toddler arts and crafts

[rosiejoy]

im desperately looking for suggestions. i have ds 2.10 and dd 1.7. yesterday i almost bought this book but decided against it- after reading some of the comments and looking at her blog i thought, hey .i am creative type, i dont need a book!

but it turns out i am wrong cos i have serious mental block.....

id love to hear your ideas and things you have made with your children. i dont have masses of time to make things for them on my own, im really looking for things they can do, with or without help, that they can get some satisfaction from, not so difficult as to be frustrating for them.

thanks in advance!

if anyone else is interested so far i found this

what do you want to do Rosie... let them play or do you want them to achieve (make?) something?

play-dough

paints

paints with an assortment of kitchen utensils

sticking - cut up wrapping paper or magazines or coloured paper

glitter glue

chalk and blackboards

At the ages you say, I do think that they would still benefit greatly from having you sit and create with them instead of leaving them to experiment independently.

yes it depends if you want results!
i'd second kiwibella's suggestions above.

i find letting kids play with playdough works well for me as i can supervise and do dishes or bake at the same time.

how about making up some icing and letting them ice biscuits/cakes you've bought or made lots of fun and they can add sprinkles and sweets - nice'n'messy!

For toddlers (and older kids too) have a go at potato printing -Make your own art with this super fun technique! Perfect summer holiday fun with kids

thanks for all the suggestions.

kiwibella- yes they do still really need help with it, i spose i just want them to enjoy that sense of satisfaction from their own input too.

im not worried about having beautiful things theyve made to keep, more about wanting to find things to stimulate them really. i 'leave them to it' a lot when they are playing with their toys, so its something i can get involved with too and give them so real attention.

for the elder child i found a really fun project- cut holes in an egg box, tie ribbon to a teaspoon, and then they can 'sew' the spoon through the holes in the eggbox. he really enjoyed this, and was really proud when he was showing his dad and brothers what he'd 'made'. thats what im after really, i dont mind making a mess, just want them to be happy and anything that helps them be confident and they feel proud of themselves for doing.

thanks again for the suggestions. im going to cut out pictures from old magazines tonight and the inevitable rainyday tommorow we can spend the afternoon sticking them to make pictures.

This site has a lot of ideas for things to do, you can search by age too.

brilliant site, internationalbeeboo! Bookmarked by me, thanks