What are some fun crafts to do with preschoolers?

Question

I always like to do crafts with some preschool kids but I'm running out of ideas. They are between the ages of 2 and 5. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You have been given lots of good ideas. One of the things that I have found preschoolers enjoy are making hats from all types of paper. Even pattern them after a crown and let them create. Also using envelopes, paper and all kinds of office supplies to write notes or draw pictures. Let them use scissors, pencils, staplers, rulers, tape etc. with supervision of course and as they get better with the tools they can create more on their own. Remember this age likes to do things more than once. Let the children lead with their interests.

Answer 2

^^The nature walk idea is a really good idea.

Also, I would say:

Get some shaving cream and have them spread on the table and creative whatever they want.

Write their names on a big paper and have them using different materials(glitter, marker, etc.) to trace it and then cut it out maybe? ...it would be fun and help them learn the letters in their name, cutting and such.

Making cards for their family, depending on the month(Halloween cards --- October, Holidays --- December.)

Google. I'm sure there's a bunch of different stuff out there. (:

Answer 3

get a rock the size of your fist, paint the entire thing, then glue whiskers, ears, eyes,and nose on to make a PET ROCK

Answer 4

Painting (finger-painting), being creative with glue, feathers, sticks, straw, stickers, almost anything. Building gingerbread house with whip cream, candies. Basically anything fun. ^^

Answer 5

Great craft ideas & free printables:

http://www.dltk-teach.com/

Answer 6

This time of year is wonderful to do a nature walk and gather leaves and twigs and flower petals and rocks and then make collages.

Answer 7

I find that I steer away from "crafts" at this age because it ends up being more of the adult's work than the child's.  Open ended art is always the best route to go with the younger children.  At about 5 years old they are starting to get a little more interested in "crafts".

Collages:  This age loves to explore with scissors.  I find that one of their favorite activities is to sit in a plastic wading pool with media to cut (which I vary from construction paper/cardstock to magazines to foam/straws).  Then when they seem to have their fill of cutting I provide glue and a background to create a collage.  Colored foam shapes look really nice on a black posterboard.

Murals have been a hit this year for my preschoolers.  Two that seemed to be their most favorite was the Zoo Mural and the Transportation mural.  The nice thing about these are that they are ongoing and are easily theme related.  For the zoo, I let the youngest of the group rub brown crayon over the paper which was laid the floor (our floor allows for texture to show through).  Then we taped it up on the wall and I had zoo cutouts (www.learningpage.com...membership is free) and the children cut out the animals, colored them and glued them where they wanted on the paper.  The older ones took off with drawing rocks, trees, water, grass, zoo signs, animal name signs etc.  Turned out AWESOME!  For the Transportation one I had cars with shapes (www.childcareland.com) but wanted more than just putting them on the wall so I put a length of paper on the wall and they drew a road and the cars were put on the road. Then they continued to add to the mural through the week.  We had just gone to the zoo so there was a zoo on the page, we had barn, fields, a Red River...they had learned that the reason why the Red River was red was because of runoff from the fields which was reddish and claylike, even dead deer (which is a very common sight around here) etc.  Again...it turned into a wonderful project.

Good luck.

Answer 8

Anything messy.  Let them put their hands or feet into it.  Paint with something other than paint or add texture to your paint.  Let them use their own creativity and don't expect their project to look like anything in particular.

Answer 9

preschoolers like making macaroni frames, building things with Popsicle sticks and glue, and they LOVE just to draw and make cards for parents or friends and things like that.