Toddler Art Activity!

Wow! Free toddler art activity that you can do with your toddlers, both indoors and outdoors. When you are doing the same activities over and over again it can get boring. Here are some unique ideas for your family so you can get together and do a toddler art activity that will spark the creativity in your little one’s mind.

*Homemade Rattles: These are made from 2 paper plates, some beans or small noodles, staples or duct tape, and crayons or markers.

Pass out two plates to each person and have them color the bottom of both plates. When they are done with their artwork place the two plates face together so that they make a pocket and place the beans or noodles inside. Staple them together or use duct tape to keep them together. Now they have a fun noise maker!! For variations you can use yarn or paper streamers that can hang out of the sides or you can add a head and legs and make it into a noisy spider.

*Homemade Calendar: is a great idea when you are thinking of a more long term toddler art activity. You need some construction paper, stapler, glitter, markers, crayons, and pencils. Give the toddler a piece of construction paper and have them draw with the glitter and other supplies that you have to make a picture. Add them to calendar pages that you can print from the internet. This can be done over a span of a couple weeks giving the toddler time to work on one page daily. This helps to keep your child’s attention and focus on the project and can help you with your schedule as well. After all pages are made then you can assemble the calendar.

*Friendship Quilts: are great to make when you have a bunch of toddlers and are looking for a toddler art activity but it can also work when there is only one as well. Either using fabric or paper, each person participating is going to decorate a block with supplies that are handy. Fabric markers work great for this!! When they are all done making the individual blocks, the blocks are all placed together as a quilt and sewn by an adult of-course! These are hung on the wall or somewhere that they are seen and remembered by all the friends who helped to create the quilt.

*Toddler Cookie contests: work well as a toddler art activity when you have more than a couple toddlers. Cookies are made from clay or play dough whichever is handy. Give the toddler some plastic cookie cutters, a rolling device and some dough and have them make a cookie. You can then have a contest where they are all judged to see who made the most creative cookies. The toddler that made the winning cookie can be awarded with a little prize of your choice.

*Scrapbooking: is a great toddler art activity that gets your child's creative side working. First, get some old magazines or an old newspaper. Then have the child cut out their favorite pictures and glue them onto a piece of construction paper. Then you can hang it on their wall so they can see how well they did.

*Hat Decorating: is a fun way for your toddler to dress in style. If you are doing this toddler art activity in the summer you may choose a ball cap, however if you are doing this activity in the winter you may choose a snow hat. Give the kids a plain hat and have them decorate it however they want with glitter, glue, fabric paint, and more. If you don’t have a hat that you want to use you can make the hats with paper as well.

*Leaf Rubbing: For this activity you are going to need leaves, crayons, and paper. Take the leaf, put it under the paper and rub over the paper where the leaf is with the crayon. Then when you get to the bottom of the leaf you have the leaf colored on the paper. Older toddlers can cut these out, but it usually works best to have an adult cut them out and make a leaf bouquet out of a few of the leaf rubs.

*Lamp Shades: You are going to need paint and brushes. Take the shade off the lamp in your toddlers room and allow them to paint it to make their room look decorative. Stencils or even stickers can be fun to use with this project also. If original is not paintable or you want to keep it, most home improvement centers sell plain replacement shades. Affordable and perfect for your project!!

*House of Cardboard: is really fun when you are a toddler. Find some old boxes and take them outside and help your toddler make and decorate a box house. This house, unlike mom and dad’s home, has walls that the toddlers can draw on. This type of toddler art activity can keep your little ones busy for hours.

*Frisbees: are a great activity for kids to make and play with. To make their own Frisbees they need paper plates and art supplies that they can decorate the plate with. When they have finished the plate they can take it outside and fly it in the yard or the park. Make a game of it, see who's goes the farthest!

*Nature Collages: On your next nature walk with your toddler bring along a gallon size bag. When your toddler sees something that they want to take home, as long as it is not dangerous, let them put it in their bag. When the walk is done and you are back at home arrange the items they collected on the table and let them glue it to construction paper. The goal of this toddler art activity can be to have your toddler re-create a scene from the walk that you went on earlier with their items.

*Prize Boxes: are helpful in reward systems. These can be even more fun if you let your toddlers decorate the prize box. They can use glue, sequins, markers, crayons, and more if you have any of these let them be creative. Another spin on this activity is decorating a box to keep personal belongings or making a personalized mail box with your child. With the personal mail box you can send each other mail that you have created during your family art time.

*Side Walk Chalk: is great for your kids to develop a sense of creativity. Give them some chalk and tell them where to color and they can be happy for quite some time. You can even make it a coloring contest for older toddlers at a birthday party.

*Marble Painting: is a great toddler art activity that will leave your kid’s hands and clothes clean. Take a marble, some paint and a piece of paper. Put the paper in a box that has no top. Then put some different colors of paint on top of the paper and drop the marble in. Give the box to your toddler and have them move the box so that the marble rolls around on the paper. Presto!! you have a cool painted paper and no mess! Make sure to keep track of the marbles and don’t let them get to the toddler’s mouth as this can be very dangerous.