It’s near the end of the month, which means time to empty out odds and ends from the craft bin as we stock up for next month. I knew exactly who would be a willing partner in my clean-out… my toddler!

I wanted Veronika to have a large “canvas” to work with for this project, so taped a piece of contact paper, sticky side out, to the largest piece of cardboard I could find in the house. You could also do this on a smaller scale, but whether big or small, the cardboard is nice because it means your toddler can leave the project and come back to it later. The same can’t be said if you tape the contact paper to the floor.

I set out a tray with all the craft bin odds and ends, including: wrapping paper pieces, tissue paper squares, cotton balls, strands of ribbon, plus some clover from outside (flowers would be pretty, too!). I also added uncooked dinosaur-shaped pasta pieces.

Veronika immediately needed to investigate all of the components of the tray of course!

It turned out that the dinosaur pasta was the big hit. She loved sticking it to the contact paper, either by tossing on big handfuls, or by pressing one piece in carefully at a time.

The ribbon was also fun, because the ends curled up until she pressed the length of it with her finger to secure it down.

She was less interested in the cotton balls and tissue paper than I thought she would be!

When she initially tired of the activity, I tucked the cardboard and the tray aside, waiting for her next creative impulse.

By the end of the day, we had a masterpiece.