Summer Arts & Crafts Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers: Part 2

Time for part 2 of our arts & crafts post! Most of these art ideas can be modified for toddlers. Just remember to be careful with small parts and keep your art invitations safe for toddlers who are still putting things into their mouths.

Mouse Paint: Color Mixing with Washable Paint

One of my favorite art activities to try with young children is mixing paint and then letting them use the paint on some paper, experimenting and trying different ways of painting (such as, using fingers, paintbrushes, sponges, foam stamps, or even rolling toys like cars to spread the paint).

For this activity, you would read the book Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh with your child. Then you can do a color experiment together! Put a little bit of paint in each color (red, yellow, blue) on a paper plate. Then show your child how to mix the colors to get a new color, just like the mice did in the book. Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and blue and red make purple.

Now that you have your colors, let your child experiment with the paint, using their fingers, a paintbrush, or any other materials you have to make a painting. Remember that this art is all about the process! Let your child explore and experiment with the materials.

For this activity, you will need:

✅Mouse Paint, by Ellen Stoll Walsh (I found my copy at a used bookstore, but you can find a used copy here: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/mouse-paint/13764609/?resultid=78bc6755-9cbd-4a7d-a53b-3fef3b2d05ed#edition=19493145&idiq=28433411

✅Washable tempera paint (red, yellow, blue)

✅Paintbrushes

✅Cups with paint water

✅Paper plates (for squeezing out the paint and mixing paint)

✅Heavy paper (watercolor or painting paper works well)

✅Other items to use with the paint, such as sponges, foam stamps, toy cars, or an apple cut in half (don't be afraid to think outside the box!)

Coffee Filter Art

Coffee filter art is such a fun way to let your toddler or preschooler make a beautiful masterpiece while also involved in the process of making the art.

Your child will get to color all over a coffee filter using different colors of washable markers. Then, you will take a spray bottle filled with water and lightly spray the coffee filter (be sure to keep the coffee filter in a paper plate to contain the mess before spraying). You and your child can watch and observe what happens to the colors on the coffee filter when the water touches it!

After the coffee filter dries, you can cut the filter into a shape if you'd like and hang it up in the window as a sun catcher.

For this art project, you will need:

✅Washable markers in various colors

✅Paper plates

✅Coffee filters

✅A spray bottle filled with water

✅Scissors (if cutting the coffee filter into a shape)

✅Contact paper or a string with clothes pins (if hanging it up like a suncatcher in the window)

Make a Collage

Making a collage is so much fun for toddlers and preschoolers alike! I've made countless collages with my students in the past, and they absolutely love it. Collages are versatile and provide ample opportunities for children to enjoy the process of creating. The end results are often beautiful too!

You can cut different kinds of paper into small pieces for your toddler, who can then glue the pieces onto a piece of paper in whatever arrangement they want. If you have a preschooler working on scissor skills, they can cut the paper themselves. Squeezing the glue on the paper is a great way to strengthen fine motor skills. Let your child experiment and explore with the glue and the paper. The possibilities are endless!

For this art collage invitation, you will need:

✅Various kinds of paper, cut into small pieces (construction paper, craft paper, tissue paper, magazine pages, even junk mail, and so on!)

✅A piece of heavy paper, such as drawing or painting paper

✅Safety scissors (for preschoolers who are practicing scissor skills)

✅Liquid glue

✅Optional: Other small parts to add to the collage, such as stickers, gems, beads, buttons, etc.

There are so many ways you can use and reuse these ideas over the summer with your toddler or preschooler! I love cycling through various art opportunities like these because they're so simple and children don't get tired of them too quickly.

Of course, eventually children will want you to change things up. My recommendation for if your child does get bored with an activity is to change one aspect of it. For example, maybe you add a new material to the activity. Or you could base the activity around a theme or a book (like with the Mouse Paint color mixing above). You can also ask your child to choose the theme or the book and the materials. You may be surprised at what your child comes up with!

Thanks for reading! I hope you have lots of great ideas and feel inspired. Feel free to leave a comment telling me about what you and your child created this summer. Have a wonderful day, and don't forget to express your creativity however you'd like!