Toddler Holiday Crafts

This morning we ran our Toddler Crafts program for ages 2-4.  At my library this type of program is station-based so kids and their adults work on the projects together.  I always have a sample on the table for them to follow.  When choosing projects for this age group, I tend to focus on one skill, whether it be coloring, gluing, or something else.  To tie this type of program back into early literacy, most of these projects work on fine motor coordination, which strengthens hand muscles so kids can begin to write.  Here are today's projects.

Reindeer Food
For this station, I left all of the ingredients separate so kids could add what they wanted to for their reindeer food.  We have a lot of allergies (and parents who won't play with glitter).  While I do my best to make sure everything is peanut-free, the parents really do know best.  To make your own reindeer food, you will need:

• 1 large canister of oats (Quaker is peanut-free)
• Glitter
• Sprinkles
• Label with directions

Wreaths
To make your own holiday wreaths, you will need paper plates with the centers cut out, yarn to hang your wreath, and wrapping paper strips in a variety of colors.  I precut the strips and the paper plates so kids just had to glue the strips onto their plates.

Snow Globes
For this station, I precut the snowglobe pieces and had the kids glue their snowglobes together.  I also put out blue and purple glitter glue, snowmen and penguin mini stickers, and crayons for them to decorate their globes.  Glitter glue, as always, was a huge hit.  My station was set up like this:

My final project looked like this: