Toddler Arts and Crafts OR Mommy is crazy...

So for a few months I have been on this kick where I want Isaiah and I to have arts and crafts time.  He is nearly two and a half years old, so he is hit or miss with following instructions well, which makes arts and crafts very interesting.  Enjoyable arts and crafts time is really a function of Mommy picking the correct project for him to do.  He enjoys gluing things, using paints, foam pieces, and glitter, finger painting, the laminating machine and googley eyes.  So any combination of those things in the form of a craft is very good.  

And I love buying craft supplies, as evidenced by my rather large stock of goods.  I began buying craft supplies in college, with every intention of using them to do many crafty things, like making jewelry, crafting masterful paintings, scrapbooking and making fun photo frames.  I have only done a small fraction of what I've desired to do.  Jaime Horvat would back me up on this, as everytime she saw jewelry that I knew I could make, I would tell her not to buy it, because, well, I could make that!  She laments the jewelry that she has missed out on, because I never made any. (Hey, I only said I *could* make it...)  

Isaiah isn't extremely creative yet, nor do I know if he ever will be.  Maybe he will be more logic and number oriented, with less of a bent into the creative, or maybe he will have a wonderfully creative mind.  Only time will tell.  Until then, I'd like to give him plenty of opportunity to try his hand at many things.  He has a guitar, drums (well, he uses Daddy's), a harmonica, and various rhythm and percussion instruments at his disposal, so he has a chance at musical creativity.  And with mommy's arts and crafts supplies, he will have his chance at artistic creativity.  On to some cute pictures, and a few projects that we had fun with.  

Mmm, selecting a color is key to my project!

Fingerpainting!
Apparently, we always do craft time in our PJs, as you may notice in the pictures!  I have pictures for a few of the crafts we have done, but not all of them.  Before Christmas, we decorated cardstock pieces in various shapes with crayons, glitter, and chalk.  Mommy wrote the date on the back and laminated the pieces, instant Christmas ornaments!  They were actually quite cute, and I'm sure I will cherish them in 10 years time!  We have an endless supply of foam pieces and Popsicle sticks, so we made cardstock puppets on Popsicle sticks.  Pictures below!  We also made and painted Popsicle stick picture frames.  We haven't picked out pictures to put in them yet, but we will get there!  We draw and color lots of pictures, mainly of trains, because Isaiah love, love, LOVES trains!   
A kitty puppet and a bear puppet...

Isaiah and his train, he's obsessed!
In as far as ideas for crafts, I have found a few websites that are quite useful.  Here they are:

Disney Family Fun - Toddler Crafts - This site also has many other age specific pages as well, so if you have a preschooler or a tween, there are pages of ideas for you!


Busy Bee Kids Crafts - Creative and unique ideas with mostly items that you can find around the house.


Article on children's art - This article covers whys and hows of art time with a toddler, and how you can best foster their creativity. 

Enchanted Kingdom - Toddler Crafts - Loads of crafts here, but the presentation and types of crafts are a little more kitschy than the Disney site.  No surprise there!


This was just a small foray into our arts and crafts time, and I'm sure there will be more to come!  For now, I have toddler finger paintings on my fridge, and I love it!

If you have ideas or fun projects you have done with your little ones, please, please share!  I'd love to try them out too!


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