March (week 9) - Finger Monsters

Finger monsters are a really fun thing to make with your crafty toddler. Prep time only takes 3-5 mins and the craft fun can keep going until you have more finger monsters than you can handle!

The finished product - finger monster

Things you will need to create your crafty finger monsters are:
/ Cardboard (from breakfast cereal boxes is good for this too)
/ Scissors
/ Paints & brushes or sponges
/ PVA glue
/ Sequins
/ Glitter
/ Dark felt tip pen
/ Bogglie eyes

Finger monster prep kit

To make your crafty finger monsters follow these steps:
/ Draw the outline of your monster on the cardboard and cut out (any shape is fine, think about adding some hair or a hat or horns to the outline).
/ Mark and cut out the areas for your or your toddlers fingers.
/ Get decorating with paints, sequins, pompoms or glitter - whatever takes your fancy!
/ Leave to dry.
/ Stick on your bogglie eyes.
/ Draw on a mouth (smiles or mouths with goofy teeth work well).

Here are some of the finger monsters that our craft toddlers made!

Our finger monster family

Finger monster close up

March (week 8) - Mother's Day Cards

Making a Mother's Day card is a lovely gesture and with it only taking a few minutes for both the prep and creation - its a win win!

The finished Mother's Day Cards

Here is what you will need to create your Mother's Day card:
/ Blank greetings cards (or a sheet of card that you can fold in half)
/ Felp tip pen
/ Glue
/ Glitter (girlie colours)
/ Sequins
/ Stick on hearts
/ Paints & brushes
/ Craft pompoms

Mother's Day Card prep

 

Follow these simple steps to make your toddler art and craft Mother's Day card:
/ Draw a large heart on the front of the card with the felt tip pen.
/ I think that a nice touch is to write the name of the person that you are giving the card to below the heart (such as mummy, nannie, granny, grandma).
/ Decorate the heart and the card to your toddlers content
            - use sequins to outline the heart then use glitter or paint to fill in the middle of the heart
            - use the stick on hearts to create a pattern
            - paint the heart and then decorate with pompoms
            - another nice idea is to put a hand print on the inside or on the back of the card.

Top tip: write your message in the card before decorating it, that way you will have a finished card that will just need to dry and no awkward writing with pompoms getting in the way!

More examples of the Mother's Day cards created

February (week 7) - Decorating Insects & Reptiles

Painting and decorating inspects and reptiles is very easy and quick art and craft piece to do with toddlers. The prep time is only about 5 minutes and the fun can last as the insects and reptiles can be embellished until your toddlers are all art and crafted out!

The finished product - decorated lizard

Things you will need to create your insects and reptiles are:
/ A4 paper (any colour)
/ Paints (any colour)
/ Range of different paint brushes
/ Glitter (any colour)
/ Art straws
/ Black felt tip pen
/ PVA glue
/ Sequins
/ Wooden coffee stirrers
/ Cellotape

Decorated insects and reptile prep

Follow these steps to make your beautiful insects and reptiles:
/ First thing is to cut out the insects reptiles - this is a job for an adult obviously. To cut out multiple copies just draw the outline on one piece of paper then stack up approx 10 pieces behind the template when you cut it out.
/ For the butterfly, stack up some paper, fold in half, draw the outline then cut it out.
/ Get decorating - it's up to your crafty toddler how to decorate but you can paint first and adorn with sequins and glitter later or you can glue first and layer on the decorations painting once the glue is dry.
/ Leave to dry.
/ Draw on eyes and smiles to make your animals friendly.
/ Cellotape a coffee stirrer to the back of the animal to make it come alive!!!

Top tip: keep the animals / objects that you cut out as large as possible this makes it easier for crafty toddlers to hold and decorate at the same time.

You can put your own spin on this, cut out some different animals or objects such as fish, lions, flowers, leaves and heart.

Decorated snake

Decorated butterfly