Crafts for My 2 Year Old...

N., what a fun age! I am NOT a play-doh fan for oh, so many reasons. Hard to clean up, thy eat it, etc. It's fun, but save it for outdoors only when they're older. My kids' favorite art thing is paper. we go through reams of paper, both colored and white. They colo, cu, fold, tear, I don't know what, but they love paper. Get some washable crayons and pencils and let them go nuts. Later kid scissors are fun too. Other than paper, we like fuzzy balls, yarn, pipe cleaners (no glitter!), glue sticks, stickers. Hobby Lobby and craft stores have lots of interesting crafty things that aren't gooey, marker-y, or danerous. I get a box full of various items, it gets completely messy and destroyed, then we start over in 6 months (I have 4 kids). Also, I read that recycle items are fantastic for crafts too...things like egg cartons, juice lids and cans (plastic or paper, not metal), toilet paper rolls, boxes, tape (they LOVE tape!). Hope this helps. Have fun!

Hi, I have a bunch of fun websites that you can check out with all kinds of crafts for young ones. I'll just list them below. If you have problems with the links just e-mail me at ____@____.com and I'll be more than glad to re-send them in an e-mail, that usually works better.
Art Sparkers: http://www.arts.ufl.edu/art/rt_room/sparkers.html
Free Arts & Crafts Library: http://creativekidsathome.com/activities.shtml
Kids R Crafty: http://www.kidsrcrafty.com/
Kinder Printables: http://www.kinderprintables.com/dailyprintables.htm
Kinder Art: http://www.kinderart.com/index.html
Alphabet Soup: http://www.alphabet-soup.net/
Preschool Activities and Crafts: http://www.first-school.ws/
Hope that helps!
Have lots of fun,
Y.

Sounds like you've gotten some other great ideas, but I thought I would add this one. I have worked with preschoolers before, and we always made play dough with them...it's fun to make it and then they get to play with it...also they can decide what color they want to have. The other thing is, if it gets eaten, it's not the end of the world...I don't remember the whole recipe, but it's basically flower, salt, water, and food coloring. If you want to try that, let me know and I can get you the actual recipe. Good luck, and have fun with it

What cool ideas you have recieved. One thing we do is buy the soap crayons and finger paint bubble bath. My son is 2 and just loves drawing and painting in the tub. We also use the crayons to write ABC and 123's around the tub and learn the differnt colors. He is having fun and learning at the same time, not to mention when we are finished, we just wash it all down the drain. Super fun, he begs for a bath every night!

My 2 yr old loves playdough, but she has to be supervised with it, so she doesn't feed it to my 8 wk old. There isn't too much they can both participate in because he isn't quite as ready for crafts as she is. Another thing my daughter likes is crayons and colored pencils. I am getting ready to try finger paints soon also.

We saved up a bunch of single serving juice and soda bottles, took the wrappers off and filled each one a couple of inches with different things - beads, glass rocks (like for flower arrangements), pennies, etc. - and then glued on the lids with super glue. Then we talked about the different sounds they made. Your little one will LOVE shaking them up. Not a quiet craft - but a fun one for both.

My 2 year old also loves it when I trace his hand and then trace mine next to it. Not sure why? He also like it when I cut them out and compare the sizes - sometimes we even do baby sister's hand and the puppy's paw. :) We run around the house seeing whose hand fits on the cutout - kind of like a crazy cinderella slipper game. :) They always get mangled by the time we're done, so making them again is always a new adventure.

One last fun (and sometimes helpful) one. I got a bunch of cheap small paper plates and halped Caleb draw different faces on them - sad, happy, mad, etc. Then we glued them to popsicle sticks. Then we take turns holding them up like signs and the other one has to make that kind of face. Totally silly, but fun. Also, the other day instead of throwing a temper tantrum, he went and grabbed his 'mad' face and showed it to me. It was a refreshing change from the screaming. I don't know if it will ever happen again, but...

Good luck!
J.

What about making your own "play-dough" using a salt dough recipe, maybe cutting back on the salt so eating won't do any harm. You could color it with food dye, or leave it plain and let her bake and paint it. Better yet, just mix up (or buy) some sugar cooking dough and let them shape, bake and eat their creations!

abcteach.com is great too. Many of the coloring and workbook pages are free.

N.,
This isn't original, but is a surefire winner: Paint. Tape paper all over your kitchen floor (or any other mop-able surface) and go to it with watercolors. Not only does it help them learn colors and coordination, but it is messy and so fun.
Two year olds are a little young for really "structured" crafts, but that doesn't mean they aren't creative. I think my son (28 months) likes hanging his "masterpieces" on the fridge almost as much as he likes painting. :-) Washable markers are good too, but they get destroyed more quickly.

www.DLTK's crafts forkids ~Great site!!

Theres this Craft bye Crayola called color wonders or smething like that. Its comes with markers and finger paint, my daughter has been coloring with that for awhile. Its 9.95$ @ walmat for the markers and fingerpaint with a book to do it all in. Its good for kids in that age because the markers and paint are clear if it colored on the wall, floor, rug etc....so even if she trys to color her lil brother's face, u wont know....lol :)

First at that age I probley would not use the water paints instead get some vanilla frosting and split it up into diffrent bowls add food coloring in it and let them pain with it,, and if they eat the paint its ok.. I read this off of one of the other messages to another mom and I tried it with my 2 yr old he loved it and got a snack in the process..