Engaging Young & New Artist's  

Creative Art for Babies, Toddlers & Preschool Kids- Easy Home and School Based Art

How to Engage Little Artists

Here are some ways you can help young children explore, arrange, combine, or transform creative art materials to nurture their spontaneity, curiosity and sense of wonder.

The Joy of Discovery

Discovering how some new art tool or supplies work to make a more exciting impact is so joyful for them. I suggest that you let them discover and explore on their own rather than telling them how to use it.
They eat it up. The discovery is a huge deal for them.

Tips for a nurturing and fun art experience 

• Provide vibrant open-ended, age appropriate materials with creative tools that will maximize the impact of their curiosity. Little ones seldom use the art materials the way you think they should be used but that’s okay, Encourage exploration of materials and offer them over and over again. Repetition, as with many things at this age, builds skills and confidence in children. ”To strengthen children's perceptual skills, offering items such as play dough, felt, paint, imaginative collage and more provides an exciting sensory filled creative experience.

• Organize materials for easy access and exploration. Use see-through unbreakable containers to encourage children to try different media and tools. Store select items on reachable shelves to foster children's independent choice.

• Encourage children to pursue their interests and ideas. Let them initiate their own activities, rather than always following ideas that you suggest. Using their special interest areas to nurture their excitement and cleverness is always a good idea,

• Share in their excitement about their discoveries. If they speak, listen attentively to what they say, write down their comments, or document the process with photos or a video recording. Share and display the creations that your children are proud of.

• Remember, your enthusiastic, accepting attitude reassures and inspires the budding artist. It lets them know that it is all right to create and explore freely, without worrying about always making a finished product.

Preparing for an Excellent ARTventure

EXPLORING PROCESS ART WITH KIDS

• Prepare for a fabulous art experience! Cover surfaces with newspaper or plastic tablecloths. Provide old shirts, aprons, or smocks to cover clothes. Have water, paper towels, soap, or rags at the ready. Discuss any guidelines to keep paint, glue, and markers away from furniture or walls. Put everything they will need on a tray or in a plastic tub. Ensure small items are not accessible to very young children and supervision is used as needed.

• Set up your craft space. If you can, find a designated space for creating. If space is limited, consider a small rolling storage container that can be wheeled outside or stored in a closet. Try to create near a sink for easy clean up.

• Compile a selection of safe materials to offer. Keep in mind the age of your child when planning activities. For specials consider their creativity level and look at the suggestions below. Always look for tools and supplies that peak their interests. If the choice is a name brand or markers with cars or butterflies, choose the one that complements their interest. Materials can include: paper in a variety of colors, textures and sizes, pencils, markers, crayons, watercolors, multiple colors of tape, glue, stickers, and collage materials. You do not need to offer all of the options at once. Remember, sometimes less is more.

• Organize your materials. Organizational systems keep things neat and appealing, and inspire children's creativity. Use tackle boxes, small metal flowerpots, containers with lids, boxes, small baskets, small bowls, and muffin tins to corral like items and make clean-up easy. All pick out to reflect your child’s interest and ability.

• Present a prepped activity on a tray. For example: cut or rip construction or tissue paper in a variety of colors into small pieces. Provide your child with a small amount of glue in a disposable cup, a thin paint brush, and paper. You can vary what you offer. Think about three-dimensional materials, such as paper towel tubes or cardboard boxes, and other collage materials, such as leaves, flowers, sequins, small tiles, or pieces of fabric.

• Encourage creative independence. Process art is about your child forging his or her own path. If you feel tempted to give your child instructions on what to make, try stating, "Here are some art materials I collected for you. Let’s see how you use them."

• Discuss your child’s creations and creative process. If old enough, try engaging in a conversation about your child’s art helps him or her to become more cognizant of choices and actions, allows for verbal expression, and boosts vocabulary.

• Try saying, "Tell me more about this," rather than, "What a beautiful house you drew." You may just learn that what you thought was a house, is actually, "a friendly monster ready to play with his friends."

•  Remember, there is no right or wrong way when it comes to process art projects for kids.
  So complimenting them on their creativity or how they creatively used a specific tool or supply always makes their day! It’s always worth your time.

Easy Open-Ended Art Activities
for Infants

Infants use their senses to explore the world around them

. Their glances and gropes might seem random, but their grabs, lunges and attempts to speak are reflective of brain development taking place. Engage your infant's senses of vision and touch with exciting open-ended art activities. Let your goal be to enjoy the process of making art rather then the creation of a masterful project. Their first attempts art art are precious and full of creativity, They are part of the learning process and record the way they explored their art materials. And even for the youngest children will enjoy creative play. it is like close cousin to process art. Creative Play often sparks some curiosity and imagination and the combination is magical for them––they find it irresistible!

Textured Art

During the first year of life, a baby's senses are her primary way of interacting with and exploring the world around her life. Textured art activities provide them with opportunities to explore a range of textures and objects through touch. Help your baby to press fabric swatches, large buttons, ribbons, felt shapes and other textured pieces onto the surface of their project. Avoid using small items, since they are a choking hazard. When the collage is finished, spray it with clear acrylic sealer to make the artwork permanent for display. CLICK HERE for felt ideas

Imprint Art

Help your baby create works of art ripe with depth, dimension and style with simple tools such as sponges, barbecue brushes, stamping tools, and mini paint rollers. Simply dip the tool into a shallow dish of non-toxic paint, pat the excess off and encourage your baby to press, whisk or roll the tool across the projects surface. Create seasonal artwork by painting and stamping natural objects onto the canvas or dough -- fall leaves from the backyard, for example, or sand dollars collected at the beach. These kinds of activities encourage cognitive skills as your baby perceives and utilizes objects in new and different ways.
CLICK HERE for playdough ideas CLICK HERE for stamping with paint

Contact Paper Sun Catchers

Attach 1- to 2-inch-wide strips of construction paper to the edges of a piece of clear contact paper. Lay the contact paper, sticky side up, on a table or work surface and guide your child to press pre-cut squares of tissue paper, Easter grass, feathers, bits of fabric and yarn scraps to it. You'll need to hold the edges of the contact paper by the frame to prevent it from shifting. Hang your child's creation and talk with her about how the light shines through it to illuminate the objects and cast shadows.

Fun with Paint

Dab paint onto watercolor paper, cardstock or a paper plate. Place it in a Ziploc bag that you've taped to a tabletop or highchair. Show your little one how to press or hit/slap the bag to splatter or smear the paint with a sponge in their hand. Cut the edges and remove painting to let it dry. Cut it into a silhouette or cut a frame in an interesting shape to delight onlookers. Or let her sponge paint three-dimensional objects such as driftwood or large stones. There's a good chance that she'll ditch the brush and use her fingers instead -- let her enjoy making fingerprints and hand prints on paper or a sheet of plexiglass that can be rinsed and reused. CLICK HERE for Ideas

Developmentally Appropriate Art Activities for One-Year-Olds

Babies and toddlers need early learning experiences for emotional, social and intellectual development.

Babies are stimulated by their senses of sight, touch and smell to play and explore the world around them. You can develop your own crafts to create age-appropriate educational activities for babies aged zero to 18 months.

Because 1 year olds are only beginning to demonstrate fine motor control in manipulating basic objects, art activities that require simple use of larger muscle groups are most appropriate for this age group. Provide baby-safe tools and materials that are easy to grasp and manipulate, and get creative with project ideas to promote growth in multiple developmental domains.

Highchair Art

Babies like to feel the texture of their food by squishing it between their fingers and by playing with it. Baby Center suggests encouraging a baby's natural tendency to play with his food by turning mealtime into art time. Place small amounts of smooth baby foods such as peas, carrots or other vegetables on the highchair tray, and let the baby "paint." As he paints, talk to him about the colors of the food, and show him how to mix them to make new colors. You also can use gelatin cubes for highchair art. Show the baby how to stack the cubes or squish them in his hand. Pudding, applesauce, yogurt works well too.

Water "painting"

Playing in the water is a favorite activity for many 1-year-olds, and water "coloring" is a safe and fun art activity that can help increase fine motor skill development. Water "coloring" requires only a bowl of water and paintbrushes. Show the baby how to dip a paintbrush in the bowl of water and "paint" walls, benches or other outdoor objects. The baby also can dip her hands into the water and make handprints on the ground. For safety's sake, never leave a 1-year-old unattended around any amount of water.

Floor Art

Scribbling is a satisfying activity for babies because they can see the fruits of their efforts on a piece of paper. Family Education recommends that you tape a large piece of paper to the floor and give your 1-year-old fat or triangle toddler crayons to color with

Floor art lets him experience scribbling with his whole body instead of just with his arm. Extend the activity by cutting the paper into shapes such as circles, triangles or squares, or letting the baby draw on the entire driveway with sidewalk chalk.

Paper Play and Collages

There is something very engaging about ripping paper, throwing paper and crinkling paper. Family Education suggests paper play and collage as an appropriate art activity for 1-year-olds

.Fill a box with a variety of different types of paper, and let your child explore. Show your 1-year-old how to rip the paper, crinkle the paper into balls and throw them, walk on the paper or tear holes in the paper.

Finger Painting

Finger painting activities with baby-safe, non-toxic tempera paint encourage fine motor skills and sensory development. As your baby pokes, smears and dabs paint onto poster board or canvas with his fingers, he practices using the small muscles in his hands while also taking in the experience of temperature, consistency and texture by feeling the paint with his hands. Provide a combination of colors that complement a favorite space in your home and help your baby press, swirl and rub the paint onto a canvas. Hang the artwork when dry to add an artistic element to your home with a sentimental touch.

Imaginative Clay Or Playdough Creations

While most 1 year olds aren't yet capable of sculpting shapes and objects with their bare hands, children in this age group can still create amazing creations with child-safe air dry clay, some cookie-cutters and stamping tools. Help your child to press and work the clay into the mold, pop it out and then let it dry Once the sculpture is hardened, encourage your little one to make it his own by adding some finger paint to it.

More Craft Activities for Infants
Ages 0-18 Months

Written by
Deborah Whistler
18 April, 2017

Babies and toddlers need early learning experiences for emotional, social and intellectual development. But formal classes and activities that push a baby to learn concepts before they are ready do not help their development, according to the Baby Center

. Babies are stimulated by their senses of sight, touch and smell to play and explore the world around them. You can develop your own crafts to create age-appropriate educational activities for babies aged zero to 18 months.

Natural Leaf Mobile

Newborn babies up to 3 months old are developing their ability to visually focus, so good activities for babies at this age are visual in nature. While you are outside, collect leaves in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes. You can tape the leaves by the stem to the sunshade on your baby’s stroller to make a natural mobile as the leaves twirl and spin in the breeze.

Paper Towel Tube Talk

Even before your baby can utter a word, she is developing her sense of speech through listening to the sounds around her. Use the center tube from a roll of paper towels to create a listening game with your baby. This exercise is especially good for babies aged four weeks to four months. Place the tube close to the baby’s ear and whisper into it. Move the tube to the other ear and whisper something else. Simple phrases, like "I love you," are best. Let the baby see your lips while you whisper if she appears confused about the source of the sound.

Rattles for Rhythm

To help babies 6 to 15 months develop their fine motor skills, use empty film canisters, yogurt cups, plastic containers or empty milk cartons to create your own noise-makers. Fill the containers with rice, macaroni, beans or a mixture of items that will create sound and seal the container tightly with tape. Seal one end of a toilet paper cardboard tube, fill with the noise-making material of your choice, then seal the other end to make an easy-to-hold rattle. You can use brightly colored construction paper to decorate if you choose.

Baby Lava Lamp

You can create your own baby bubble bottle to help the baby six months old and older develop dexterity and a sense of color. Get a clear plastic water or soda bottle with a tight-fitting lid, water, vegetable oil, food coloring, and a seltzer tablet. Fill the bottle three-quarters full with vegetable oil and add water to just below the top. Add 10 to 12 drops of food coloring. Break the seltzer tablet into small pieces. Drop a piece into the bottle, seal the top tightly and let the baby enjoy watching the bubbles. Older babies will often reach for and handle the bottle, which will stimulate dexterity. When the bubbles stop, open the top and drop in another piece of seltzer to create more bubbles.

Water "Coloring"

To entertain and engage babies 11 months and older, all you need are some inexpensive paintbrushes and a bowl of water. Set your baby up outside with paintbrushes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Encourage the baby to paint a wall or the concrete. Show him how to make patterns, draw circles, or allow him to "paint" an object. If the baby is too young to handle the brushes, just dip his hands directly in the water and allow him to make hand prints or patterns with his hands. Always closely supervise your infant whenever he is around water, as a child can drown in as little as an inch of liquid.

Feet First

Brush sidewalk paint on the bottom of your child's feet and let her walk around on the driveway. Show her the foot prints she made. Pour a small puddle of sidewalk paint on the ground and guide her to walk in it, dance in it, stomp in it. The art she makes will be washed away with the next rainstorm or a garden hose, but you can take photos of her creations to print and frame. For more controlled footprint fun, paint the bottom of your child's feet and press them, one at a time, on a sheet of paper that you've taped to the floor. Frame the print and hang it in her bedroom or in a hallway. This can be the start of a yearly tradition -- after a few years, you'll have a collection of prints that you can hang and compare.

Art Activities for 2-Year-Olds

Written by Erin Carson

18 April, 2017

Your 2-year-old's burgeoning independence and interest in learning colors and other concepts, in addition to her increasing attention span, make this a wonderful age to explore painting and marking or coloring. You might find yourself challenged to find activities that will engage your toddler without frustrating her. Remember that while toddlers appear capable, especially compared to the babies they were a short time ago, many of their skills are still developing. Keep activities simple so everybody has fun.

Texture

Most toddlers love to explore the way different substances feel, and child development experts stress the importance of allowing your child the freedom to get a bit messy while investigating texture. The sense of touch is one of the ways your 2-year-old learns about his surroundings. Use store-bought finger paints or allow your child to paint with pudding or shaving cream. If you decide to go the pudding route, consider adding bakery sprinkles or edible glitter for a decorative and tasty activity.

Fine Motor Activities for Toddlers

A 2-year-old can string simple wooden beads or pasta to make necklaces or bracelets. A snack-time bracelet can be created out of a piece of licorice and Cheerios or fruit-flavored O-shaped cereal; have your child string the cereal onto the licorice. Count the objects as you string them and see if your child can tell you about the colors. Tie the licorice using a small piece of tape.

Small Muscle Strength and Coordination

By squeezing, smooshing, stretching and molding play dough, your child is learning how her hands work. When she makes you a play-dough cake or cookies, she is exploring imaginative play. If you make homemade play dough, incorporate the sense of smell into your play by using powdered flavored drink mixes to color the dough instead of food coloring. If you want a change of pace from play dough, purchase non-toxic hardening clay and allow your child to mold it around everyday objects such as silverware or small cups and plates. Your child can use the homemade kitchen wares for pretend tea parties.

Creative Play for Toddlers

Try cutting a potato in half and carving a simple shape such as a heart or a circle into half of it; let your child dip the potato half into powdered gelatin and stamp it onto paper. This is an easy, nontoxic way for your child to learn shapes.

Allowing your child to place inexpensive stickers on paper or paper plates enhances his hand-eye coordination and encourages independence and creativity. Show him how he can use the stickers to create shapes such as circles, squares and even houses or trees.

A felt board can offer your toddler endless enjoyment. Cover a piece of cardboard with felt and create figures to place on it. Trace characters from a favorite book and have your toddler help you embellish them with crayons, markers and stick-on eyes.

Use Caution When Doing Art with Little Artists

Most of their art activities will end up being messy endeavors. Your child's natural curiosity drives her to conduct an array of experiments with objects and materials, generally not using them in the "proper" way. Try not to squelch her inquisitiveness, and prepare yourself for some messy fun. If your toddler still puts small objects in her mouth, steer clear of wooden beads and pasta, which can be a choking hazard. Ensure that all toddler craft materials are nontoxic and do not pose a choking hazard because they will likely be tasted.