A toddler likes to discover and make all kinds of things. Your toddler will therefore proudly show what he / she has made. I believe that you should let your child do as much as possible by yourself. Are you making a doll and your child thinks the eyes should be on his chin? I say: Very good! The child gains a good self-image and confidence in his own abilities if he can discover things for himself and carry out his craft experience in his own way.
It is a lot of fun to tinker with your child. You will notice that your child is much more focused on tinkering when you sit next to it yourself and also make something.
Stamping with self-made stamps
Necessities:
- A potato
- A potato peeler
- Paint
- Paper
You take a potato and a paring knife. You cut the potato in half. You can now make a stamp from each half by cutting out a figure. Dip the potato in the paint and stamp it!
Tinkering with found objects
Necessities:
- Glue
- Paper
- The found objects listed below
Is your child looking for everything outside? pebbles, leaves, acorns, twigs, etc. Take the found objects inside and let your child tinker with them. It is great fun to stick these objects on a sheet of paper and this automatically creates a beautiful work of art.
Crafting with free materials
Necessities:
- Bottle caps
- Corks from empty wine bottles
Keep bottle caps, wine bottle corks, the plastic tabs of bread bags, toilet rolls, food boxes and crafting! You can also add other things. For example, strings of wool and wooden pegs (do remove the iron). Put everything on the table so that your child can reach it properly. Your child will then get to work with the objects and stick everything on the boxes. You can set a goal together. For example creating a city. All boxes will transform into houses. Blue paper becomes a pond, etc. The houses can also be painted to make it a beautiful city.
Craft yourself!
Necessities:
- A large sheet of paper that fits your child completely. For example wallpaper paper
- Markers
- Wool
- Paint
- Dust from old clothes
- Glue
- Scissors
Take a large sheet of paper and let your toddler lie on it. Pull the toddler over and cut him / her out. have your toddler look in the mirror to see what he / she looks like. (preferably a large mirror where the toddler can see himself completely). You can let your child tell you what he or she sees in the mirror. Then it’s time to start tinkering. You tell your child that he or she can imitate himself. Put all craft supplies on the table and your child can enjoy crafting. You can help your child by cutting the hair (wool) and your child can stick them on it. you can also ask where the eyes belong. What color pants he or she is wearing. If your child sticks the eyes in the wrong place, this is not bad at all. After all, it is a creation of the child himself. Let your child experiment with all the materials he / she has available and achieve a wonderful result. Your child will probably want to give ‘himself’ a nice place in the house.
Making a hand puppet
Necessities:
- An old sock
- Old pieces of fabric from old clothes, for example
- Textile glue
- Scissors
You take an old sock and if your child can cut a little, your child can have the eyes, mouth, nose and possibly the ears of the hand puppet cut out. Most toddlers still need some help with this. You can also do this for your toddler so that he / she can stick them on the hand puppet. Read the instructions for use of the textile glue and stick the eyes, nose, mouth and ears that you or your child have cut out on the sock. This creates a homemade hand puppet.
Making a Dora peephole
Necessities
- A shoebox
- Translucent colored paper
- Prick pen and mat
- Markers or colored pencils
- Coloring pages of Dora
- Scissors
Have your child paint the inside of the shoe box. The lid is not necessary. You draw a few circles on the lid of the viewing box. Your child can punch these circles out with the prick pen. (remember to do this on the inside of the lid, it will be a lot easier to prick). In the meantime, cut or poke a peephole on 1 of the narrow sides of the box. You stick the clear colored paper to the inside of the lid when your child is done poking out the holes. You let your child color in the coloring pictures of Dora and then you can cut them out together with your child. (make sure to make multiple figures). Remember to cut out about 1cm extra underneath the dolls. Fold this extra cm over and on that edge you can stick the dolls together with your child in the shoebox. Also have bushes, clouds, etc. colored and cut out. Stick the clouds on the lid and the bushes on the ground near the Dora and dolls. It is also fun to make a viewing box of Dora with all her friends. Make Dora, Boots, Swieber etc.
You can of course also make a viewing box instead of the dora variant Sponge bob, bumba, K3 or whatever your child likes.