Easy Toddler Crafts

Crafting is a great way for toddlers and their parents to have fun together. It's a great way to fight boredom and teach your child important skills. You can almost certainly find enough materials around the house to help your child create something, so there's no reason that your child can't craft any time he wishes to.

Here's some Toddler Craft Ideas to get you started:

* Paper bag puppets - This craft is fun to make and fun to play with when it's done. Your child can make a simple one that requires no scissors or small parts by drawing a face on the base of the bag with crayons or markers. If you want to go more elaborate, you could help your child add googly eyes and construction paper ears, noses and limbs.

* Floating sailboats - It's easy to make a sailboat with your toddler. Simply use a ball of Play Doh to stand a drinking straw up on the inside of a margarine tub lid. Cut a right-angled triangle out of construction paper for the sail, decorate it, and punch three holes along the edge. Weave the straw through the holes, and you have a new toy sailboat.

* Paper plate masks - Making masks out of paper plates is very easy for toddlers with a little adult help. Just cut two eye holes, and punch a hole in each side. Thread some elastic through these holes and tie the ends, and let your child decorate the mask as he chooses.

* Pipe cleaner figurines - Pipe cleaners are very easy for toddlers to work with. With a little guidance, they can use them to make all sorts of animals, people and things.

* Coin bank - Every toddler needs a bank to put his money in. He can create his own using an empty oatmeal box or other cylindrical box with a lid. You'll need to cut a slot in the lid, but he can do most of the rest by himself. Just have him decorate a piece of construction paper (that you've cut to the right size) with markers, stickers, and other items, and help him glue it around the box.

* Painting - Young artists love to paint. It can, however, get messy, so be sure to cover the work area with newspapers and the child's clothing with a smock. Finger painting is one of the most popular art forms among toddlers, but they also love watercolors.

Fun Craft of the Month Clubs

Crafts are good for kids. They can keep them productively occupied while you're doing work around the house, or give you something to do together. Crafting helps kids learn new skills and gives them a sense of accomplishment.

Crafting is especially good for small children. They can gain hand-eye coordination, learn about shapes and colors, and more. But most crafts require the use of scissors, which can be difficult for a toddler to use properly. Even the small, blunt children's scissors can be too much of a challenge.

However, there are some crafts that your toddler can create without scissors. Here are a few to choose from:

* Pipe cleaner crafts - Making things out of pipe cleaners is lots of fun, and it doesn't require any scissors. And it's not messy, either. Pipe cleaners are the only supplies needed. Your child can make people, animals, flowers and more out of colorful pipe cleaners.

* Finger painting - Finger painting can be very messy, but kids love it and it doesn't require scissors or anything else that could be dangerous. It also provides parents with some nice art for the wall or refrigerator. Just outfit your child with a smock, cover the area with newspapers, and let him create a masterpiece.

* Stickers - Kids love stickers, so why not let them make their own? You can find stickers with outlines that your child can color in at discount stores, or you can buy blank ones and let your child decorate them as he wishes. In a pinch, you could even give your child blank printer labels to decorate for use as stickers. Washable markers and glitter glue will minimize the mess factor.

* Sculpting - Sculpture is a wonderful art for kids. They can make figurines, paperweights and more using only their hands and some Play-Doh. There's no baking required, and Play-Doh is non-toxic.

* Magnets - Refrigerator magnets are both fun to make and useful. There are all sorts of ways your child can make them without using scissors. Clothespin magnets are great for holding shopping lists and other important notes. To make them, simply let your child decorate clothespins with magic markers. Then attach a self-adhesive magnet to the back. Magnets can also be created with Play-Doh, clay, seashells, or inkjet business cards. Virtually anything that is not too heavy will work.

These are just a few of the crafts your toddler can create without the use of scissors. You can find even more ideas online and in kids' craft books. And if you cut the materials before giving them to your child, there are even more things he can create. So don't avoid crafting with your child just because he can't use scissors. There are plenty of things he can make without them.

There's no doubt about it - toddlers can be a bundle of energy. And if you add rain to the mix, they may drive a poor mom, dad or babysitter crazy. Try out some of these fun rainy day craft ideas for toddlers. These crafts may help keep your toddler happy and you sane.

Of course, it helps if you have a box of craft items you can use with your toddler. Glue, glitter, feathers, construction paper, yarn, pony beads, finger paints, google eyes, pieces of felt, unmatched socks, old magazines and safety scissors are a few of the items you may want to have on hand. If you have things available, a rainy day won't catch you by surprise.

Start an alphabet collage with your toddler. Go through old magazines and have them cut out letters from the titles of articles. These will generally be much larger and will be easier for your toddler to cut out. Glue the same letter on a sheet of paper, and then go back through the magazine looking for pictures of items starting with that letter. For instance, A - apple, alligator, adding machine, etc. You'll end up with 26 pages, one for each letter, as well as a front cover and back cover. Your toddler will begin to learn their letters and the sounds the letters make.

Another way to teach them while they have fun is to let them use finger paint. Give them several sheets of paper and finger paint, and let them loose. However, you may want to teach them to "write" their name with finger paint or show them different shapes. Of course, they may have so much fun feeling the squishy paint between their fingers they may not want to stop once the sun comes back out.

Make a sock puppet with a couple of the unmatched socks you have lying around. Your toddler can glue pieces of yarn on top for hair, glue google eyes on if you have them, and cut out shapes for the mouth. Be sure to let the puppet dry completely before your toddler begins playing with it or the pieces may come apart and end up where they don't belong. You can do a similar craft using paper bags.

It's quite possible your toddler has started a collection of rocks; many toddlers do. If they have some larger smooth rocks, they could make paperweights out of them. Let them paint and decorate the rock however they'd like. When it's dry, they can give it as a gift or keep it for themselves.

These are just a few fun rainy day craft ideas for toddlers you may want to try. The internet is also a great resource for more fun ideas you can use on rainy days, as well as your local public library. Your greatest resource, however, is your toddler's own creativity and having someone to share that creativity with.