CRAFT with toddlers - what do I need?

[Heaven]

So, I don't really do any craft stuff with DD1 yet. She does the usual painting and drawing but that's it. She loves doing that though so I think it's time to start some craft activities with her. I'm going to get a box and some craft stuff so we can do things a couple of time a week, have been looking up some ideas.

So, tell me, what's in your craft box?? What are the basics I need that I can use to do lots of different things??

[Rivlas]

Scissors, paper, glue, pipe cleaners and anything that will stick to paper. Cut out pictures from magazines, catalogues etc and let her stick them in a book or on paper. Playdough using a blunt knife and kid friendly things from around the house. Thread a button on a piece of string then twist and pull. After they get the hang of this it can use up time.
Make sock puppets by sewing on eyes etc
Chive heads....jar, stocking, soil, chive or other seeds, google eyes etc to decorate
A small veggie patch will keep them amused for ages especially when they can dig then plant, watch grow then harvest
Cooking

[~Trish~]

Our craft box is pretty simple - we have a couple of pairs of kids scissors, DS2 LOVES the ones that make a zig-zag pattern (we bought ours from Ikea), a pad of different coloured paper (he loves cutting the different colours with his zig-zag scissors and pasting it to a big piece of white paper), crayons and some Clag. As I type this he is pasting the autumn leaves we found on our morning walk to a piece of paper . We also have a whole stack of different style paint brushes - I bought them from Woolworths for $5 and some have sponge ends instead of a brush so they make different kinds of patterns. They get a great workout

I bought recently some really cheap cotton balls which we turn into "sheep" LOL! Next I want to buy some pipe cleaners, I reckon we could make all sorts of things with them!

[Cassius2]

...inner zen...that's what I need when doing toddler craft lol.

But seriously the best is loads of clag glue. I have glue sticks to not be sticky enough for toddler sticking enterprises.

[luna moth]

Sticky tape, bits of paper, glue, scissors if she's ready, old boxes, string, milk bottle tops, pretty much anything out of your recycling bin if it's kid friendly.

Make it child directed though. Let her decide what you're making (so, say, a tree) Let her direct how to make it. If her idea of a tree is a box with bits of pink wool stuck to the top, then that's okay. Don't stifle her creativity by saying "Oh, great! A tree. Let's stuff green tissue paper in the top of this toilet roll because that's how they do it on play school."

She'll love it. Good luck!

[~Kim~]

Mine's kinda set up for Darcy, but Nate has a red hot go with everything.

Fuzzy pompom thingos
toilet rolls and paper towel rolls
glitter (I know most people hate it, but we use ours outside and it's great to knead into playdough/mix through paint/mix through sand)
felt squares
masking tape
plastic spoons
paddle pop sticks
different kinds of glue (white glue/glue sticks/clag)
foam stamps
plus all the usual suspects

I rarely direct, I just put out a few things and let them go for it.

Oh and my fave craft item - an outdoor table you don't mind getting trashed.

[Snacks]

I am a tight-wad so we make our own cornflour glue. It's fab, cheap and washes out of everything. It sticks mag picks to paper very easily.
We love playdough here too. And cheap stickers.

[Cassius2]

whats cornfllour glue? is that just water and cornflour?? 'cause it that's what it is, i am sooo there next time lol.

[black_rose]

Today we made peg dolls, with old fashioned wood pegs, wool for hair, felt for clothes and stickers to decorate. Dd1 can use the glue herself but otherwise you can do the glue and your dd can put the felt and wool on. Lots of fun and they can play with them afterwards.

[Heaven]

Thanks guys!!
Now where's the best place to get all this stuff?? Maybe Spotlight??

Thanks Audax, that was my thoughts exactly. I have been looking at some good crafty blogs about play based learning.

[~StarBright~]

Scissors, glue and paper, pipe cleaners, little googly eyes, i got these great stick on things from kmart, they are farm style, so fences, animals and stuff, they have a peel off back and stick to paper so great for collages.

Anything too tricky and i have figured out to have some things kind of pre prepared to go.. nothing too hard, but i had the great idea the other week to paint a box and decorate it, well it took 3 hours to do all the layers of the colour on the box before we could even decorate it.. so next time i will paint boxes at night, and have then all ready to go for decorating the next day :-)

[Jellyfish]

Imogen really likes stickers and sticking stuff so I just chuck double sided tape on heaps of stuff like old cards and wrapping paper, ripped books and yeah, magezine and newspaper or we make stickers out of things she has drawn too.

I just started keeping stuff like bottles and tops, boxes, fallen off buttons, ribbons from presents, cards, wrapping paper um anything! Kids really do find a way to use everything haha. Straws and string are good and things to thread, cotton wheels and stuff.

[Snacks]

whats cornfllour glue? is that just water and cornflour?? 'cause it that's what it is, i am sooo there next time lol.

Yes, but there's a bit of an art to making it. You mix some cornflour with water to make a sticky, thick paste and then you VERY gradually add boiling water whilst stirring until the mixture "catches"... then while you continue to quickly stir the boiling water in it turns from a thick white mix to a thick clear mix ITMS. It can take a couple of attempts to get it right but from then on you're in (very cheap) business! Obviously you have to let it cool before giving it to the sprog to play with as it's boiling once its made.

Heaven, I frequent the discount shops. Also my local Woollies has a surprisingly decent range of crafty goodness. I can't go past the cheap stickers from the $2 shop though. They are rubbish quality but they still do the job!

[black_rose]

Spotlight and often the $2 stores have stuff too.