A Joke Quackin' Duck - Toddler Art Project

A Joke Quackin' Duck

Age: 2 - 5 Years (younger ones need more supervision)

Time: 10 min (+ Prep)

Theme: Ducks!

Books: Duck Sock Hop by Jane Kohuth, The Duckling Gets a Cookie?! By Mo Willems

Materials:

Dark Yellow or Orange Construction Paper
Yellow copy paper
Feathers
Star or Dot Or Heart or Other Shaped Stickers for Eyes
Glue sticks
Adult get to use Scissors

Prep: To make the duck bills, trace and cut a 6” circle from the construction paper then fold and cut into quarters. To prepare the puppets, fold a sheet of copy paper in apx. thirds long way (2-3/4 x 11). If the kids are very young you will also want to do the next steps: glue the edge closed, then fold the strip into quarters like an ‘M’ by folding in half, then folding the edges even with that fold.

Activity: Each child gets plain sheet of paper already folded into an ‘M’, a duck bill, a feather, a glue stick and some stickers. Glue the feather, then the bill onto the puppet (allowing the bill to overlap the feather will keep it from falling off easily in play). Add stickers for eyes, nostrils, beauty marks, etc. Test out your puppet then quack a joke!

Notes/Tips: The folded paper creates a pocket for fingers to go inside. Using the basic M fold, you can create other creatures by using different colored paper and features. This can become a big kid project by demonstrating the technique, then letting them design their own creatures.

 

PS. My top model decided she wanted to be on the other side of the camera for this project. The results were blurry but she got me!

Crazy Animal House - Toddler Art Project

Crazy Animal House

Age: 18 Months - 5 Years or older (younger ones need more supervision)

Time: 15 min (+ Prep)

Theme: Doors, Windows, Houses

Books: The Doghouse by Jan Thomas, A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker

Materials:

Construction Paper
Glue Sticks
Small pictures or silhouettes of animals (I used recycled wrapping paper, but it is easy to find and print images)  
Adults get to use Scissors, Exacto Knife and a Ruler

Prep: The house is made from a half sheet of construction paper (6 x 9). You can freehand or use your own measurements for the house, window and door or use mine. Mine were cut with an exacto knife as follows: Mark the Center (3”) of the top of the sheet. From 2” down on each side cut to the top center, creating the ‘roof’. Cut parallel lines 1” and 3” below the roof edge (3” and 5” down from the top) and about ½” from each of the edges. Make a horizontal cut in the middle (3” from edge) to create two window shutters.  The door is 1” below the window (6” from the top), the horizontal cut (top) 2” long and the vertical edge cut to the bottom of the page. The animals are easier – size them so they can ‘hide’ behind the windows and door and cut them out.

Activity: Each child gets a full sheet of construction paper (or copy paper), a pre-cut house, an assortment of animals to choose from and a glue stick. Glue the house to the full sheet of paper (an adult can help fold the windows and door open so they don’t get glued closed). Choose and glue animals inside and outside of the house. Color if desired. 

Notes/Tips: Putting the animals out on a large paper plate will help them from ending up everywhere. The kids I did this with had a lot of fun playing ‘peek-a-boo’ with the animals in the houses, as well as inviting the adults to ‘guess’ where they were.

Dress-up Dinosaur Claws - Toddler Art Project

Dress-up Dinosaur Claws

Age: 18 Months - 5 Years (younger ones need more supervision)

Time: 10 min (+ Prep)

Theme: Dinosaurs

Books: Dinosaur vs the Library by Bob Shea, How do Dinosaurs Count to Ten by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague, Dinosaur Roar! By Paul & Henrietta Stickland

Materials:

Heavy Paper (Something that feels about the weight of a manila office folder)
TP Tube
Crayons
Adults get to use Scissors and an Exacto Knife

Prep: Fold heavy paper in half and cut out pairs of dinosaur claws. The claws should be roughly the size of a child’s mitten, fitting 2 pair per standard size sheet. Feel free to modify the design for each pair – Number of fingers, pointy or rounded tips etc. On the wrist portion of each, cut two parallel slits roughly ¾” long using the exacto knife. The cuffs will be threaded through here. To prep the cuffs, cut a TP roll lengthwise then into 4 ‘rings’. Take care that the cut pieces retain their round shape

Activity: After demonstrating their best dinosaur roars, each child gets a pre-cut pair of claws and crayons. Decorate, draw, scribble, make them colorful! When done, have an adult help weave the cuffs through the pre-cut holes. Fit them on wrists and Roar! (I bet it will be even louder than before).

Notes/Tips: TP roll cuffs will lose their ‘grip’ as they lose their shape. You can reshape them several times by coiling the cuff into a tight circle.

Ali Croc in the Swamp - Toddler Art Project

I often feel like a coloring page is an incomplete activity to offer little ones, so I try to embellish them with something - like adding craft sticks for skis, or cotton balls for bunny tails. This one is along those lines. It is also a good project for a mixed age group as older kids can do most of the prep on their own.

Ali Croc in the Swamp

Age: 18 Months - 10 Years (younger ones need more prep & supervision)

Time: 10 min (+ Prep)

Theme: Alligators & Crocodiles

Books: An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile by Bernard Waber, Mama Don’t Allow by Thatcher Herd, If You Are Happy & You Know It Jungle Edition by James Warhola

Materials:

Green (or white) construction paper

Copy paper and printer

Crayons/Colored Pencils/Markers

Adults / Big Kids get to use Scissors & Pinking Sheers

Prep: Make Ali Crocs (or just a sample/template if you are working with bigger kids – they can trace and cut their own): Fold your construction paper in quarters long way like an M. Make a light outline using the folded edge as the creatures back. (If you position your sketch to the edges 1 sheet will yield 4 Ali Crocs.) You can free hand your Ali Croc or if you search “Fold Up Animals” you can find a template. Cut out the creature – use pinking sheers for the mouth to make a toothy grin!

Find and print a swampy home to color. I found ours at http://www.coloringpages101.com/coloring_pages/Others/Pond_wxxxf.gif

Activity: Each child gets an Ali Croc, a swamp and crayons/pencils/markers. Color the creature and color his home.  Add some friends in the pond. Take him for a swim. Have fun!

Notes/Tips: If you just ‘print’ a page from a website it will have the web address at the bottom, but if you right click and copy the picture then paste it into a Word Document then print that it won’t. You can also resize pictures this way.

My Pet Lizard - Toddler Art Project

We made this project during Story Time at the library today and it was a great success! Some of the kids even let me take a picture of their lizards 'meeting' the ones we read about!

My Pet Lizard

Age: 18 Months - 5 Years (younger ones need more supervision)

Time: 10 min (+ Prep)

Theme: Lizards

Books: The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle, A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni   

Materials:

Heavy Paper (Something that feels about the weight of a manila office folder)

Bendy Straws

Crayons

Adults get to use Scissors and a Stapler

Prep: trace and cut out the lizards. If you are prepping for a lot of kids and cutting out a zillion lizard shapes sounds insane, then outline the lizards in marker and cut out a ‘loose’ shape around them. If cutting the lizards you can get 4/page, if a loose outline then just 3/page.

Activity: Each child gets a pre-cut lizard and crayons. Decorate, draw, scribble, make it colorful! When done, have an adult help attach the short side of the bendy straw to the lizard’s belly with the stapler (2 staples works best).

 

Notes/Tips: By using bendy straws the lizard can be manipulated like a puppet up and around landscapes (like the couch or a shoulder). It can also be held against the glass of a window and made to look like it is climbing on its own!