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Have your children ever come to you saying, "Mom (or Dad), there's nothing to do?" Or are your children constantly running around the house driving you crazy? It's time to find something for them to do, but what?
The first thing to do is to look around your house. I am certain you will find some paper, crayons, markers and perhaps some craft glue. If you look further, you will find plastic bottles, toilet paper rolls, old yarn or string and maybe even some buttons. You might even have some cardboard and egg cartons lying around. Check your recycling bin for other recycled materials that may be useful.
Items that may be useful and may not be readily available in your house are: markers, paints, construction paper, glitter, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners and whatever else you think your children would like. Most of these items are inexpensive and can be found in dollar stores.
Find a place to store all of these items such as a five drawer chest on wheels which can be purchased at most variety stores. A large tub or container will do as well.
Set aside an area in your house for crafts. A folding table is useful for this purpose because it can be placed in any room you wish, and outdoors in good weather.
Now you are prepared to do crafts such as these:
1. Paper Dolls can be made simply by drawing a figure on a piece of paper and drawing clothes to fit. These figures and clothes can be coloured with crayons or markers. Young children can do this on their own or with a little help from you.
2. A great autumn craft is to make a large paper tree. Take a piece of brown construction paper and draw the trunk of a tree. Trace your children's hands (or have them do it themselves)on many different colours of construction paper. Cut out the paper hands and stick the to the tree trunk. A variation of this is to take leaf rubbings, cut them out and glue them to the tree.
3. Use toilet paper rolls to make "binoculars". Decorate them any way you wish.
4. Make a yarn painting. Using white craft glue, glue strips of yarn in fun patterns onto a piece of paper. Wait until they are completely dry before hanging them up.
5. Make a mosaic. Using white craft glue, stick buttons, bits of paper and yarn to a sturdy piece of cardboard. Young children will require supervision for this activity.
6. Make puppets. Draw an animal, person, or any character you desire on a pice of paper, construction paper or cardboard. Colour it in and cut it out. Glue a popsicle stick to the back.
7. Egg carton sections and pipe cleaners make excellent spiders. Cut each section out carefully. Stick the pipe cleaner into the sections for the legs. Young children will need help doing this.
8. Build a robot. Using some old cardboard boxes, paint or markers, design and build a robot. Pipe cleaners make great "wires" for the robot and tin foil looks like metal. Let your children do most of the designing and see what they come up with.
9. Build a city. Draw a play mat on a large piece of paper or cardboard. If you do not have paper or cardboard that is large enough, tape several smaller piece together. Use small boxes for buildings. make cars out of egg carton sections. Decorate any way you wish. Keep in mind that it is important for your children to do most of the work.
These are just some of the possible crafts you can do with your pre-schoolers. If you are connected to the internet, there are many sites that offer more ideas for crafts. Just do a search for crafts for pre-schoolers.
A great finishing touch to all the wonderful crafts your children can make would be to hold your own "art exhibit". Your children can invite their friends to take part as well. This is a great way to keep your pre-schoolers busy and encourage their creativity in the process.
Have fun with your crafting!
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