After having a lot of trouble finding activities suitable for my two year old I decided to write them down. The age in parenthesis is when we did them together. They might be possible earlier.
Drawing with crayons
Finger Painting
Painting
Tissue box guitar - take an empty tissue box and some rubber bands of different thickness and length. Help your baby string the rubber bands over the box (careful!) and then let them play it (supervised ofcourse). Take the box away when not in use the rubber bands could snap their fingers, could break and be choked on, or they might eat the box.
Empty toilet paper rolls (2 or more)
Box cutter (or scissors)
Paint, brushes
Double sided tape
Short pieces of ribbon, tape, non chokable decorative stuff
Twine
Cut each toilet roll in half.
Help your child paint the outside of each roll. (We did each in a different colour and we did two rolls per day!)
Allow the paint to dry.
Tape several strips of double sided tape to the painted rolls and help your child to stick the decorative stuff on.
Thread the twine through the completed pieces, tie a BIG knot at the end and staple the twine to each roll. Leave twine to pull along the caterpillar. (Only use under supervision due to strangulation hazard if twine is long.)
Don't use metallic cookie cutters the acid will corrode them - recipe at http://www.kraftfoods.com/jello-recipes/jello_04.html
Tropical Birds (2yrs with a lot of help)
Assorted feathers
2 pipe cleaners
2 medium beads
2 eyes
1 styrafoam ball (about 2")
Glue
Suction cups (I used modelling clay)
Take one pipe cleaner and bend it in half. Put glue on the bended end and stick it into the styrafoam ball. This will form the legs. String a bead onto each leg.
Stick feathers into the ball to form tail, wings, body etc. Glue should not be needed.
Cut a piece of pipe cleaner, about 3" long, make a hook at the end and bend over to form the head. Stick the other end of the pipe cleaner into the ball to form the neck and head.
Take a feather with a long stem and cut it to have about 1cm of feather (in addition to the stem). Glue this piece to the head to form the beak.
Take two small feathers and stick them on either side of the head and then glue on the eyes. Add feathers as desired.
This bird is very wobbly. The paper where I got the idea from suggested using suction cups for the feet. No directions were given. Since I didn't have any I used modelling clay and stuck the metal into them.
Penne works well. Use a thick thread with tape wrapped around the end of the string (or ribbon) to make threading easy. Make sure the taped length is longer than the pasta used.
I've heard you can colour the pasta using food colouring by putting food colouring in a zip lock bag then placing the pasta inside, sealing the bag and shaking. Haven't tried it.
Painted the pasta individually with gel food colour and a paint brush. works well, bright colours.
Self drying modelling clay (purchased ours at flax)
Beads, sequins, etc. (non-flamable)
Tea light or taper
Take a lump of clay and form it into a ball.
Press the candle into the middle and mold the clay to the desired shape. Adding a bit of water to your hands while molding will create a smoother surface and soften up the clay.
Press the beads and sequins into the clay to decorate. Allow a couple of days to dry.
construction paper
box cutter
transparent contact paper (available from hardware stores)
torn up, tiny pieces of tissue
also have used glitter, sequins
tape
In advance: fold the construction paper into 4 to create the size of a card. On the front of the card, through both layers of paper) cut out a shape (have used diamonds, turtles, hearts) using a box cutter will make the edges sharper.
Cut out two pieces of contact paper large enough to cover your cut out. Remove the back on one of them and give it to your child to place tissue and stuff on it as they wish. open up the other contact paper and place it on top. press down firmly.
Now place this work of art between the two papers where the cut out is and tape it down. Voila stain glass window card.
Just make the contact paper as in step 2 above and then cut it into a shape. punch a hole at the top and string a ribbon through it. Looks great hung on a window. Possibly good as a Christmas tree decoration.
Use pressed flowers instead of tissue on either of the above (did this with a2 yr. 2month old and worked fine)
Make it into a book mark.
An adult needs to do the cutting and hole poking. To make the holes it is easier if you fill the hollow of the egg carton with clay, plastacine, etc and then poke them . Have the kids paint on one day and then let them dry overnight.
http://crafts.kaboose.com/egg-carton-spiders.html
Construction paper
Glue
Glitter etc.
Newspaper
Cut out the shape of a Christmas tree on green construction paper. Line the table with newspaper. Your child can apply glue either with a glue stick (mine hate this) or put some Elmer's glue into a yogurt cup lid and give them a large paint brush. Then give them the glitter. IMPORTANT: remove the glue and brush from the vicinity and place a clean newspaper under the tree. allow them to pour the glitter onto the glue. let them pour as much as they like. then tap off the excess from the tree, fold the newspaper and pour the excess glitter back into the pot. Repeat.
You can also draw on the tree, but do this first.
Also stick other things on the tree like cut out felt, tissue, etc. but do this after drawing and before glitter.
Empty toilet paper rolls (2 or more)
Box cutter (or scissors)
Red, Gold wrapping paper (or other)
Double sided tape
Glue
Short pieces of ribbon, tape, non chokable decorative stuff
Twine
Cut each toilet roll in half.
Cut out a rectangular sheet of paper about an inch larger than needed to cover the roll.
Stick two strips of double sided tape along the length of the tube and use this to stick the paper on the tube.
Push the paper into the tubes at the two ends.
Using glue stick some decorative stuff on the rolls.
Thread the twine through the completed pieces, tie a BIG knot at the end and staple the twine to each roll. Leave twine to pull along the Dragon. (Only use under supervision due to strangulation hazard if twine is long.)
We added bobbly eyes to our dragons. Here's how I made them: two small balls of white playdoh, very fine wire (I cut some off the edging of sparkly red ribbon and left the ribbon covering on it). Stick one end of the wire through the middle of the playdoh ball and then make the rest of the wire into a spring. I found it a good idea to wrap the wire once around the outside of the ball too. Let the playdoh dry and then if you like you can draw eye balls on!
These are great because they get cut after they are baked and the kids can eat the crumbs. To optimise the number of cookies cut either use a heart shape or a boring geometrical shape.
Makes about 1 dozen
1 cup (2 sticks, 8oz) unsalted butter softened
3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar, icing sugar)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped dried cranberries
1. Preheat oven to 325 F with rack in center. Put butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt in large mixing bowl. Stir together with a wooden spoon (or tiny hands!) until combined but not too creamy. Stir in dried cranberries.
2. Press dough evenly into an 8-inch baking pan (if you line it with parchment paper it will make life a lot easier). Bake until firm and pale golden, about 30 mins. Let cool on a wire rack, about 20 mins. Run a knife around edges; remove shortbread, and transfer, right side up, to work surface. Cut out hearts witha 2-inch heart-shape cookie cutter (only sturdy metal ones cut the cranberries, plastic ones may be disaster). Trim any stray bits of cranberry from edges witha paring knife (if you have patience and time). Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days (tasted okay 2 weeks later!).
Martha Stewart - holiday cookies
NOTE: I had to grab the cookies away as soon as they were cut else they got pulverised.
Self drying modelling clay (purchased ours at flax)
Beads, sequins, etc.
Acrylic paint, paint brush
Adhesive magnets
Take a small lump of clay. Mold it into any shape but make sure the back is flat (this can be done by pressing it down on a flat surface).
Press beads, sequins, etc. into the clay. Allow to dry.
Once dry you can paint them, if desired, with acrylic paint. And/or glaze with clear nail polish (haven't tried this).
Allow to dry and then place a magnet on the back.
This is an on going project with my 3 year old. We take a letter from the sinhala alphabet (phonetic), I write it large in the middle of a colourful piece of construction paper, then we go through a stack of pictures (carefully selected and cut out in advance), identify them, and decide if they begin with the letter we are doing. If not they go back in the envelope, if they do she glues them on to the construction paper. We hang them on the wall and go over them when she is interested.
Probably possible to do with many other alphabets but I think it is easier to do with a phonetic one at this age.
Self drying modelling clay (purchased ours at flax)
Acrylic paint (non-toxic)
Spaghetti
Skewers
Saucers (use as many as you have colours. We used yogurt cup lids)
Paint brushes (to make it easier use as many as you have colours)
Make balls (or any shape) with the clay. use a drop of water to make the surface smooth. Pierce with a skewer and allow to dry.
Place dried bead on spaghetti and hold it while your child paints the bead. use a different spaghetti for each colour. spaghetti is not very strong don't over load. If you are worried about the beads falling off use a ball of clay (any type) at the end of the spaghetti.
Place spaghetti with beads over a bowl to dry.
May need a second coating.
For a shinny finish try clear nail polish (havent tried it yet).
We strung ours on beading elastic and made bracelets.
NOTE: At just 3 yrs. my daughter needed quite a bit of help to make the beads. It wasnt that she couldnt but more that she wanted to play with the clay! When drying with spaghetti if the noodle gets too wet it will soak and break inside the bead hole.
Birtday cards (or any other occassion):
card stock, large sticker, fancy paper, sequins, glitter, glue, jewels
cut card stock to appropriate size and bend in half. cut a rectangular piece of the fancy paper about 2cm smaller in dimensions from the front of the card stock and stick it on the front. stick the sticker on the middle. glue 4 jewels t the four corners of the fancy paper. randomly decorate with sequins. Write childs name with glue and sprinkle glitter on top. leave to dry.
card stock, large round sequins, colourful cloth
make card from card stock. Cut petals from the colourful cloth. paste a sequin in the middle of the front of the card and stick cloth petals around it.
gift tags:
card stock, gouache paint, glitter, pipe cleaner, sequins, glue
cut card stock into an appropriate shape (we made christmas balls and trees). Paint it with gouache and leave to dry. stick sequins on to decorate. apply glue round the edges and sprinkle with glitter. tape on a hook made with pipe cleaner (could use thread or ribbon too).
Need help? More details? Send me an email