Spring And Summer Toddler Crafts

Welcome back to our blog series on arts and crafts for the summery days ahead! With the extra time and longer days, summer is an exceptional time for projects to start and hobbies to grow. Your toddler is continuing to make sense of the world around them, and are developing their interests and personalities. Connecting with them over some arts and crafts is a great way to encourage their interests, while simultaneously building your relationship.

When nearly every day in Orange is perfect and sunny, an indoor break with some fun activities can be greatly needed — and if work or other commitments have you needing a break as well, our child care options can take it from here. Adventures in Learning provides the child care and preschool options for your family to help kids grow in a safe and nurturing environment. See some of the crafts you can try with your toddler, and contact Adventures in Learning to learn more about enrollment!

Craft Projects: 2-3 Year Olds

Your toddler has grown like crazy, and it seems impossible that they are now two or three years old! Weren’t you just coming home from the hospital?! Nevertheless, they are expressing their independence, they’re growing in their interests, and some fun arts and crafts projects are sure to be right up their alley.

In this period of development, your toddler should be jumping, going through potty training, trying things on their own, pre-reading, and by age three, attempt to use a [kid-friendly] scissors. All of these milestones combined mean that your child will be ready to tackle some new and fun craft projects. Take a look at some ideas our child care has for you and your toddler to enjoy this spring and summer!

Crazy Construction Paper Caterpillars

Spring is the time when changes start to take place. From blossoming trees to budding flowers, to those cute baby goslings that suddenly show up, spring is a time of growth. An ideal craft that can tie into these environmental themes in a creative manner is by helping your child make construction paper caterpillars!

Find a book at the library about caterpillars, moths, and butterflies that can help your child build some knowledge and some interest. Next, have them pick out 2-3 colors of construction paper, and talk about making a pattern. Patterns are not only everywhere in nature and tie into this craft wonderfully, but also help your child begin to develop some mathematical literacy.

Draw circles of equal size on each piece of construction paper (use 6-12 pieces), and let your toddler do any coloring or decorating that they want. Next, cut (or if they’re three, use your discretion and supervision in having them try) the circles out. Use a stapler or a bottle of glue to attach the pieces, then marvel at the finished product!

Rock Garden Art

Painting rocks is such a simple craft, but such a fun one — and one with many uses as well. You can paint rocks just for fun, make them into a scavenger hunt, practice numbers and literacy — the list goes on. Here are just a few ways you could go about doing some rock painting:

Color Wheel

Have your toddler help paint each rock one solid color, practicing names of colors along the way. If they’re a bit older or are more advanced in their colors, expand out of the ROYGBIV and add some Tier III vocabulary words, such as “fuschia” or “lime green” or “tangerine.” Not only will your kids have fun painting, but this will make for plenty of great potential games later (tip: hide the rocks around the house, and send them on the hunt!).

Numbers, Letters, Shapes

While this might be better for slightly older toddlers, practicing numbers, letters, and shapes are all the more fun when kids get to be involved, and when they get to paint. Have your child paint the background color for each rock, then once it dries, you paint over it with whichever of the categories you’re choosing to focus on (older toddlers or kids who are ready for it can absolutely practice during this step as well). This can make for some fun and educational games once the paint has settled, such as practicing spelling their name, or playing a game of “I Spy.”

Free-for-All!

Want to just paint and have fun with it? By all means, go for it! Your landscaping, front of your home, or windowsill will never look better. Painted rocks make for great desk decorations as well.

Looking for a few more ideas to keep your younger toddler occupied, engaged, and excited about crafts and art projects throughout the summer? Talk with Adventures in Learning about options for child care! We offer programs and daycare for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and after-school care for older kids, and make it a priority to provide activities and opportunities for creative expression. Adventures in Learning, located in Orange and Tustin, offers the best in child care, and we’d love to work with your family. Learn more about enrollment, and stay tuned for some fun summer preschool crafts in our next post!