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I have a two year old and watch two other two year olds. I try to do craft time 3-4 days during the week. I try to come up with "themes" for a few weeks based on the current holiday. Recently, for Valentine's Day projects a few things we did were:
- white construction paper. Squirt some plain white men's shaving cream and add one or two colors of finger paint. We used red and purple. The kids loved the shaving cream! They painted and swirled the colors on the paper. When it dried, I cut out heart shapes and hung them on the back of the front door.
- I cut out heart shapes and the kids taped three or four on a piece of white construction paper and then painted the entire paper on the easel using red, pink and purple paint. I pealed off the hearts and what was left was the white paper in heart shapes.
- Gave the kids doilie hearts and foam hearts and they stuck and glued them on construction paper. (They love to use the glue stick)
- The buckets of foam shapes that are sticky on the back (peal and stick like stickers) are a huge hit! I spelled out each of the kids names and they stuck them to a large heart. We glued the heart to a piece of red construction paper. Then I gave them smaller foamie hearts to stick on the paper and glitter glue in the squeeze bottles to decorate the paper.
Just a few of the recent projects. Similar things can be used for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. Use green paint with the shaving cream, paint with green and white paint over shamrock cut-outs. I'll probably due some kind of matching with shamrocks of different sizes. Or counting - draw boxes on a piece of paper and number the corners and glue or stick things in each box to match the number. Stickers are huge. A piece of paper and stickers will keep them busy for awhile.
Oh, golf ball or marble painting. Place a sheet of construction paper in the bottom of a shallow pan or box. Put some drops of paint on the paper (drop the paint around the entire page but not too much paint) and have the kids shake the pan or box to move two or three golf balls (or marbles) around.
Handprints can be turned into just about anything. In January when we were doing snow and snowmen, a white handprint on blue paper became five little snowmen on a snow pile (your finger naturally has three parts which make for a perfect snowman. Use markers for the finishing touches like eyes, nose, scarf, hat) and glued cotton balls that were pulled apart on the bottom for added snowy effect. The kids also stuck on foamie snowflakes on the top of the page.
Again, just a few ideas to get you started. As an elementary teacher and former preschool teacher, I've done a fair share of craft projects in my day. I just adapt some of the harder crafts for two year olds and keep in mind the messier the project, the more they love it! My three would paint every day if I let them, so I try to come up with as many paint related projects as I can. Cooking projects are also fun, especially if they can eat and sample along the way.
I also have a couple large bins in a closet upstairs filled with craft supplies on hand. Construction paper of all colors, paint in all colors, buttons, popcicle sticks, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, glitter, glitter glue, watercolor paints, crayons, scissors, coloring books, hot glue gun, white glue, glue stick, stickers, different shapes foamies with the sticky on the back, etc. Even in a pinch, you can create something wonderfully two-year old.