Some guidelines to keep in mind while shopping for supplies for your toddlers' art and craft projects.
Encouraging your child to engage in arts and crafts will provide them with the opportunity to learn colors, shapes, different textures, as well as work on their small muscle coordination and their hand-eye coordination skills. However, before your toddler has the chance to wallow in these rewards, you must have a well stocked craft cupboard. Here are some tips on what to include.
- Make a point to only buy non-toxic materials. Although your toddler may be at the point where they won’t eat those crayons or drink the paint, it is inevitable that it will get on their hands and end up in their mouths.
- Cut down the frustration level of your toddler by seeking out toddler-sized supplies, such as thicker markers, crayons, paintbrushes and pencils. They will be easier to hold and use than the skinny ones meant for older children.
- Visit your hardware store for short-handled paint brushes for your toddler. The long-handled ones at the art store may be more difficult for them to manoeuvre.
- Think twice about stocking your craft cupboard with markers. Although they produce beautiful blasts of color that children love, the produce many more problems than they may be worth. Caps tend to be left off or lost altogether and the markers will dry out, not to mention caps could be a chocking hazard. Toddlers tend to love to draw on themselves and suck on the ends of markers. Non-toxic or not, purple drool dripping from your toddler’s mouth isn’t going to make craft time fun.
- Make sure you pay careful attention to the child-safe scissors you purchase for your toddler. You want to make sure they have a rounded tip with sharp metal blades (some are so child-safe they won’t cut anything). Also look for ones with a little spring that prevents the scissors from closing all the way. This will help prevent the scissors from getting jammed and your toddler having a meltdown.
- Try to find thicker crayons, instead of the skinny ones that snap if your toddler applies too much pressure. Shaped crayons work well too. Hockey-shaped crayons are popular choices.
- Try peeling the wrappers off the crayons to allow your toddler free range of how to make color with their crayons, rather than just with the tip. Be forewarned though, if you child is a perfectionist this could cause a major meltdown. Know your child well before trying this one!
- Pour a small amount of liquid glue onto a paper plate and provide your toddler with Q-tips or cotton balls as applicators. It cuts down on the mess of them squeezing out too much or getting frustrated with a glue stick.
- Throw some packages of sponges in your shopping basket when you pick up your paints. Cut holes in them and places the jar of paint in the hole while your toddler is working on his or her masterpiece. The sponges prevent the jars from tipping and catch drips and runs down the side of the jar.
- A toddler finds it easier to paint on an easel rather than a flat surface. If you can’t afford to buy an easel, make one by cutting out one side of a cardboard box and tape the other three sides together. Set it on the tabletop and set your toddler free. Another option is to tape the paper to your fridge.
The copyright of the article Toddler Craft Supplies in Infant/Toddler Play is owned by Tanya Campbell. Permission to republish Toddler Craft Supplies must be granted by the author in writing.
