Arts & crafts with toddlers means great fun!
It is natural and even instinctive for children to want to express themselves through art. As children advance in age and artistic skill, they may need more guidance in terms of projects and expected outcome.
When working with younger children like toddlers, less is more. This is true in terms of both materials and structure. The best way to let a toddler explore their creative side is to give them three to five different colours (they may end up using only one!), a sheet of paper and plenty of attention!
The aim is not to guide their activity but to be with them while they are exploring and make positive comments throughout. Resist the temptation to impose your interpretations on what they are doing, ask them to describe it and you may be surprised what they come up with. Toddler art can be very abstract and a horse one day can be interpreted as a car the next!
Some toddlers have a shorter attention span than others and may bore quickly and move onto something else. If this happens it can help if you start drawing on another piece of paper and talk about what you are drawing. If small children are having difficulty holding the crayon or marker (the chubby ones are best for little chubby hands!), you can put your hand over theirs to help guide them, but let them determine the movements.
If you are finding it difficult to engage your little one in any artistic activities, mixing paint colours can be a good start. Put three plastic dishes of water on a the floor in front of your child and put a drop of each of the primary colours (red, blue, yellow) into each dish, naming the colour. Then add some blue paint to the yellow dish and let them stir it with the paintbrush until it turns green. You can then add yellow to the red and let them mix until it turns orange. If your toddler enjoys this activity then they may be ready to paint! I found a painting activity for toddlers that is messy enough for them to be interested without being too chaotic – Parents’ Ideas provide this solution – worth checking out!
I don’t think you can over-praise your toddlers artistic efforts – feel free to gasp in amazement at their masterpiece! When your little one sees their efforts pinned on the wall or fridge they will be encouraged to create more. Asking them from time to time to tell you about the picture can also produce interesting new interpretations and encourage them to express themselves verbally. They may put even more creative effort into their next piece!
Happy exploring!
2 Comments
I followed a link from the Artful Parent comments to read what you had to say about toddler art. My 14 month old has just started to make marks on paper with crayons and markers. They are hanging on the cabinets and on the fridge. She talks about them and points at them throughout each meal! It is never-ending inspiration for her to then jump down and move on to the next masterpiece. I tape paper on the dishwasher and let her go to town, as it makes a great easy-clean surface and just the right height for her. She loves moving her pictures from place to place around the kitchen! I’d love to read more about art with toddlers here…
That’s great to hear Ally – sounds like she is already quite creative which is fantastic. I will be posting another ‘Toddler Art’ article shortly. In the meantime, you could also try letting her loose with chalk on an outside wall or footpath/ pavement – chunky chalk is important though as little fingers might get scraped in the enthusiasm!
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