what would you include in a 2 year olds "craft" box?

[beesonmummyshead]

hi there, I am considering putting together a "craft" box for my dd 2nd birthday.

will be putting glitter paint, glue, shaped card, stickers etc in it, but wondered, what else would a 2 year old like in a craft box? And where would I get them from?

many thanks

Pipe cleaners?
Tissue paper
Safety scissors and ones that make wiggly cuts
paint and sponges to print with
Ink pad and stampers

Great kids craft sections at Wilkinsons and the Works,

Will you be supervising use of this craft box or will it just be left available for him to use by himself?

I'd suggest junk moddeling stuff (so toilet rolls, yoghurt pots etc.) and lots of masking tape. Masking tape is great as they can use it unsupervised, stick it to anything, and you can remove it later with little hassle.

Don't bother wasting loads of money on expensive 'craft' items at this age. What you've mentioned plus some masking tape and junk modelling bits will suffice.

old buttons are good for sticking on things

plastic scissors (they have no blade, but they still cut paper)
feathers
sellotape
ribbons
buttons
pieces of tinfoil
sheets of coloured plastic "paper"
small sheets of tissue paper
cheap printer paper (eg from Asda), maybe not in box, but have some available
Glue stick

We also keep old cardboard boxes, various shapes and sizes, egg cartons etc

You can buy Pritt-stick type glues that are blue when applied and then dry clear -it really helps little ones see what they're doing rather than just random glue everywhere!

blue tac

(agree with OMDB, a lot depends on whether it will be supervised Vs left to own devices)

shiny sweet wrappers (eg roses)

My 2.4 dd loves sticking anything on - glue with a paintbrush is her favourite way rather than prittstick. Pens are also very exciting, especially the ones with stamps or rollers on the end. An apron (boring mummy) is necessary!

for sticking:

coffee beans / dried pasta / rice
cut up drinking straws
cut up lace / ribbon

Air dry clay from your craft shop (dries hard without needing a kiln!) or make some playdough.

dd and ds both like sticking feathers and pom poms - I use the bottles of squeezy pva glue. Tesco have a good selection of craft items. Both lo's also have a big box of coloured felt tips and crayons and can spend ages just drawing pictures. Tesco also does coloured card which is a bit more durable than drawing paper.

pom poms
lolly sticks
googly eyes
coloured straws
felt squares

are all popular here. Also my husband found lots of different colours of the small rolls of electrical insulating tape: it's about the same size as small rolls of sellotape, but is made of rubbery type plastic and is good for decorating "artworks" as well as just sticking.

I found that my local stationers does bags of shiny things I think you are meant to sprinkle on tables for theme parties: my ds loves the dinosaur ones, but there are lots of others. (this sort of thing)

I use something like this, except it is much taller with 3 deep pull out trays. Possibly about 70cm tall?

Tray 1 - paper
Tray 2 - bits for sticking (foam pieces, feathers, tissue/glitter/shiney/coloured paper pre cut into 2 or 3 cm big pieces, cut up ribbon, pipe cleaners)
Tray 3 - pens, pencils and crayons
Standing on the top - roll of tape, glue + pot + paint brush, pritt stick

It is kept in her bedroom and she helps herself and does 'making' whenever she feels like it.

She has just turned 3, she LOVES it

Big tubs of glitter, definitely. She'll love them.

Soupdragon - I take my hat off to you, you're a braver woman than I am!

Old buttons and feathers - don't know why but they seem to lve them

I'm absolutely loving the sound of this - but are your children much tidier than mine or something? If I gave DS1 (nearly 3) all this stuff I can only imagine the madness that would ensue - have been sceptical of being crafty with him since I gave him play doh about 6 months ago and he ate most of it.

(Having said that, I think he is just turning a corner and will now colour without losing interest after 2 seconds!)

felt
tissue paper
finger paint
sorry if anyone has mentioned these

snickersnack , I said she will love them. I did not say the OP would love it quite so much nor did I say I would be so stupid kind as to let my own small child have it.

All 3 of mine have had an inordinate amount of fun from a box of torn up pieces of coloured paper.

oh my god, you all must have amazing children overmydeadbody there is no way i would even contemplate leaving dd unsupervised with craft stuff (i can feel my pulse racing and anxiety setting in at the thought of it ) my house would be glitter and glue before i could blink!!

but FAB suggestions ladies, thank you!!

soupdragon i found glitter paint today. that will be quite enough glitter in this house thank you!!

We love 'magic painting' books where you paint on with water and they change colour.

Also stickers, stickers and more stickers

I think glitter glue was designed by a mother and loose glitter by a man with no children.

We often have rainbow coloured glittery dogs in our house

We have interestingly shinny hair (glitter really was designed by a man -it doesn't wash out!)

Oh forgot - we have an open access policy with a rule that all work gets done on the plastic table cloth that LIVES on the table when not using food one (baking and glitter - not good). This stops DS from make and glueing something he shouldn't. Especially as he won't ask for help.