads of stuff, card, paper, stickers, pom poms, pipe cleaners, premade craft kits with a bit of everything. Mine is a bit younger but just sticks foam shapes, pom poms etc onto paper with flour glue.

Buy
Pva glue
Paint brush
Paint - red yellow blue as basic
Paper
Plastic scissors

Round the house
Toilet rolls
Lolly sticks
Old magazines
Cotton wool
Old material

Wilkos has a lot of good stuff too, I have seen kits but haven't had a good look whats in them.

3yo DS1 loves glue in a pot with a spreader rather than pritt stick. If I have him just that and a bit of paper he'd be happy for ages!

I got some tissue paper and cut into small squares for him to glue onto stuff. Also some sparkly sequins, little foam shapes, stickers, pom-poms, etc. I'll collect some dry fallen leaves on our next walk for him to glue as well, and pine cones to cover in glue and glitter. He also likes tubes of glitter glue, which cuts back on the mess from glitter. Actually, reading this I'm starting to worry that he has a thing for glue! He just really likes sticking stuff!

Definitely get a large plastic mat/sheet for spillage so you haven't got to drag the Hoover out when you're not feeling so great.

For Christmas I've got a book from the book people, which is full of paper chains to cut out and stick. He'll love it, and will give me time to get in with other stuff mnetting

For storage, I've just got plastic boxes with lids. One for the paints, one for sticky on bits, one for paper, etc.
Something else he likes is paint and foam stampers. Got a set of dinosaur stamps for £1 from wilko a while back. Just put a bit of paint on a paper plate and off they go.

I got the paint and pots from wilkos alomg with a tub of assorted paint brushes and rollers.

A large roll of paper from IKEA (kids section) rolled out along the (washable) floor for dd to paint/footprint/handprint on.

Paper plates to stick stuff on.

Safety scissors for them to experiment with.

Googly eyes, pom poms, stickers, pva glue.

Oh and download the Pinterest app for lots of craft toddler ideas.

I use a 'really useful box' for storage - the ones with clip down lids that little fingers won't get into so easily and if it's knocked over the lid won't fall off and spread stuff everywhere!

Ooh think why haven't I thought of Pinterest before for toddler craft! What a fab idea!

Lots of museums and galleries do craft sessions free on weekends and afternoons so you can get ideas and some practice (and avoid the mess at home). Have a look on here for stuff that's going on at the moment www.thebigdraw.org/

and if you look online there are lots of websites with craft sections that give instructions too
www.lollizoo.com/do/
and www.thecraftycrow.net/

Ikea have some painting bibs too which are great for protecting their clothes. I have a few boxes in a cabinet.
Painting. I keep empty yogurt pots to make up new colours and then chuck after painting session.

Oilcloth for table.
Another box for crafty stuff. Sequins, pom poms, card, empty cereal boxes, yarn, buttons, pva glue and a glue stick, child scissors, stampers.

There is a tub of crayons and markers that stays permanently on the end of the kitchen table, with colouring books and paper.

I know you've got old magazines but how about an Argos book?

Poundland & the likes do plastic table cloths, these are fantastic for covering tables or floors for crafts, I would also recommend using a tray & encourage them to Do there craft on the tray as its a good habit to get them into,& helps cut down on the mess :)

At 2.5, I would be wary of anything that might be a choking hazard & would avoid things like googly eyes for this reason & I think most 2.5 yr olds would struggle to use scissors as they don't yet have the finger dexterity

Play dough is good at this age & if you google, there's plenty of tutorials out there on how to make your own.

salt-dough is another good one for this age & again make your own - this will dry & can be painted

You can get cheap sets of plastic rolling pins, cutters & moulds she can use these to make the shapes, which can be dried & painted later, we used to use ice cream tubs for putting glitter in for dipping & coating her creation in PVA craft glue & then dip in the glitter for a sparkly creation - with salt dough we added hanging loops too & we still have some of these as Xmas tree decorations 10 yrs later :)

Other than that, paints, brushes & lots of paper & bar the paper plates, personally I Would save the rest until a little older as she will struggle on her own

HTH

Excuse typos & poor grammar, my iPad has a mind if it's own right now & Im having trouble with this site flickering & changing page too

I agree that magazines etc are good, but for now get her to tear shapes, or cut shapes for her to save her frustration & upset

For the age of your LO, I would advise keeping the activities very simple, and only bring out one or two things at a time. And step away from the glitter!

The Imagination Tree is amazing. You can find her here and on Facebook.