There’s so much to love about summer: warm, sunny days; flowers; berry picking; picnics in the park. To add to the fun, here are some summertime crafts to try with your toddler.
Puffy Paint Ice Cream Cones
Materials:
- Two or three different colored paints
- Liquid” school” glue (washable)
- Shaving cream
- White cardstock paper
- Marker
- Paintbrush
Instructions:
Start by mixing the glue with the shaving cream until you get "stiff peaks" in the mixture.
Add some paint or food coloring to the puffy paint. I like to use green to make mint chip ice cream since it's my favorite! Trace a cone shape with a marker on the white cardstock then while holding your toddler’s hand, have them trace over your drawing. This helps engage their hand-eye coordination.
Using a paintbrush, paint a circular shape on top of the cone to place your cream mixture. You might want to trace what the ice cream could look like or let your toddler make their own ice cream cone.
If you have brown paint you can add chocolate sprinkles. If you have red or pink paint, you can add a cherry or anything else your toddler or you might want.
The puffy paint will need time to dry so don’t put your masterpiece on the fridge right away.
Paper Plate Bee
Materials:
- Paper plate, white or yellow
- Paint (yellow and black)
- Pom-poms
- Clothespins
- Googly eyes
- Glue
Instructions:
Paint the paper plate yellow and let it dry. Then, glue a pom-pom to a clothespin and use it as a paintbrush to paint black stripes on the paper plate. Let your child paint with their fingers and put stripes on the yellow paper plate.
Leave part of the paper plate yellow as this is where the head will be. You willl glue the googly eyes there.
Paint two wooden clothespins black and after they dried up, glue two black pom poms at the top. One pom-pom for each clothespin. These will be the bee’s antennae.
Fireworks
Materials:
- Empty toilet paper roll (you could also use a paper towel roll and cut it in half or thirds)
- Paper plates
- Red, white, and blue paint
- Construction paper
- Scissors
Instructions:
Cut one end of your toilet paper roll up, about ⅔ of the way. Continue to do this every half inch all the way around the toilet paper roll. If your toddler wants to help, you can assist them as they open and close the scissors.
Once the end is all cut, carefully press the cut side down onto the work surface so that they spread out to look like a firework. Next, dip it into the paint and then begin to stamp your paper. Layering the colors on the paper with the different paints might be a really fun treat.