Any Great Arts&Crafts Ideas?

Here is a list of 50 things you can do at home with kids preschool aged:

http://www.fun-activities-for-kids.com/50-preschool-at-ho...

There are some other great craft ideas on that same blog as well! Have fun!
K.

Here is a wonderful website loaded with great crafts!

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

Have Fun!

M. *~

Try making edible playdough, Paper plate pinwheels, paper bag puppets, pipe cleaner and tissue paper flowers. They can paint the fence out side with water and food coloring. You can print sheets to color. Paper mache is messy and fun. There are endless ideas on the websites already mentioned. I like the idea of making Holiday gifts in the summer. My kids are enjoying painting wooden things. You can make stamps out of old sponges, slice veggies in half for a stamp, etc. Then you can stamp on tons of items: paper lunch bags, gift bags, wrapping paper, apron, t-shirts, tote bags, etc. Have fun!

We save toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, coffee cans and pie tins. You can color or decorate them anyway you like(crayons/markers/paint/etc).We glue or tape 2 decorated toilet paper rolls together to make binoculars and go on a safari(hunting for our stuffed animals). If you have cotton balls or buy the mini colored pompoms and colored fuzzy pipe cleaners and googly eyes, you can glue the balls/pompoms to the rolls, use the pipe cleaners to make legs, and glue on the eyes to make catepillars. You can use the pompoms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes and felt and make different kinds of animals. I cut the felt out ahead of time into ears and feet and stuff and let the kids glue them together. You can fill a decorated paper towel or toilet paper roll with dry rice or beans and tape/glue/rubberband paper on the ends and make a morrocca/rain stick. You can fill a decorated pie tin or paper plate with dry rice or beans and glue another pie tin or paper plate on top and have a tamborine/morrocca. Pie tins also make good craft supply holders during a craft. You can use them for paint, glitter, or anything. We like to make drums out of coffee cans and butter tubs. You can use yogurt containers or soup cans to make morroccas. You can make the old school telephones with soup cans and string. You can make a clock with a paper plate, a metal brad and constrcution paper. Decorate the plate, help write the numbers on the clock, cut out hands, and use brad to secure hands to the center of the clock. Old time favorite glue popsickle sticks together to make boxes and houses and then decorate. We like to make puppets out of paper bags and socks. You can make pasta jewerly by stringing pasta together. You can make pasta artwork by glueing pasta onto construction paper or paper plates. You can use vegetables to paint. Cut shapes in potatoes/carrots/etc and let them paint/stamp with them instead of brushes or fingers. We love homemade playdoh. 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1 tablespoon cream of tartar, 1 3/4 cup boiling water, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, food coloring or powdered kool aid(smells good). Combine flour,salt,cream of tartar;mix well. Stir in boiling water,oil,food coloring or kool aid. Cool for 10 min. Then knead dough until smooth. Add flour if necessary to desired texture. Store in an air tight container. Ok, I am going to stop now. Hopefully you'll like some of these ideas or maybe they will spark your imagination. Remember to just have fun!

At three, my daughter made a guitar out of boxes and string. She had fun taping the pieces together (I had to help tie the strings one for her) and painting the boxes.

She also was into space at the time and made a jet pack out of a cereal box and foil. She decorated the ject pack with pictures of space and glued them on.

When she shifted to ocean life, we made an edible ocean treat. We filled a large glass bowl with blue jello and dropped in gummy fish. Using fruit roll ups, she cut seaweed out and we dropped that in too. She made this again, but made it in smaller two serving size containers.

Look at Jackson Pollack paintings and get inspired. Put paint in cups, grab a turkey baster and paper and head outside. We laid the paper on the ground and she squirted paint all over the paper. We still have one piece hanging.

Make a town out of old boxes (small food boxes like Mac & Cheese).

Use a bigger moving box and make a car. Paint it. It's the making that is so much fun.

We picked up a table and chairs at Ikea and she painted them the way she wanted. One chair has her name on the back and the other says, "My Friend's".

They love to glue and build. Gluing cereal was a favorite too. I didn't get it,but she liked me to draw lines on paper and let her glue the cereal down. I usually drew letters and numbers.

Have fun!
Stephanie

Here is what I like to do with my kids, I bought a huge roll (probably 25 lbs) of butcher paper from Costco, then I went to JoAnns and took advantage of a sale they were having on Washable-Non-toxic Tempra paints, paint brushes, and plastic shirt like aprons all in all it was a $50-60 dollar shopping trip to both stores, I cut off huge sheets of the paper and let the boys go to town.. they love being able to create.. they also like making bugs, I save the egg cartons (we buy the 5 dozen egg pack, again from Costco) and cut them into different size strips, let them paint them inside and out and once they have dried I help them glue on different colored pipe cleaners for the legs and antennas, (I think I got the pipe cleaners from the dollar store but they are also cheap at Michaels or JoAnns) and I let them pick out some Google Eyes (those little eyes that move around, you can get a variety pack at Michaels for about $5 and they come in all different sizes and sometimes even colors!) And glue those on.. then you have a beautifully painted very colorful little catapillar or bee, or whatever they want them to be!!

Good luck on your craft adventures, it might also be fun to make sandwich bag puppets! Or your own homemade playdough! I think there is a recipe for playdough on the back of the corn starch can!

Macaroni and/or ring cereal jewelry is always fun.

Marble painting in take out boxes (put a piece of paper or a paper plate in a shallow box and let a marble, dipped in paint, roll around).

colored gelatin sealed in a plastic bag http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDis...

Con-Tact paper collages http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDis...

This one isn't a craft, but it's fun!
Newspaper Mountain:
Use sheets of newspaper to make lots of balls by scrunching them up small. Practice by having a competition to see who can throw the balls furthest. Then play basketball -- place a wastepaper bin a meter or so away and see who can land a ball in it.

Hi K.,

I have a 4 and 2 year old who both adore arts and crafts. Playdough is good as well as plasticine (* doesn't dry out but gets everywhere.)Also you can try some more advanced projects, like string painting - fold a paper in half, dip a string in some different colors, put the string in the folded paper, hold closed and pull the string through to get interesting designs. Wax resist watercolor, where you let her draw with a white crayon on a white paper and then she paints watercolors over and can see her design reappear. Regular fingerpainting, watercolors (make sure they are washable) even painting on the window. I let my kids do it with water because we're in a rental but you can even let them use a washable window paint or any washable paint on a window or sliding door. Just put some towels down to catch paint and water. The opportunities are endless. Look for any books by Mary Ann Kohl. She has a variety of books about art projects for young children. Another good one is wet chalk - chalk on a wet pavement or let her dip chalk in water before drawing on paper. The colors will change as it dries. Have fun!

Shaving cream and food color lets them mix and mold, put it on paper and when it dries you get some great patterns, samething with bubbles and food color. This one takes a but more but go to the store and buy a block of ice, a couple of water sprayers. Fill them with warm or hot water. Put the ice in a big pan and let them mold the block of ice with the water you can add a few drops of color to the water or directly to the ice. Lets them see how thier shapes mold. Add a flashlight (waterproof) and you have even more fun.

Try feet only painting with fingerpaints and butcher paper.

Cornstach and water(and food coloring) make a great toy, it runs at rest and is hard when you are trying to move it. Let them experiment with how much water is used.

go on a safari and see what kind of leaves you can find come home and glue them on paper to make shapes and designs.

paint rocks with poster paints

Coffee filters and watercolors (or food color and water) make great pictures and butterflies if you add a pipecleaner or cloths pin.

I have many more if you want to contact me.

we go to our local adult school and they do different things each week with our toddler group. one neat thing we did which was an outdoor activity was a flower bracelet.

all you need is a piece of tape...i think she used masking tape or painters tape... put it around your child's wrist with the sticky side facing out. then the child can go through the yard picking small flowers, foliage, etc and stick it to the "bracelet"... it was a lot of fun.

Hi K.,
I got a book from Lakeshore (but I'm sure you can get it anywhere) called Little Hands Paper Plate Crafts (for ages 3 - 7). My son just turned 4 and he loves making the crafts. You do have to buy a few supplies, in addition to the cheap white paper plates, but nothing has gone in the garbage because we hang everything he has made. Good luck!
A.

K.,

Check out www.familyfun.com it is an incredible website. You can litreally be on there for hours. I have also used www.DLTK-kids.com and www.enchantedlearning.com. I also seem to be planning my kids parties at shcool and these are the common sites I use.

Good luck and have fun

K.,

I only have one idea to add (and you'll probably find it in one of the excellent websites mentioned) Water! I have 5 and ran a daycare for a while and in the summer, water is wonderful. Someone already mentioned painting with it, but if you have sponges(you can cut them in shapes) and big paint brushes, you can also paint any sidewalk or patio. It's a wonderful way to develop small motor skills. My 3 year old loves to make foot prints for me to follow. Also, fill a wide mouthed container with water (about 3-4 gallons)and add items from your kitchen such as plastic measuring cups, funnels, different shaped small plastic containers.You can also buy bath toys with water wheels or such,if you want. For your older child, you could play games such as, 'what do you think will float?'or 'which container do you think will hold more water?' The younger child just might want to splash! But that's fun too.

Have fun!

S.

Hi K.,
My name is Kat. I am a preschool teacher, and like you have helped others raise their children (my first one is due August 20). Anyway, I have worked with kids of all ages and thought I could offer some suggestions. First of all, I really like the crayola website for craft ideas and also DLTK kids has some great things to do as well. If you don't mind spending money there are these things out there called Aquadoodles and what it is is a mat that is activated by water. But then obviously the water dries and so there is no mess to deal with and you can use it over and over again. At the preschool where I work we do sensory things such as play-dough (e-mail me if you want a recipe to make it yourself) and oobleck (mix cornstarch and water- messy but kids LOVE it). You could use Knox gelatin, food coloring and water and let the kids play with that along with dinosaur figures or sea creatures or something. I work with toddlers and one thing they love is getting messy and just different sensory experiences. Another one I just learned about is called Smud- just water, toilet paper and soap. I have never tried it myself though. There is always the ever popular pasta necklaces or even making "candy" necklaces with fruit loops and string- a great fine motor skills activity! And if playing with food products is not an issue you can put things like dried peas or beans, cornmeal, salt into a large container for a different sensory experience. Kids love pouring, as I am sure you know, so just adding some measuring cups and spoons could provide for a fun activity. I hope that helps. I could go on and on...

One good web site is www.highlightskids.com. I get a monthly e-mail with idesa for the next month. Also some books that I have are The Little Hands Art Book by Judy Press and The Little Hands Big Fun Craft Book also by Judy Press. Another book that has ideas about recycling thing for crafts is Look What You Can Make With DOzens of Household Items by Boyds Mills Press. I got the last book through a kid web site on line but sorry can't remember which one. My kids are 4 and 2 - almost 3 and 5 and the little one can only last about 30 minutes, but her sister is great for 1 to 2 hours with craft ideas. Hope this helps.

Hi K.,
One of our all time favorite indoor activities is not really a craft. It's great for developing motor and other skills and keeps my 3 and 5 year olds busy for nearly an hour.

We do water play at the counter. I have two half sheet baking pans, one for each kid. Any thing with sides to hold some water in will work. We use measuring spoons, measuring cups and kitchen gadgets. Most of the water does stay on the tray. You could also add food coloring. The three year old can learn about primary and secondary colors. (Yellow + blue make green).

Here's a cool trick: put a egg (in its shell) in a glass of water. It sinks. Add salt and stir. If you add enough salt, the egg floats.

Fingerpainting idea: have the child paint WITHOUT paper on the counter or high chair table or something that the paint will wash off of. I use the glass table on my patio. After the child is finished, put the paper on top of the painting. Smooth is out a bit and then peel the paper off. You now have a great painting, the child painted for a long time and only used one piece of paper.

Good luck!!!

Hi K.,
I teach kindergarten and often find age appropriate craft ideas on the crayola website. I think it is www.crayola.com .
Have fun!

K.,
I recommend checking out Family Fun magazine. It is published by Disney, and I've been a subscriber for 2-3 years. I have a 9 year old and 6 year old now, but I don't think a month has gone by without us trying at least one idea from the magazine. Since you will be a foster parent to multi-age group siblings, this magazine could be for you. They have ideas for multi age groups, and of course, many of their suggestions get modified by my family.
Mostly, have fun with the kids! It's ok to set them up and walk away once in awhile, but if you have sit/craft with them, they will last longer and you will all have fun.
J.

edible finger paints (vanilla pudding with food coloring in it) on graham crackers to make art they can eat. it's fun and it's a snack. my cousins use to love this.

Glacier Hunt - Empty milk carton: wash & fill part way with water, freeze. Add some plastic figures, fill part way again with water, freeze again. Continue until your milk carton is full with animals & ice, put on cookie sheet and let the children pour water using various methods until they get the ice age treasures out.

Hi K.!

Bless your heart for being available for children who need you :o)

Summer crafts can be endless, quick and messy! Last year, the best craft we did was a "Summer Art Book". Basically, they painted ALOT of different pictures after we read a story. These masterpieces were put together in a "book" form. We made a cover and all, and tied it together with yarn. Simple, but easy. Painting is so easy, and usually the easiest to clean up really. So doing it over and over is fun for them, and a "book" was a great result at the end of the summer :o) We haven't gotten around to painting yet this year, though.

"Sprout" has cute crafts at www.sprout.com .They are easy, and usually made with recyclables from home (toilet paper rolls, etc)

Another fun thing to do is Science experiments. They can "pour" things, etc.. and see fun results.

Hope that helps a little. Happy Summer! :o)

What fun you will have with all the suggestions you are receiving! One thing I did with a group of preschoolers on a camping trip was, have them each wander the yard collecting all sorts of items, such as pebbles, grass, moss, twigs, leaves. Bring thier treasures inside where its cool and glue everything to a paper plate and create a "nature scene". See if they can make trees from twigs and leaves, and dont forget to use dirt to make the beach or ground in their picture. Also just gluing differnt shaped macaroni to a paper plate can be a wonderful art project, Be sure to use sturdy paper plates or the project will droop and flop making a mess when they try to move it. Have fun!

My kids loved doing art outside during the summer. The one project that they loved was the painting on large paper. We would get the large roll of painters paper from the hardware store(cheaper than art roll paper) and spread it out with weights holding it down. Then get spray bottles for diluted paint.(placing stencils down to spray over is very satisfying for three year olds. Put some paint on paper plates and start painting using different items.(brushes, different kitchen utensils,sponges, anything that makes a print) The favorite of the young ones was the toilet plunger. It has a handle and is easy to manipulate. The older kids favorite is rock painting....I don't know why, but it is.....I have painted rocks to hold every door in the house open and each one is different and made by a child.
Happy painting,
E.

I used to take some plastic containers, filled them with water and a different food color, give the kids some cheap ($1.00) paint brushes and let them "paint" the outside of the house. Doesn't do any damage. They'd paint the house, the lawn furniture, the plants. Another fun "water" play is the $1.00 water bottles. I'd do the same with those and they'd squirt to their hearts content.

Hi K.~ I wrote a book with a friend called Kitchen Table Play and Learn (on Amazon and at large bookstores). It's got 30 thematic preschool lessons (farm, shapes, manners, ocean, the seasons, etc.), each with 7-10 activities for preschool aged children. Each activity has an academic purpose, but the kids usually don't know because they are just fun.

Even if you aren't looking to do preschool lessons, it would still work for you...it has over 300 crafts and activities. Each one has a list of skills the child will work on, a simple materials list and step-by-step instructions. We tried to keep the materials simple...it's mostly glue, construction paper and other items you would find around the house.

I hope that helps. And cheers to you for being a foster parent. :)

I was at a festival a few weeks ago, and there was a kid station where they simply had a pan (like litter box size) full of baking flour, measuring cups and spoons, and an old-fashioned crank sifter. To my amazement the kids played there until I dragged them away.

So, that weekend, I set out a pan full of flour in the front yard with similar play things. They loved it.

Who knew?

Check out Rosie O'Donnell's book for Arts and Crafts. She has some really great ideas and a lot of them are from using stuff around the house.

check out www.familyfunmagazine.com

It's put out by Disney and is completely free. I use it all the time hen I need ideas for anything.

At that age, music/songs is the most appropriate for fun speech and fun gross motor stimuli. They are still trying to process sounds to learn to speak and music encourages them to wiggle/dance. Arts and crafts are great for fine motor skills. Playdough and scribbling are easy ones. Ice cubes are fun too. And, I'm seeing a lot of other great ideas from other moms for fine motor as well.

Hi K., If you go to the Children's Home Society of California Education and Resource Library in Yuba City, ###-###-####, (they are near Lowe's, Raintree Carwash, and Tractor Supply Company) you can check out for free books and toys for the kids that you can keep for four weeks. I'm a sahm and that's what I do for my son. There doesn't seem to be any requirement other than you want the kids to play with good toys and read good books. They have books on things to do with kids, too. One of my sons favorite things to do is play with playdough or play with sand. For an indoor sandbox, I purchased a wading pool at Walmart, and some "Lizard Litter" (crushed walnut shells, nontoxic and less messy than sand) at the petstore by HomeDepot, tell them you want crushed walnut shells used for birds and lizard sand. Put in some measuring cups, a funnel, pans, and the kids will have a blast. I put an old sheet under the pool for easier cleanup, but the stuff is much easier to clean up than sand and weighs less too. Kids also love shaving cream and playing with pudding, which you can put food coloring in and use as paint. - M.

I love the Family Fun magazine and website...I have a 5 1/2 year old and almost 3 and we are always looking for crafts there.

i have a 4 year old and a 20 month old..and my 4 year old loves play doh! i don't let the yoounger one play(unless im sitting right there!) because i know she'll sneak a taste!! my older daughter loves to act like shes baking or cooking(just like mommy!)she was lucky enough to get a kids baking set for xmas, but before then i would just let her use my cookie cutters, rolling pin, pans,etc... im sure you could make your own play doh but its not too expensive and you maybe able to find it at 98 cent store! or letting them "wash the dishes" in the sink works! i put them in front of the sink and put all of their plastic dishes cups spoons and let them have at it! i guess anything that makes them feel grown-up works! and you don't really have to buy much if at all!!! good luck!

Just one idea, but my daughter used to be able to spend a lot of time just painting with water. All you need is a small bucket, a paint brush and water. She'd paint the patio furniture, her tricycle, the house, the sidewalk, etc. The best part was no clean up!

K. -

When my daughter was in day care, the provider would use instant pudding for finger painting. She would let the kids smoosh the pudding around on a piece of paper, let it dry then cut it into shapes (or have pre-cut shapes). The kids had fun and it didn't really matter if they licked their fingers!

Also, my grandmother would let us "bake" with dish soap and water. We would use whisks, spatulas, bowls and other kitchen utensils with a little bit of dish soap and water. We would play bakery and fill up pans with our sudsy master pieces. Good clean fun!

Best wishes to you on your foster care endeavors. You will be fulfilling a great need.