Craft idea for working with under threes?

Question

I am a student at a nursery an would like to kno if anyone has any craft ideas for children under 3 to do?

Answer 1

Well I work with kids under 3 and here is what we are doing this week.

MONDAY Maccaroni Necklace

TUESDAY A Placemat (long peice of paper thats been laminated) You have them draw on it

WEDNESDAY We are pretending to be scientist. I made a Giant test tube and I cut out a circle (bubble) and wrote all their names in it and let them color it any way they want to with crayons ( I wrote their names in a black marker and took away black crayons) and taped it up on the test tube

THURSDAY we are making centipedes out of those little puff balls& eyeballs & those stems (fuzzy)for antennaes they get to put it in any order and as long as they would like well I'm only giving them 13 balls a piece

FRIDAY it's texas so its' like 100 we'll go swimming play with water balloons wet sponges bubbles and such (we call it Splash Day)

Answer 2

Fabulous flower wheels

The wild enthusiasm and raptures that greeted this craft came as something of a surprise to me, which just confirms my belief that no matter how well you think you know them, your kids will always take you by surprise. Due to their popularity we ended up making these flower wheels until there was not a scrap of crepe paper left in the house.

The under three's will enjoy sticking the crepe paper on anywhere. Older children will get a kick out of custom designing and then creating their own flower wheel.

Note: This craft idea is available as a printable project sheet. Download a copy of the PDF file (800 kb).

You will need

• paper plates

• white glue

• scissors

• different colours of crepe paper

• pen or marker

Directions

1. Cut crepe paper into pieces. We used pieces that were roughly two by two inches but there is no need to be precise.

2. Draw a simple geometric design onto a paper plate.

3. Pour some white glue onto a spare paper plate. Then scrunch up a piece of crepe paper, dip it in the glue and stick to the plate.

4. Continue with different colours until you have created a fabulous flower wheel.

Answer 3

Just a reminder that children under three years of age benefit more from open-ended projects than "craft" projects.  So many times I see "craft" projects and who ends up doing most of the work?  The adult.  

Like someone mentioned...fingerpainting...you can make your own fingerpaint, you can "fingerpaint" with shaving cream, cool whip, pudding, etc.  You can add texture to fingerpaint for a new experience.  You can add tools to fingerpaint for a variation.  You can fingerpaint on various work surfaces.  

Same goes for regular painting... to add a little "something" to it so that they are not taking home rectangle sheets of paper every week :-) I like to have the children help me cut a simple theme related shape out of the painting.

Collage projects are perfect for this age...it allows them to explore with the materials.  You are welcome to provide basic theme related shapes for the collage boards.

They love to "drizzle"... liquid glue and then sprinkle with colored sand (looks really nice on black paper) or colored salt.  Corn syrup is pretty fun, sticky mess too but it doesn't harden very well.  But remember it's the process not the product.

At about 2 years old I teach the children how to use an eyedropper.  I provide a icecube tray with 3 slots colored with red, yellow, blue water.  They can mix the colors by using the eyedropper (fine motor) and the really neat thing is if you let them drop some onto a coffee filter (the cone shaped ones make cute butterflies)...even if they have made all brown... the colors will separate on their coffee filter.  A little science there!

Good luck!

Answer 4

Edible:

Cheerios necklaces!

Pretzel shaping (into letters or numbers?) You make the dough and let the kids roll and play with it! Then, you bake it!

Ants/bugs on a log: pb on celery with raisins,craisins,almond slivers, etc.

Mud pies - chocolate syrup (strawberry, too?) chocolate, pretzel sticks, corn flakes, marshmallows, peanuts, peanut butter, etc. Let them get their hands in and make it how they want - layered? mixed up? molded? Put them in little aluminum tins. They can take one home to mommy!

Non edible:

SEWING - hole punch shaped cards and let them push yarn through the holes.

butterfly clips-coffee filter painted with water paints and hung to dry. Then, fan-fold it and clip a clothespin in the middle. Use as a magnet for fridge?

butterflies- pre-cut butterfly shapes and let the kids paint on one side and then have them fold it in half and pull apart! Cool images!

Answer 5

Finger painting, make masks

Answer 6

1.  Give them cardboard cutouts of animals and show them how to dip coloured cotton wool balls into paste and stick them on.

2.  Collages made with a slab of playdough or plasticine for a base and use harmless stuff like lentils, dried peas, pearl barley to make pictures/patterns.

3.  Stringing beads (too large to swallow) to make bracelets (not necklaces - too dangerous).

4.  Painting.

5.  Painting.

6.  Painting (they love getting messy - get their parents to donate dad's old shirts to wear back-to-front as overalls.

Answer 7

-free craft: have a load of recycleable materials eg: empty cereal boxes, lids from milk bottles, lollisticks, string etc and chidlren can make their own models. You can also cut out shapes like circles and squares to encourage younger children who may not have such a creative mind!

-sponge printing or potato printing-children love messy activities :)

-Musical instruments: shakers from yoghurt pots and rice, drum from box and some self-made sticks (decorate box) etc.

-paper plate faces-have cut outs of differnet colour eyes, shape noses and make sure you have mixture of browns and whites for different skin tones...children can look in mirror and then make their own faces!

Answer 8

how about potato stamping with paint or bubble blowing.

Answer 9

Kids love painting and it helps their dexterity.

Playing with a ball can help their co-ordination and balance.

Threading pasta shapes helps with their hand and eye co-ordination.

Cooking - baking cookies etc -  they love creating their own work and the fun of eating it after. Teaches responsibility.

Make Cards - helps stretch imagination and creativity.

Make Masks and pretend to be animals - uses imagination.

Read stories (add sound effects), Sing songs etc - again imagination, helps in preparing to read and write etc

The list is endless, their minds are sponges.... In Fact, Your imagination is the limit

Remember

Answer 10

um with my 2 year old i put shaving cream on like a desk or cookie sheet and have him play in it like writing in it or just putting his handsin it also water baloon are always fun just make sure they dont put them in there mouth sidewalk chalk also fun

Answer 11

Hi, I have a daughter who is two and loves arty/crafty things. Some suggestions...

Potato printing (cut shapes into half tatties, dip them in different coloured paints and press onto paper)

You can make your own play-dough, recipes are on the internet. The kids love making it, you can colour it with food colouring and then mould it into whatever they like

Print butterflies...get children to paint, glue, glitter etc one side of a piece of paper, fold the other side over and you have a symmetrical design! You could draw a butterfly shape on the paper beforehand if you like.

Hope these help

PS Try www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies for loads of similar stuff

Answer 12

Gosh...so many ideas!

If learning colors such as orange...cut an orange in half, dip in orange paint and make "orange prints".

Cut egg carton in half, have child paint single color such as green and have instant caterpillar

Coloring is great for fine motor skills.

Hope you find what you are seeking...

blessings