toddler craft Archives - Let their light shine!

Valentine Collage

Valentine collage to make using coloured tissue paper.

Tissue paper is a wonderful paper that can be torn, layered, crumpled and glued. It comes in a whole variety of colours and is relatively inexpensive. I use it a lot in crafts with children.

This Valentine themed tissue paper collage is very simple to prepare and make. The added hearts are a nice touch but if you don’t have a paper punch to make heart shapes stickers would be great.

All you need to make the valentine collage

A4 or A3 sugar paper
Glue sticks
Hearts cut from paper (and/or heart stickers)
Tissue paper torn into shapes – I used pink, red and yellow in large squares and some green in smaller shapes

Young children can be given the torn tissue paper shapes. Older children could select the colours they wish to use and tear the paper themselves. Tissue paper tears easily but usually there is a direction in the paper that tears in a straightish line – so experiment and see how the older children get on. If they are having trouble tearing the paper easily suggest that they turn the paper 90 degrees and try again.

Some other ideas for Valentines Day

Card to make

Valentine heart wreath to make

Jesus and Three Disciples – A Bible Number Story

Jesus and three disciples is our next Bible number story. We are up to the number 3. This Story is from Matthew 17:1-13. (We have already thought about Jonah and One Big Fish and Noah and Two of Every Animal.) This week’s Bible Truth for Toddler’s is, ‘We can listen to Jesus.’ To tell the story you could have three people to take out of a storybag – say hello to them and count them too.

Jesus and three disciples story idea

Meet three of Jesus’ disciples (friends) – Peter, James and John. They knew each other really well.

One day they went for a walk up a mountain – up, up, up they went. No one else was at the top. Just the three of them.

And then something extraordinary happened. Jesus began to shine really brightly.

Peter and James and John looked at Jesus. Something very special was happening. Although Jesus was a man just like them, he was also the Son of God. They were seeing a little bit of his glory. They were seeing just how special Jesus is.

And then they were surrounded by a bright cloud. Not an ordinary cloud – but one that was shining. And they heard God’s voice say, ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.’

And then it was over – and they walked back down the mountain.

Jesus really is God’s Son and we can listen to him today by reading God’s Special Book – the Bible.

Three Friends of Jesus – Peter, James and John

Craft Idea

We made shiny pictures – using various types of paper and celophane. Wrapping paper is really good for this. We also had a colouring sheet with the three disciples/friends of Jesus. This is a free download.

number-3-disciples Download

Spring is coming!

Where I live there is already blossom on the trees! So next week at toddler group our craft will be on a spring theme. We are going to be making some spring blossom spirals. There is some prep for me to do beforehand but not too much. The paper plates will need to be cut and some wool tied on. The blossom flowers will be cut from petit four cases. This will make the blossom more 3D than flat paper. I’ll cut out some leaf shapes too and we have some heart shapes left over from Valentines that we’ll add.

So – blossom spirals step by step – the first few pictures show the prep before toddler group. Older children could do the cutting and threading themselves.

At toddler group there will be lots of sticking, selecting blossom and leaves. It’s up to the children how much blossom to place on their spiral.

Valentine craft

Next Thursday we’ll be making Valentine cards at toddler group. I buy blank cards with envelopes from Amazon, Hobbycraft or Poundland. The hearts are cut from coloured paper with paper punchers. I like to use pinks, purples and yellows to make the hearts. You could use any colours that you fancy. It’s entirely up to the children how many hearts to use!

Fish in the sea craft

There are several Bible Stories that you could use this craft for – creation, calling of the first disciples, the large catch of fish.. It is mini fish cut out of sugar paper, tissue paper water and sea weed, some cellophane, blue, green and yellow crayons and a piece of sugar paper.

Thank you God for family and friends

To make – sugar paper, tissue paper, cut up petit four cases, heart shapes, wool, crayons, glue, people shapes

(bought from Amazon – girl shapes and boy shapes) These can be cut into individual people.

Let the children choose how many people to add to their family and friends picture.

Our five senses craft

All you need for these crafts ….

Sugar paper, glue, pictures cut from catalogues and magazines, felt, feathers, satin type fabric, wool, ribbon, stars, pictures of birds singing, pictures of musical instruments and paper plates. For ‘Things I like to smell’ spray the pictures with perfume beforehand. (If you can have some real items for the children to smell – lemons, herbs and sweetpeas are all good. For ‘Things I like to hear’ it would be great to have a table of musical instruments for the children to use.) I also used printed labels, ‘Things I like to… smell/taste/see/touch or hear’.

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to taste’

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to smell’

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to see’

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to hear’

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to touch’

Healing of Peter’s mum-in-law

We’re doing stories from the life of peter at Tuesday toddler group. last week it was the calling of the first disciples (Mark 1:16-18. Peter is still called Simon at this point. We have used the name peter to save confusion). The craft was paper plate fish.

This week it was the healing of Peter’s mother in law. (Mark 1:29-31)

The craft is a little bit more involved than usual – it is definitely one for an adult to make with their child. But it uses different textures and can be used to tell the story as the woman can get in and out of the bed.

There’s a free PDF of the bed and the woman is from kit that needs minimal prep.

peter’s mother in law (side 1 & 2)

The two sides of the craft – if you can’t do double sided printing/photocopying the side with the quilt pattern can be blank. It will work just as well.

You need pieces of fabric for the pillow and quilt. Mum-in-law has wool for hair and has a happy face one side and a sad face the other. The idea is that she isn’t glued to the craft but can get out of the bed.

I used a set of concertina girl shapes for the woman. They are from amazon. They need to be cut into individual people.

There are lots of opportunities for chat while making this craft. Parents/carers and toddlers can talk about colour and texture and of course talk about the story. We have our story half way through the morning with craft before and after. For those who make it before it can help them know what to listen out for.

Hope you enjoy making!

Another Christmas star idea!

Christmas star craft

Yesterday I posted a Christmas Card Star idea. Today another idea using the same star wreath. This time you can paint the star or decorate with stickers and then use tissue paper for a stained glass effect.

I used paint markers to create the dots. As with all paint check that what you use is washable and have aprons or warn parents/carers that there will be paint! I bought Washable Dab and Dot Markers. They are for 3plus years but if you put the lids out of reach and keep a watchful eye they are ok. If you don’t feel 100% comfortable with using something in your group then don’t use it.

The two ideas…

Star wreaths are from Baker Ross

Christmas Star to make

This is so easy and uses up Christmas cards! The star shape is from Baker Ross. I kept my Christmas cards from last year but wasn’t quite sure what to do with them until I was planning for Christmas and a friend told me about star shaped wreaths!

For toddlers I’m cutting out nativity themed pictures plus a few winter robins and I’ve added the choice of tissue paper too. I went with green and red but silver and gold would be lovely!

Older children could cut out their own motifs from a selection of cards.

Harvest – cereal box 3D picture

A 3D harvest picture made from a cereal box is a different craft to the usual – it takes a bit of effort to prepare but is well worth it. You need a cereal box for each child. We asked our church to donate boxes over several weeks. So to do this craft for harvest we started asking for donations in July. It didn’t matter that the boxes were a variety of sizes. If you are running a church toddler group asking people to donate items for the craft is a great way to get the church involved with your group.

To make a harvest 3D cereal box picture, you need

cereal boxes,
circles for the sun,
cloud shapes,
grass made from sugar paper,
tractors,
lots of flower pictures cut from magazines
glue.

Preparation to do ahead – you need to put the cereal boxes back together by taping the top together. The box should be able to stand up. Then cut a window (I used a craft knife for this). Make sure you leave a rim, a bit like having a frame around the window. Prepare the grass by cutting green paper to the width of the box. Print out the tractors.

Tractor-x-12 Download

Cereal box for a £D harvest picture with centre cut out

The children can then add all the other bits and bobs. They need to start off with the pictures inside the box and then add the grass, sun, cloud, rain etc..

3D cereal box craft with pictures glued into the box window

3D cereal box harvest picture of flowers, grass and a tractor

Here’s a link to another Harvest/Autumn blog post with an activity and a scarecrow craft

Here is a song to enjoy. Simple lyrics, great tune! This is a great song for toddler group as you could easily add actions for everyone to join in with.

Rhythms of Grace conference

On Saturday we drove to Wembley nice and early to go to a Toddler Group leaders conference. I was leading a couple of workshops about Crafts. It was a really good day. The Keynote speaker, Mary Hawes drew our attention to how toddler groups should be places of generosity, relationships, accessibility, community and encouragement. She encouraged us to be confident about being church based and to share Bible Stories. In the afternoon there was a music workshop that everyone was able to attend.

Very importantly tea and coffee and great pastries kept me so well fed during the breaks that I didn’t really need my packed lunch!

The day was really well organised and I came away enthused about running a Toddler Group and encouraged.

Here’s a picture of the Christmas craft we made

Sunrise – best time of day to drive on the north circular!

dinosaur craft

There are lots of versions of this in my house (!) – this is my favourite

How to make – paper plates cut in half. You can easily cut the dinosaur spikes/plates a few plates at a time. Older children who can safely use scissors can do this part themselves.

Each dinosaur needs a tail and a head – there is a free printable here – Dinosaur Head and Tail (1) Colour these and then attach with glue.

Decorate the dinosaur with tissue paper, crayon, pens – whatever suits you. I like to give children a choice.

Decorate the pegs and attach. The dinosaur should stand up!

God made small animals – craft

Genesis 1: 25 ‘And God made the beasts of the earth…and everything that creeps on the ground…and God saw that it was good.’

There are so many crafts that you could make about the small animals that God made – spiders (!), paper plate ladybirds, butterflies to mane a few. i decided on a caterpillar with a butterfly. I used circles (these are card making supplies), tissue paper grass and paper antennae and added some flower shapes.

Here’s a link to Vicki Howie’s Faith in the Family blog post – it’s all about creation!

Thank you God for my hands..

This last term at Toddler Group we thought about ourselves – our hands, feet, eyes, ears, nose and mouth. It is a very easy starting point for the children as they are learning about themselves as well as hearing a short story.

We started with Tabitha. We’ve done her story before but with young children repetition is good.

Tabitha came along to toddler group and bought some sewing supplies with her. We talked about what we could do with our hands – wave, shake hands and help tidy away toys.

For the craft we made coloured rice pictures. Children and adults loved this craft and it was very easy to prepare. I dyed the rice using food colouring and a spoonful of vinegar. Just put the rice in a plastic freezer bag, add food colouring and a teaspoon of vinegar and then smoosh it all around. Pour out onto a tray to dry. ( You can cover the tray in kitchen roll – you just need to then tease the rice off when it’s dry). Once it dries and you break it up with your fingers. We then made rice collages – I used black, square paper plates rather than paper as the rim of the plate kept the rice and PVA glue a bit more contained.

We have a large group so I separated the rice into small containers – two lots of each colour. Half way through the activity I was able to refresh the supplies so that everyone got a chance to choose individual colours.