Toddler Art

Today in our Toddler Art program we made stars to decorate our program room for the summer.  We registered 25 2 and 3 year olds.  I like to set up the program so the kids get to try a lot of different mediums.  The actual program took no more than 1 hour, but it does take some time to set up and prepare.  You will also need a place for the creations to dry undisturbed.

Every kid who registered got two star shapes.  We were able to purchase packs of 24 white cardboard stars from Oriental Trading.  They decorated one star to take home and one star to give to me to hang up.  We put out 6 different stations and kids could spend as much or as little time as they wanted at each.  All of our stations are on the floor and we put down a lot of paint tarps and brown roll paper to help contain the mess.

Station 1
Station 1 was watercolor paints.  If you have the option, you will want 8-10 sets for this size group.  I always add extra brushes so some of the kids can share.  The kids will spend the most time here.

Station 2
Station 2 was glitter glue.  Discount School Supply sells a 6-pack of Rainbow Glitter Glue that the small hands can easily squeeze.  The glitter glue lasts a long time so I am able to put out extra old bottles so more than 6 kids can work at a time.

Station 3
Station 3 was jumbo crayons.  I like to have something familiar for those kids who don't like new or messy things.  They are also great for the kids to practice writing their names on their creations.  We put these on giant brown roll paper, which allows little siblings to feel like they are crafting too.

Station 4
I was surprised by how popular this station was.  We used Star Stampers from Oriental Trading.  There are 24 pieces in this set so everybody had a chance to use them.  Since the stamp pads are included in the stamper, they didn't make near the mess that stamps and stamp pads normally do.

Station 5
Almost all kids like stickers.  I found a variety of star-shaped stickers, some in foam and some in packs of stickers.  For the sticker packs, I cut the star stickers into strips so one kid wouldn't take the whole sheet and go crazy.  As it was the kids stickered their creations, then themselves.

Station 6
At station 6 we used dabber markers from Discount School Supply.  If you haven't used them before, they are a lot of fun to use.  They make great dots in a variety of colors.

Below are some of our finished products.

I like to create one too for an example.

I love to run programs like this for young kids as they have a lot of benefits other than the obvious cool decorations.  Kids get to use their imagination to design their creations.  The glue, paint, markers, and stamps all make the kids use their fine motor skills, which increases their preparedness to write.