ABCs Theme
Clay Letters (3+ years)
Materials: Clay, rolling pin, cutting utensil, tempera paint, paint brush. Description: Mold the letter of the child’s first name. Let the clay dry and then paint.
ABC Box (3+ years)
Materials: Magazines, picture books, sticker books, scissors, glue and a shoebox.
Description: Have your child look through a magazine, picture or sticker book, looking for an item that begins with an "A", then cut it out and glue it onto the box. Next look for a "B" item,
and so on (continuing through the alphabet). This is a fun craft and also makes a cool toy box. You can practice the ABCs while doing this project and can review the pictures over and over, making it fun to search for the pictures again and again.
Numbers Theme
Counting Fun Necklaces (12+ months)
Materials: Froot Loops™ or Cheerios™ cereal and a piece of yarn.
Description: Pour Froot Loops™ into plastic cups for each child and ask him or her to reach into the cup and grab a handful. Tape the end of the yarn, and string the Froot Loops™ onto the piece of yarn as the child counts them out loud. How many Froot Loops™ will fit onto the piece of yarn?
*For babies, pour Cheerios™ in different-sized containers and let them pick them out and eat them. You can put 2 in one container 10 in another so they can search for them, as well as learn the difference between having some or none.
Friendship Chain (3+ years)
Materials: Construction paper, scissors, tape or glue, ruler, and crayons.
Directions: Use a ruler and measure out 4 rolls to cut into strips for loops. Let the children color them; write their name on each one. Cut on the lines, roll in a loop, and link with the
other loops to create a chain. Tape or glue together, and once finished count to see how many loops there are.
Cars and Trucks Theme
Tire Track Art (3+ years)
Materials: Paper, paint, paintbrush, and cars.
Description: Give each child a piece of paper and some paint on a tray. Let them drive their cars in the paint and on the paper. The wheels will make some neat tire track designs. Make sure to wash the cars off before they dry.
Farm Animals Theme
Wooly Sheep (2+ years)
Materials: Paper plate, cotton balls, glue, scissors.
Directions: Cut out a lamb shape from a paper plate. Pour glue out on a tray and dip cotton into glue and place onto the lamb to make it wooly.
Pig Stick Puppets (3+ years)
Materials: Paper plate, paint, paintbrush, construction paper, scissors, glue, popsicle stick
Description: Have children paint their paper plates pink. When dry, glue on facial features of a pig cut from construction paper. Use a circle for the eyes, nose, and nostrils, and triangles for the ears. Then glue a popsicle stick to the back to make it into a paper plate puppet. You can cut out the eyes if you would like, so the children can also wear them as mask.
Bugs Theme
Spider in the Web (2+ years)
Materials: Paper plate, black yarn, scissors, inkpad, and a black marker.
Description: Give each child a paper plate and inkpad that is washable. Have them use their thumbprint to make a spider on the plate. Use the black marker to draw in the legs. Cut a few slits around the paper plate and thread the yarn across the plate, wrapping it around the front and back until you have made a web.
Caterpillar on a Leaf (2+ years)
Materials: construction paper, hole puncher, glue, and pipe cleaner or yarn.
Description: Cut a leaf shape from a piece of construction paper. Let your child use the whole puncher to punch out holes. When they are done punching, have them glue on a piece of pipe cleaner or yarn for the caterpillar.
Footprint Butterflies (3+ years)
Materials: Construction paper, markers, crayons, scissors, and glue.
Description: Trace both of your child's feet (with their shoes on) on the piece of construction paper. Cut out the prints and glue onto another piece of paper. Use a black marker to draw the butterflies body and antennae in between the two footprints. Let the children decorate the wings.
Crawling Spider (4+ years)
Materials: Paper plate, streamers, tape, yarn, stick, paint, paintbrush, and hole puncher.
Description: Decorate the paper plate, tape on 8 legs out of streamers to make into a spider. Punch two holes in the middle of the plate, and thread through the yarn and tie around the stick. Children now can walk the spiders.
Paper Caterpillars (4+ years)
Materials: Construction paper, glue, scissors, black crayon, and yarn.
Description: Cut paper into strips, make 3 or 4 loops and glue the ends together on each loop. Then glue the loops together to form a head and body of the caterpillar. Draw in the eyes and cut and glue on the antennas. Attach a piece of yarn to help the caterpillar crawl.
Colors Theme
Sidewalk Chalk (18+ months)
Materials: Sidewalk Chalk
Description: Draw rainbows with chalk, using red, orange, yellow, green, blue, & purple
Sheet Art (2+ years)
Materials: Old sheet, spray bottles, water, liquid tempera paint.
Description: Hang the sheet up outside or lay out on the ground. Fill the spray bottles with half water and half tempera paint. Have the children spray on the paint! You’ll have a nice sheet of art. Make sure that the children are supervised so they don’t try to spray each other.
Rainbow Shoe Laces (3+ years)
Materials: A pair of white shoelaces, permanent markers, and a piece of cardboard.
Description: Lay the shoelaces on the piece of cardboard. Have your child draw the lines of rainbows on the laces to make some colorful new laces for their shoes.
Day and Night Theme
Paper Stars (3+ years)
Material: Paper, crayons, scissors, glue, and glitter.
Description: Cut out a shape of a star. Decorate the star with crayons and glitter. Tape onto your childs bedroom window so they may view their own star in the night.
Trains Theme
Number Train (4+ years)
Materials: Cardboard, markers, glue, and construction paper.
Description: Create railroad shapes by cutting out railroad engines and cars from cardboard. Help the children trace a train onto large sheets of construction paper. Write numbers on each car. Have the children try to arrange the railroad cars in order on another sheet of paper, and paste them in place when they are correctly laid out. Let them make the train as long as they want. This is great for practicing counting also.
Sea Animals Theme
Fish Cards (18+ months)
Materials: Cardboard, scissors, hole punch, and yarn
Description: Cut out a fish shape from cardboard and punch holes around the edge. Take a piece of yarn, tie a knot at the end, and thread through the holes.
Thumb Print Fish (2+ years)
Materials: Inkpad, construction paper, and markers
Description: Make a drawing of the inside of an aquarium (fish, rocks, castle, coral, plants, etc.) Have children press their fingers onto a stamp pad & stamp fingers onto paper to create fish. Add features such as fins, tail, and eyes.
Octopus (3+ years)
Materials: Toilet paper roll, scissors, and markers
Description: You should start by cutting eight lines two-thirds of the way up. Then curl the eight legs up so they are spread out and draw on the eyes and the tentacles.
Go Fishing (3+ years)
Materials: Paper towel roll, yarn, construction paper, scissors, and hole punch.
Description: Make a fishing pole out of a paper towel roll or wrapping paper roll. Then cut out and color some fish. Attach yarn or string to the fish, and then attach it to your pole.
Paper Plate Octopus (3+ years)
Materials: Paper plate, paint, paintbrush, and streamers.
Description: Have the children paint the paper plate blue or gray. Then draw in eyes and add streamers for legs. When they are finished have them hang it in front of the window to watch the octopus swim.
Food Theme
Cereal Box Puzzle (3+ years)
Materials: Cereal box, scissors, and a zip lock plastic bag.
Description: Cut out the front of a cereal box. Cut into eight pieces and create a puzzle. Store in a zip lock bag so you don’t lose the pieces. You can do this to more than one box to make it more difficult to piece together if you like.
Music and Dance Theme
Toilet Paper Rolls (2+ years)
Materials: Toilet paper roll, streamers, tape, and scissors.
Description: Use toilet paper rolls for horns. Punch holes in the top to make different sounds or tape streamers to the inside to make pom pons.
Band necklaces: (3+ years)
Materials: Macaroni noodles, straws, scissors, tape, and yarn.
Description: Cut a piece of yarn big enough to fit loosely around the child’s neck. Tape the ends and thread on the macaroni and pieces of straws (cut up the straws in 4 or 5’s). Once finished, tie the ends together to create a necklace.
Plants and Nature Theme
Magic Leaf Art (18+ months)
Materials: Leaves, paper, and crayons.
Description: Lay the leaf under the paper and color over it. Magically, an image of a leaf will appear!
Paper Weight (18+ months)
Materials: A lid from a jar, clay or Play-Doh™, and rocks.
Description: Take a handful of clay and press it down into a lid. Have the child push the rocks into the clay. Let it dry.
Rock Collection Case (2+ years)
Materials: Empty egg carton and markers.
Use an empty egg carton and decorate with markers. Let the children use this for collecting and displaying rocks. Collect rocks. Then sort them from big to small and put them in order in their new collecting case.
Paper Tree (3+ years)
Materials: Construction paper (fall colors: orange, yellow, brown), a marker, and glue.
Description: Draw a trunk of a tree and its branches. Tear pieces of the colored paper and dip in glue. Paste pieces onto the tree for the leaves.
Tissue Butterfly (3+ years)
Materials: Tissue paper or coffee filter, markers, and pipe cleaner.
Descriptions: Take a piece of tissue paper or coffee filter and draw designs on it with markers. Pinch together the center and twist a pipe cleaner around it. Curl the ends of the pipe cleaner to make the antennae.
