15+ Cute & Easy Toddler Crafts

Mandisa Watts
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Crafting with toddlers can be tricky but armed with these amazing and creative toddler crafts you and your toddler will have a blast creating something fun to hang on the wall or give to a loved one!

Crafting with Toddlers

A few things that I learned making 40 episodes of my crafting TV show toddlers and preschoolers: 1. toddlers loooove glue and 2. toddlers love to craft but it doesn’t always end up the way you think it will.

When doing crafts with toddlers my best advice is to be prepared. Have all your supplies ready and handy but don’t put everything out on the table. Only bring out the supplies you need for each step.

If you can, show them a picture of the craft before hand so that they can see what they will be making and ask them if they would like to make one of their own. That way they understand that their craft doesn’t need to look exactly or even a little bit like the one in the picture. Their craft is their own!

And this leads to my last note as a parent or care giver of a toddler, understand that your toddler’s craft won’t look like the one in the picture and that’s ok! Don’t force your toddler to put the eye or paint or glue or whatever in the right spot. Ask them where they would like to put something or where they think it should go and celebrate any decision they make! It’s art not math. There are no right answers!

Easy Toddler Crafts

1. Sponge Painted Ice Cream Cone

The Best Toddler Crafts

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Cut out a triangle cone shape from the brown construction paper.
  2. Pour a small amount of brown paint on to a paper plate and dip the edge of the small piece of cardboard into the paint and stamp it on the brown construction paper to make a grid pattern for the ice cream cone.
  3. Glue the cone to the bottom of the white sheet of paper.
  4. Grab 2-3 sponges and trace the top of the cup using a pen on the sponges to create a circle.
  5. Cut out the circles with a pair of scissors.
  6. Pour out a few different colours of paint on a paper plate.
  7. Take the sponge circles and stamp scoops of ice cream above the ice cream cone. Let your child mix the colours and stamp as much as they like. Use bright colours to make a colour ice cream cone!

2. Paper Plate Cloud Rainbow Craft

The Best Toddler Crafts

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Grab your supplies.
  2. Cut your paper plate in half.
  3. Cut out strips for the rainbow from red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple construction paper.
  4. For toddlers use a marker to identify the order of the colours of the rainbow. Invite them to glue down each strip to the bottom of the paper plate.
  5. Turn the plate over and invite your child to squeeze glue all over the paper plate and then stick cotton balls in the glue. Cover the entire paper plate with cotton balls. I like to fluff out my cotton balls so they go further and they also look fluffier on the craft.
  6. Add googley eyes to the cotton ball.
  7. Turn the plate over and attach a piece of string or yarn using tape.
  8. Hang up cloudy rainbow craft in your child’s room!

3. Foil Printed Flowers

The Best Toddler Crafts

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Grab your supplies.
  2. Tape a piece of aluminum foil to a covered surface using painter’s tape. Invite your little one to use a paint brush to paint the aluminum foil.
  3. Use the tulip template the cut out different shaped tulips to paint. Cut them out of white printer paper and then lay them on they foil in the paint. Gently press down and then pull them off and set them aside to dry.
  4. Cut out a stem or leaf from green construction paper. Or if your little one is loving the foil painting. Grab a new sheet of aluminum foil and paint that one green. Take a sheet of white paper and lay in the paint. Remove it and set it aside to dry. Once dry cut out a stem and leaf.
  5. On another sheet of construction paper, glue the tulips to the the top of the stems (either construction paper or foil printed). Add as many flowers to the sheet as you like. 

4. Cotton Pad Turtle Craft

The Best Toddler Crafts

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Grab a piece of cardboard. You’ll want it to be large enough to fit the turtle and have extra room around it to help to keep the mess down.
  2. Draw a big circle in the middle for the shell using a green paint stick or marker. Draw a smaller circle at the top of the bigger circle, a two smaller oval/circles on each side of the larger circle, and a small tail
  3. Colour in the head and legs green. Leave the large circle blank.
  4. Hand preschooler a squeeze bottle of glue or glue stick and invite them to trace the body of the turtle with the glue. Also have them squeeze glue all inside the turtle. 
  5. Then have them stick cotton pads in the glue to create the shell of the turtle.
  6. Next, have then glue down a googley eye on the turtle head.
  7. Invite your child to use the eye droppers to colour the cotton pad turtle!

Watch how to make this craft here:

5. Pom Pom Painted Pineapple Craft

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Gather your supplies. Using the scissors cut a large oval shape out of the white paper.
  2. Attach a clothes pin to a pom pom and dip it into the yellow paint and paint the white pineapple outline all over.
  3. On the green paper trace the outline of your child’s hands with a pen. Cut out the hands and glue them to the top of your purple construction paper.

6. Washi Tape Sesame Street Character Craft

The Best Toddler Crafts

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Cut short pieces of washi tape and stick them to a table. To help your toddler or preschooler only place the correct colour of washi tape on their plate only cut and display one colour at a time.
  2. Invite your toddler or preschooler to cover their white paper plate with the washi tape. Cover one plate with the red washi tape, another with the blue washi tape and another with the green washi tape.
  3. Use watercolour paints and brushes to fill in all the white spaces. 
  4. Cut out six (6) large white circles and smaller black circles; three (3) large black smiles; an orange nose for Elmo and brown eyebrows for Oscar out of the construction paper. 
  5. Glue the eyes and mouth to your characters and the orange nose on Elmo and the brown eyebrows on Oscar.

7. Potato Masher Caterpillar Craft

The Best Toddler Crafts

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Dip the potato masher into the green paint (make sure the entire surface is covered in paint so that it stamps a full circle) and stamp it five times on the blue construction paper to make the body.
  2. Clean the potato masher in warm soapy water or with a wipe. Dip it into the red paint (make sure the entire surface is covered in paint so that it stamps a full circle) and stamp it once at the top of the caterpillar body to make the head.
  3. Using the scissors cut out 2 small yellow ovals for the outer part of the caterpillar eyes. Then 2 smaller green ovals for the center of the caterpillar eyes.
  4. Glue the eyes to the red caterpillar head.
  5. Using a marker or sharpie, add two antenna to its head and little legs to its body.

8. Salad Spinner Lion Craft

The Best Toddler Crafts

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Grab a sheet of white paper remove the basket of your salad spinner and use it to measure and cut out a circle from the white construction paper. Let your little one place the circle inside the salad spinner and add several drops of yellow and orange paint all around.
  2. Invite them to close the salad spinner and spin it as fast as they can. Then open it up to reveal to really cool art inside! The designs will be wild with all the colors mixing together. Set your circle aside to dry. Try making a few more!
  3. While you wait for the circle mane to dry, cut out an oval with the bottom cut off for the body of the lion out of yellow construction paper. Also cut out a tail, two ears and a circle for the head.
  4. Glue down the body of the lion, then the mane, then the head in the center of the mane. Add the tail and ears. Draw on the face with a black marker and add googley eyes.

Watch how to make this craft here:

9. Paper Bag Fox Puppet Craft

The Best Toddler Crafts

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Grab a brown paper bag and fold in the corners of the bottom part of the bag and glue them down. Use a white paint stick to make the cheeks and belly/chest of the fox white.
  2. Cut some orange tissue paper into squares and let your little one glue them down all over the fox except the white areas already coloured. Once the fox is completely covered, add googley eyes or make your own eye using white and black construction paper. Add a black Pom Pom for the nose. 
  3. Cut out legs, ears and tail from orange construction paper. Glue the ears to the head on the back of the bag. Glue two legs of the fox to the bottom of the bag on the inside; the tail to back on the side and the two other legs on the side.

Watch how to make this craft here:

10. Bubble Wrap Jellyfish Craft

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Cut a paper plate in half and paint it. I used a blue green colour. Set the paper plate aside to dry.
  2. Take a piece of bubble wrap, the same width as the paper plate and cut thin strips into the bottom, leaving the top intact.
  3. Use different coloured paints to paint each tentacle. (For toddlers: let them paint the bubble wrap all one color and let them use a sponge brush instead of a regular brush). Set it aside to dry.
  4. Once everything is dry glue the tentacles to the back of the paper plate. Cut off any extra bubble wrap that stick out from behind the paper plate head of the jellyfish.
  5. Glue googley eyes to the front of the plate just above the tentacles. 
  6. Hang it up in a window!

11. Popsicle Stick Butterfly Craft

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Paint the Popsicle Sticks: Begin by laying out your Popsicle sticks on a paper plate. Choose bright spring colors to paint your sticks, as these will form the butterfly’s body. Allow the paint to dry completely before proceeding to the next step.
  2. Form the Wings: Once dry, arrange the painted Popsicle sticks side by side to create the butterfly’s body. Use tape to attach the sticks to each other.
  3. Create the Butterfly’s Wings: Print out the butterfly wing template below. Fold a sheet of construction paper and trace the butterfly wings on the fold. Cut it out and unfold for the wings. Also cut out thin rectangle for the butterfly antenna. Finally cut out different shapes to decorate the butterfly wings. Butterfly wings are symmetrical so make sure to cut out the same shapes for each side. 
  4. Assemble Your Butterfly: Attach the wings to the body using glue. Make sure they are secure and let the glue dry. Add the decorations to the wings. Add decorations like googly eyes and draw a smiley face on the body.
  5. Display Your Craft: Once everything is dry, your Popsicle stick butterfly is ready to be displayed! Use a string to hang it up or stick it onto the wall with a small piece of tape.

12. Sponge Painted Fish

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Circle Sponges: Use a black marker to trace circles onto the sponge. Cut out 2-4 circles, depending on how many fish you want to create.
  2. Prepare Paint: Pour green, yellow, red, and blue paint onto a paper plate. These will be the bodies of your fish.
  3. Sponge Painting: Dip the sponge circles into the paint, creating one circle each of yellow, red, and green, and two circles of blue. Press them onto a sheet of paper to make the fish bodies.
  4. Fish Details: Cut out triangles from the construction paper for the fish tails and fins. Make sure the colors match the bodies of your fish.
  5. Bring to Life: Once the paint has dried, glue on the googly eyes and draw a smile on each fish with the black marker. Add bubbles and waves around the fish using blue and black markers to complete the underwater scene.

13. Hedgehog Leaf Craft

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Leaf Collection: Start by venturing outdoors to collect a handful of freshly fallen leaves. Look for leaves of varying sizes and colors to give your hedgehog character.
  2. Hedgehog Body: Cut out an oval or rounded shape from the beige or light brown construction paper. This will serve as the hedgehog’s body. Also cut out four small feet for the hedgehog. Glue these to the oval. hen glue this to a white sheet of construction paper.
  3. Leafy Spines: Apply glue to the back of each leaf and stick them onto the construction paper body. Overlap the leaves slightly, positioning them so that they resemble the spines of a hedgehog. Continue this process until you’ve covered the entire body with leaves.
  4. Adorable Eyes: Attach a googley eye to the hedgehog’s face using glue. Place it at one end of the body to give your hedgehog personality.
  5. Nose and Mouth: Glue on a small Pom Pom just below the eye for the nose. You can also draw a line for a smiling mouth.

14. Baking Sheet Printing

Materials:

  • Baking sheet (preferably one with a shallow rim)
  • Non-toxic washable paints (various colors for a splash of fun)
  • White paper (cut into suitable printing sizes)
  • Soft-bristled paint brushes or sponge brushes
  • Optional: Markers or crayons for adding details after printing

How To Set Up:

  1. To begin the baking sheet printing fun, have your kids paint the bottom of the baking sheet with their favorite colors. They can use paint brushes or sponge brushes to create vibrant backgrounds. Cover the entire baking sheet. You can use one colour or multiple colours. Try to use colours that are close to each other in the rainbow so that if they mix they don’t make gray or brown.
  2. Carefully peel the white paper back, the imprints of their colorful drawings will be revealed, just like magic! Each print will be a unique masterpiece, showcasing their creativity and artistic flair. Be sure to create more than one imprint with each painted baking sheet.

15. Paper Bag Zebra Puppet Craft

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Once we have all our craft materials ready, Pour out some black paint on to a paper plate. Cut the sponge into a thin strip. Dip the sponge into the black paint and gently dab it on the bag to create the zebra’s distinctive stripes.Cut out two ears from white construction paper. Add a stripe or two using the sponge on the ears. Allow the paint to dry before proceeding to the next step.
  2. From black construction paper cut out a large oval. Glue googly eyes onto the paper bag to give our zebra. From pink construction paper. If you don’t have googly eyes, you can use a black marker to draw the eyes instead. For the nose and mouth glue on the oval. Use a white crayon or piece of chalk to draw the nose and mouth. From pink construction paper glue inner ears. Glue them to the ears.

16. Coffee Filter Dinosaur Craft

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. You can use regular washable markers for this project or dot markers. I found that we got the best results using dot makers and Mr. Sketch Scented markers.
  2. Cover your entire coffee filter with different patterns using the green, blue, purple or orange markers. If you have different shades of of each colour ven better, try to use them all to see have they separate on the coffee filter.
  3. Place your coffee filter into a shallow try or baking sheet and lightly spray it with water until water has covered the entire surface of the coffee filter. 
  4. Set it aside to dry, I usually grab an empty cardboard box and set it to dry on that so that I doesn’t stain any surface and it dries faster as its not sitting the water left on the tray or baking sheet.
  5. While you are waiting, cut out the legs, head and spines from construction paper.

17. Pom Pom Painted Watermelon

Materials:

How To Set Up:

  1. Gather your supplies. Using the scissors cut out a large semi oval out of the green construction paper. Then cut a slightly smaller semi oval out of the red construction paper.
  2. Using the glue attached the red semi oval to the top of the green semi oval so that the top parts of the two semi ovals lineup, leaving a bit of the green showing on the bottom.
  3. Attach a clothes pin to a black pom pom and dip it into the black paint and dad it all over the watermelon to create the watermelon seeds.

18. Snail Sticky Wall Craft

Materials:

  • Black sharpie
  • Large Buttons
  • Contact paper
  • Painters tape
  • Tissue paper
  • Large Googley Eye

How To Set Up:

  1. Start but drawing the outline of a large snail on the back of the contact paper. Don’t forget to include a spiral on the snail shell back. Next put up your sticky wall.
  2. I like to use an appetizer tray when doing activities like this that need multiple different art supplies. Give your little one lots of different items to stick up on their snail including buttons, feathers, tissue paper, foam shapes. 

Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers

Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers image

There is no limit to your toddler’s energy and curiosity. That energy and curiosity although a joy can be challenging at times. Their interest in just about everything around them is what makes them great learners. One and two year olds can soak up so much just from their senses!

But as a teacher or parent that thirst for learning can be exhausting. That is why I created this toddler and preschooler program. To help you get the most out of this time with your curious toddler without having to come up with creative ways to play and interact with them.

Play2Learn for Toddlers includes 20 Units for toddlers. Each 2-week toddler unit has 20 super easy to set up and engaging activities for toddlers 18 months to 3 years.

Play2Learn Preschool which includes 20 Units for preschoolers. Each 2-week preschoolers unit has 20 unique and easy to set up and engaging activities for preschoolers 3 years to 5 years. That’s over 800 learning activities for your toddler and preschooler at your fingertips! So many ideas you and your child will never be bored again! 

These toddler and preschool lesson plans and activities will definitely keep you and your toddler and preschooler busy playing and learning!

Click here for more information: Play2Learn

Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids

Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids image

Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon. 

Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.

Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.

Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids

Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids image

Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more. 

Find out more and grab your copy here.

Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.

Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids

Big Book of Riddles for Kids image

Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles tha. t show them how to think outside the box.

  • 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
  • Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
  • Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.

Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!

Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.

TV Show: Curious Crafting

I’m so excited to share my crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched in July 2022 on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube! Season 2 aired in August 2023! My show was also nominated in 2023 for Best Live Action Preschool Series by the Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.

Curious Crafting Season 1 is also now airing in Australia on ABC! Watch it here!

Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.

In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create. 

Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.

This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up. 

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