Crafts for Toddlers

I always envisioned my child and I sitting around and doing crafts. You know macaroni necklaces, glue and sparkles, cutting out snowflakes, making things with beads. . . turns out most of the crafts that I envisioned are slightly, well, feminine for a toddler boy. I guess I am not the only one who conjures up images of crafts for girls because anyone who has gone shopping for crafts knows there is a very limited selection for boys! For girls there is jewelery making kits, 'stained glass' kits, shoe decorating, bead projects, hair accessory tools, all for older as well as younger girls. When you do find boy's crafts they are usually for older boys, like model planes.

Quite often I go to the Dollar Store to pick up something to do with my son. He usually looses interest quickly or they are too old for him. Today I went to Michaels craft store in hopes to find chocolate brown muffin wrappers (with no luck) but did stumble across some cute things to do with my son and at great prices to boot! I find crafts are such a great way for my son to work on patience and his fine motor skills!

Together we picked a pre-assembled plain and bird house, both that he can paint. The price couldn't be beat. . . $1.50 each! They had several more things that I will go back and pick up when he is not with me, to surprise him.  Just some of the things I saw were; a napkin ring project, paintable picture frame, decoratable summer hat & t-shirt, a door hanger and a goodie cone. All of these could be used for both genders.

After dinner he painted the bird house. He loved it! He sat still for 35 minutes and painted! He has never sat still for that long, even in his sleep! He did a really good job and since the sides of the bird house are flat without a lot of detail they were easy to paint and he was confident about what he was doing! It is amazing to see the look on your child's face when they know they are doing a great job at something, they light up!

The Michaels' website also has lots of craft ideas sorted by children's age and length of time to be aloted for the project. Happy crafting!