PreSchool Craft Ideas!

There are SO many great and simple crafts you can do with your child at home. It doesn’t have to be complicated or messy (though messy tends to be fun!!)

 
Invest in a those plastic party tablecloths – from the $1 store.
Also, get paper plates, bowls and cups.
Other great craft items to invest in are: tissue paper, tin foil, pipe cleaners, straws (cutting them up makes great "beads" for yarn as well as for collages) sequins, pompoms, pony beads, yarn, popsicle sticks, paint droppers (cheap from orientaltrading.com!) and glitter (if you can stomach it)
And don’t forget paint, paint brushes and crayons!

Paste all over a piece of paper and using whatever supplies you like, let your child create collages.
 

Marble Painting.
Cut paper the size that will fit inside a shoe box. Squirt 3 dollops–about a teaspoon to tablespoon–of paint onto the paper already laid in the shoe box. oss 5 to 6 marbles into the shoe box and let the kids roll them around by tilting the shoe box in many directions. Lay flat to dry.
 

Bubble Painting.
Mix equal parts water and paint, with some dish soap. Use the straw to blow a big pile of bubbles. Lay your paper flat on top of the pile of bubbles, then peel it off. Lay flat to dry.
Use fabric paints & hands to make handprints and different designs on a T-shirt or table cloth.
 
 
 
Egg carton animals. You only need egg cartons, pipe cleaners and paint.
 
 
Sock puppets. Decorating with felt, yarn and googly eyes. No sewing, all done with glue, so a very easy project for kids.
 
Binoculars.
Take two toilet paper empty rolls and staple inside each end stapling them together to look like binoculars. The child can decorate them with crayons or paints or stickers and you add a string/yarn around them to make a neck strap. You can make version of this using different coloured cellophane over the ends.
 
Silhouettes.
Have the children lay down on a long piece of construction paper and you trace their bodies. After this is finished let the kids colour and draw on the paper what they think they look like.
 
Using tissue boxes, toilet rolls, bottle caps, yarn, paint, etc to let them create whatever they want!
 
Same applies for pipe cleaners. There is so much you can do with pipe cleaners. One idea is: Thread pony beads on them and then twist them in to shapes, and turn them in to mobiles. You can also stretch cellophane over the shapes, so they catch the sunlight.
 
Paper plate crafts – spiral snake, mask, handprint paper plate flower, etc. So many things you can do with paper plates.
 
Hand Print Crafts – again, so many things you can do with your child,s handprint, by cutting them out and gluing them.
 
Pine Cone Bird Feeder. Coat pine cone in peanut butter and then roll in birdseed. SUPER easy.
 
Wax paper and crayon "stained glass." Using a pencil sharpener, create crayon "shavings" and then scatter the shavings on the wax paper. Then the adult folds in half, covers with a paper towel and irons on a low setting. Punch a hole near the top. Put a string in the hole for hanging it.
 
As I come up with, or discover more ideas, I’ll post them in this entry.
Just remember – your imagination is the limit.
And lastly – as long as you buy washable, everything is cleanable. So don’t fret. If you enjoy it, they’ll enjoy it even more. It’s about sensory development, too, as much as it is about fun!