Leaf rubbings.
Use with child-made muffin crayons (see Idea Page for recipe)
Winter crafts
Coffee filter snowflakes. Fold and cut coffee filters, open, paste onto dark blue paper.
Cotton ball igloo. Cut out opening from styrofoam bowl. Glue cotton balls on outside of bowl. Make more and add plastic polar animals for fun!
Summer crafts
Collect sand, seashells, and plants from the river, lake, or beach.
Cut apart box, paint blue.
Add items collected for a sea shadow box and arrange in beach scene.
Wrap in cling wrap to preserve and avoid spills.
Collect shells from lake or beach.
Add non-washable paint to ziploc baggies. Add shells to paint in baggies. Mix from outside with fingers.
Remove shells from baggies and air dry.
Apply mosaic adhesive (from any craft store) to cardboard, wood plank, dish, or wooden shape or frame (from craft store).
Press dried painted shells to wet adhesive for a beautiful one of a kind shell mosaic!
Ocean theme craft.
Cut triangle out of paper plate. Paste triangle to plate for a fish fin.
Paint paper plate fish.
Decorate with glitter, tissue paper square, or other mosaic items.
Add aluminum foil pieces for Rainbow Fish book theme.
Add googly eyes.
Clay keepsake holder.
Mold clay into any shape. Add accent pieces.
Make small holes to add pipe cleaners to later. Dry or bake according to clay instructions.
After dry, glue pipe cleaners into holes in clay and shape to hold pictures or keepsakes.
Homemade recipes for sensory table and other creative preschool fun!
Playdoh
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
2 T cream of tartar
1 T oil
food coloring
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Transfer to a saucepan on low-medium heat. Stir until dough reaches the consistency you want. Remove from heat. Cool. Store in airtight container or ziploc baggies.
Bubbles
12 Cups of water
1 cup Joy or Dawn dishwashing soap
3 tablespoons of glycerin (in lotion aisle of drug stores)
Coolwhip Art
Coolwhip
Food coloring
Heavy paper
Mix Coolwhip and food coloring (just a couple drops) together. Only mix until color is blended. Of course, the process is the most fun of this project for toddlers, but the dried product is also quite artistic.
Icky Goop
1 part cornstarch
1 part water
Mix. Add to sensory tray/table. Notice how the solids and the liquids mix - but also notice how they don't! Very interesting. Add food coloring for some color.
Muffin crayons
Gather old crayons with the paper removed or have children take paper off to encourage hand-eye coordination. Break crayons into small pieces and place in a muffin tin lined with cupcake papers or very lightly sprayed with vegetable spray. Fill with broken crayons about 2/3 full. Bake in a 250 degree oven until the crayons are about melted (7-8 minutes). Don’t let them melt all the way or they will just turn to one color. Cooling time is approximately 30 minutes. Flip over muffin pan and tap each section with spoon so crayon will pop out. Mix colors to get a marbled look.