Category: Arts & Crafts

Interpretive Pumpkin Painting

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Pumpkin Art for Toddlers (8)

Veronika and I did a quick abstract art project today to help her paint her first “pumpkin”!

I love art at around age 2, because toddlers are just beginning to tell you what they’re drawing, even if you can’t always see it. So I thought it would be fun to guide Veronika through a jack o’ lantern painting. I set out watercolor paper along with orange and black paint.

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“A pumpkin starts as an orange circle,” I told her. Of course her pumpkin was going to be “abstract”, but she loved dabbing the orange on the paper.

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She quickly was more interested in black paint, pressing the brush firmly onto the paper, which almost made black triangles. So I showed black triangle eyes on my pumpkin!

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As she worked on her “pumpkin”, I worked on mine. Often, I find myself jumping in with my kids’ artwork, and this project was the perfect reminder to let her take ownership of her work.

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She told me she was drawing a black square, and we talked lots about shapes and colors as we worked.

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In the end, we had a perfect toddler pumpkin painting, and a mommy one to boot!

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Halloween Countdown Day 3: Jack O’ Paper Plates

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Halloween 3 Cute Paper Plates (4)

We kept our Halloween countdown simple with a classic today, since it was a busy Saturday. But we knew we wanted to fit in at least some Halloween fun!

So grab white paper plates and any orange coloring supplies, and turn those plates into pumpkins.

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I used marker, while Veronika preferred orange crayon.

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Next I cut facial features from black construction paper. Older siblings can help with the cutting and little ones will no doubt want to help glue the shapes on with a glue stick.

I kept our pumpkins friendly looking so they weren’t scary, but certainly feel free to make them spooky if your kids are older.

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They look perfect over a doorway in our house. Boo!

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Mansion of Mystery

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Cardboard Haunted House (10)

We’re kicking off Halloween with a big BOO around here! This project is definitely a complicated one, but so worth the effort when your kids see not just a dollhouse but a haunted dollhouse… that includes its very own witch!

To assemble the house, start collecting cardboard boxes, empty paper towel tubes, and empty toilet paper rolls, and wait until you have a good assortment. Paint all of the cardboard pieces with black acrylic paint and let dry. I recommend two coats of paint for maximum spookiness.

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The next day, I mixed and matched the boxes and tubes until I liked the arrangement, and then used hot glue to attach everything together.

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On the third day, I added adornments. Cut squares of yellow construction paper to be window panes and arrange in groups of 4 around your boxes. I also had one arched window for added spookiness.

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For tower tops, cut circles from black construction paper and cut one notch in toward the center of each, then fold into cones and use tape or glue to attach atop each paper towel tube

For doors, cut shapes from brown construction paper, either rectangular or arched. One door couldn’t actually open, and had a red bead glued on as a handle.

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Because Travis requested we actually be able to put figures inside the house, I cut one box so it was open in the back and added doors that could swing open and closed.

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You can get a lot crazier with decoration, using construction paper for a fence or shutters, or adding additional boxes cut on the diagonal for a roof. But I reined in the haunted-housiness there.

All we needed now was a witch! Paint a toilet paper tube black. Once completely dry, paint a green square on the top for the face. You’ll need several coats of green to hide the black. Cut a rectangle from black felt and fringe the bottom with scissors, then glue on for hair.

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Add facial details with marker. So as not to spook the kids, we had a happy witch.

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You can make a whole witch family if you have enough cardboard tubes. Want to get really crafty? Add brooms! Just glue fringed brown construction paper around the bottom of a short stick.

Needless to say, I think the kids will find ways to play with this house all October.

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Not-So-Spooky Spider Handprint Window Cling

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Not Creepy Spider (7)

It’s October which means it’s officially time for all things spooky! For this particular decoration, we started the night before to give the paint time to dry. In the morning, we then could quickly assemble a few spiders in the window.

Tape a piece of contact paper onto a table, with the backing still on. Paint your child’s hand with black washable paint, making sure to paint only the palm and 4 fingers, but not the thumb.

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Press onto the contact paper, then immediately repaint the hand and press again so the palms overlap and the 4 fingers stick out in the opposite direction. An 8-legged spider!

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Veronika loves getting paint all over hands, so I didn’t have to sell her on this project one bit. We made two baby spiders and then she giggled as I painted my own hand for a mommy spider. We invited big brother Travis to contribute a medium spider, but he didn’t want his hand painted.

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Once the paint dried, we added wiggle eyes for decoration. You can add smiles or other accessories to your spiders, too, if desired!

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For the web, use white glue to create a web design in the corner of a windowpane. The internet tells me that this will peel off easily when the time comes, and I sure hope so!

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In the meantime, peel the backing off the contact paper spiders, and simply stick to the window. They look just spooky enough up there.

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Wax Paper Art

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Wax Paper Art (6)

Here’s a toddler-friendly art project that’s perfect if you find yourself with a handful of colorful leaves after a fall walk!

To start, I mixed together a little white glue with different colors of tempera paint in small cups. Veronika chose yellow and green. I set these out, along with paintbrushes and two roughly equal squares of wax paper.

I showed Veronika how to dip her paintbrush in the glue mixture and then paint all over the wax paper.

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The more glue the better, which means this is the perfect task for a toddler who wants to make a mess! Veronika loved that this activity was both goopy and colorful.

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Once the wax paper is covered, help your child add colorful leaves to one of the squares. Cover with the remaining wax paper square. Trim the edges to the same size once the glue mixture dries.

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It was hard to see the leaves when our wax paper was down on the floor, but once taped up against the window, the sun makes the leaves peek through. The perfect autumn window decoration!

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Fall Tree Art

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Fall Tree Art (10)

This art project is on the messy side, but it’s a great way for even little toddlers to paint fall foliage!

To start, cut a piece of watercolor paper (or similar thick paper) in half lengthwise, so you have two rectangles.

Next, cut strips of yarn and arrange over one of your rectangles. The more the yarn loops and curls the neater an effect you’ll achieve. That said, I had to work quickly before curious Veronika pulled up all the pieces of yarn I was laying down!

Fall Tree Art (1)

I set out red, orange, and yellow paint, and Veronika immediately wanted to open them all. Carefully, we poured a blob of each color over the yarn. Again, I had to work quickly and only managed one blob of each color; be more deliberate and dot a few blobs of each for a more marbled effect.

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Place the remaining rectangle of paper on top of the yarn, making sure one end of each yarn piece is sticking out. I showed Veronika how to pull on these ends; they were like little worms she could tug at.

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Lift up the top sheet of paper and reveal all the fall colors!

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Veronika, I confess, was decidedly unimpressed. She decided it was a lot more fun to dump out extra orange paint and then smear her hands through it.

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To add to the mess, she loved running the paint-covered strands of yarn through her orange hands.

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But she had a blast, and I loved watching her enjoy this part of the art process!

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Meanwhile, once the original paintings had dried, I added a brown trunk to each with marker to complete our fall trees.

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These will look so pretty up in the playroom for the rest of the season!

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Apple Seeds and Shake-Ups

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Apple Seed Count (4)

Fall is my favorite season and I’m so excited to share it with Veronika this year, the first year that she’s really aware of the change in seasons. Today we celebrated the first day of fall with the season’s most iconic fruit: apples!

First, we sat down together with an apple that I’d cut into quarters and took out all the seeds, counting them onto a paper plate.

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In addition to being simple math, this will show your toddler how a new baby apple tree starts!

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As she plinked the apple seeds into a little paper cup, I peeled the apple and thinly sliced it. Fill a small plastic bag with 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Add the apple slices, seal, and encourage your toddler to shake it.

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Ta da! An instant autumn snack: Apple Shake-Ups.

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Veronika ate almost the whole apple she loved it so much!

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We had one more apple sitting on the cutting board, but instead of eating that one, we dipped the slices in paint.

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I gave her red and yellow paint, in keeping with our autumnal theme, with the bonus we got orange prints, too, once the paints mixed. She wasn’t as interested in this part of the craft, but overall we had apple-tastic fun.

Apple Seed Count (5)

Clothespin Apple Trees

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Clothespin Apple Tree (8)

Autumn is by far my favorite season (apple trees! pumpkin spice! fall foliage!) and although Veronika is a bit young for it, there are so many apple crafts I want to make with her once her fingers become more dexterous and her understanding of the season increases.

But it’s never too early to throw in a cute craft about the changing seasons. So today was her first apple craft!

Clothespin Apple Tree (1)

We cut green circles from construction paper for the leaves. Older toddlers can practice tracing around any round item to make these and can also practice with safety scissors to cut them out. Meanwhile Veronika loved pointing out to me that these were circles.

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She then helped dot white glue onto the paper. Dotting glue is fantastic for strengthening little fingers!

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We added a red bead to each dot of glue. Red sequins would work, too!

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Of course, Veronika had just as much tendency to pull a red bead off the glue as to leave it on, but we managed to get a few finished trees.

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For the trunks, use brown marker to color on spring-type clothespins.

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Clip one on to each green circle once the glue dries.

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This would be a fantastic activity to do either before or after a trip to a real apple orchard.

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Ripping Bucket

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Ripping Bucket (8)

I’ve given Veronika paper to rip before, a fantastic way to develop strength in little hands, but today we turned it into a slightly more purposeful activity. This game is great because it can keep little ones busy solo for a while, or serve as an activity to do together.

First I filled a toy bucket with various types of paper as a sort of “invitation” for Veronika. I included an old magazine, colored construction paper, a few pieces of junk mail, and bright tissue paper. Newspaper would work great here too!

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Veronika was immediately curious about the bucket and started tossing out the contents.

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She still needs me to start a rip for her before she can tear a piece of paper in half, but then she loves the riiiiiiip that results.

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I started tearing pieces alongside her so we could refill the bucket. It was about halfway full when she announced, “Dump!” and this happened:

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And then she said, “Let’s fill it up!” We went back and forth like this a few times.

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Then I showed her how to rip out full pages from the old magazine. We crumpled these up and now the game turned into target practice.

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She got a fit of the giggles when I said, “Trash can!” and tossed a crumpled piece into the bucket. Hint: This was also a subliminal way to teach the idea of cleaning up, even though it wasn’t a real trash can.

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Before we ended the fun, we turned it into a craft. I pulled out a glue stick which she smeared all over a piece of construction paper, and we added a few of the torn pieces of paper into a sort of collage.

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She tired of this particular riff on torn paper play rather quickly, but at least we worked in a little bit of art.

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In sum, there’s lots you can do with just paper and a bucket!

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Mini Mask

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Mini Mask (7)

This cute mask will make your toddler laugh and might lead to lots more dress-up play!

To make the mask, cut a rectangle from paper that is 6×4 inches. Veronika loved helping me draw lines along a ruler!

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Place a quarter in the center and trace around it for a nose, then repeat for the eyes.

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Now add lots of silly features with crayons! While I worked on the “real” version, I gave Veronika extra paper and crayons to draw too. Side-by-side art like this is a great way to involve toddlers in crafts that are beyond their skill level; it makes them feel like big helpers.

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Cut out the mask, as well as the eye and nose holes. I showed her how to hold it up to her face.

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And to my own!

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At the same time, I had dragged over our box of dress up supplies and she immediately latched on to the idea of combining the mask with a costume.

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We added hats, capes, accessories and more as she held up the mask to her face.

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I quickly realized we needed a handle of some sort, so I taped a craft stick to the mask that she could hold on to as she lifted it toward her face. She loved the silly expression I had drawn, and sometimes just wanted to look at it and giggle!

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I love crafts like this that might seem small and quick, but which easily lead to an extension of play. One small mask kept her busy with the dress-up box for nearly half an hour!

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