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I have discovered that a great many sites with art or craft ideas require an older child or a lot of work from the parent,
and I am too lazy. Not to mention my lousy artistic abilities rather limit them on the 'build what mommy makes', so I prefer
simple activities that leave most of the end goal up in the air.
Cutting and gluing
No fancy directions are needed for small children. Just a pair of scissors and some scrap paper. I have found that begining
cutters do better with construction paper than most other mediums, but once that is mastered let them branck out.
I do have a big book of cutting skills, but honestly the first part is 'sinipping' and gluing, cutting paper into snips
to be glued on a picture of a animal. I don't need a fancy book for that! Then it moves on to strip projects, and fringing,
wich I guess their outlines are helpful, but honestly how many fringed monsters do we need? my son is more than content just
to make the scissors work he doesn't really need an end product.
He does like to use glue too, so I let him glue his snips to a picture, one I made or one from the book.
Strips are easy to turn into chains, or crowns (stapler works better than glue though). Fringe is great for feathering
a headband or arrow.
We also sometimes cut out pictures from the weekly ads and glue them along with a theme, recently it was food. We might
also one day 'build a house' using the furniture ads.
Please do stress SAFETY! no running with scissors, hold them right, only cut paper, and pass them handle first when sharing.
True safety scissors aren't all that neccessary and if it really will not ever cut a child it will prolly rarely cut paper
either, but do find a small pair that fits the hand well.
Paint
A blank piece of paper and some paint will keep a child occupied for a time, paint comes in enough different forms, (finger,
watercolors, tempura, colored glue, fabric, etc) that you can easily fill a childs desire to paint every day of the week without
feeling like you are doing the same art activity!
Hole punches
Aside from the joy a small child gets in making a traditional round circle hole, the scrapbooking community has come out with
tons of fancy designs and shapes. I wouldn't go spending a fortune or anything, but if you happen to have one or two, or
happen to love scrapbooking, let your kid have some paper and time, they will practice getting them to work and love the holey
results. (the confetti made is almost as much fun to play with!)
Stringing Pasta
If it has a hole it can be strung! I use Ziti with my son, his hands arn't that well cordinated yet, but older children can
use macaroni. I made a 'needle' out of tape on the yarn we were strining on, It only had to keep the yarn stiff for a short
time. When I tied off the necklace or braclet I cut off the taped 'needle'.
Much older children can string other foods, cranberries are great for hanging outside for birds to eat, but a real needle
is needed.
You can also make beads, using the cinnamon scented dough, or another dough, and then string when dry. (if you made the
holes big enough you can use the tape needle)
Dough
I use playdough mostly, it is fairly cheap and I might be a playdough snob, It just feels softer, when new, than any I have
ever made, but maybe I am just a lousy cook.
Regardless children love to buld, if you have older children you may want to invest in some bakable kind that will last.
But so far I don't have the room to store all the creations!
I did discover that with a little effort you can mix playdough and both of my children loved the smushing and mixing neccessary,
and of course it was a wonderful lesson in mixing colors.
Stamps
This is a very messy activity! Stamp pads are very full of ink and the ink will get on lots of things! But children love
to stamp the color then stamp the paper.
Make sure you have, either an ink pad all in one color, or you teach the children to 'blot the stamp' so you dont end
you with a funky colored pad.
Coloring
Most children love to color, simple crayons will keep many a small child busy for hours. A couple sheets of blank paper the
occasional coloring book (for practice in control and staying in the lines) and they are more than content.
My two like to branch out into colored pencils as well, but I never allow markers, it stains the clothing and the hands
for far to long.
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