Paper crafts to keep your toddler’s imagination active

Paper offers a wonderful, safe way for you to get creative with your child. Best of all, it’s something you probably have lying around the house already.

Benefits of making crafts

There are so many benefits of making crafts, including:

• Builds fine-motor skills
• Enhances hand-eye coordination
• Expands cognitive skills
• Encourages creativity and play
• The understanding of how things work, or fit, together
• Number and colour association

Octopus plate

You will need:

• Paper plate
• Dry penne pasta
• Paint
• Permanent marker
• Pipe cleaners
• Paper punch

Method

1. Paint the pasta, which is a great chance for your little one to get his fingers dirty and learn colours.
2. Thread the pipe cleaners through the holes and secure them by twisting the ends together.
3. Thread the pasta onto the pipe cleaners, all the while talking about the colours of the pasta.
4. Draw on a smiley face.
5. This octopus can be built and re-built as many times as you like. It’s the perfect toy to bring along to a waiting room, or when you need to keep your kids busy for a while.

Fire-blowing dragons

You will need:

• Empty toilet rolls
• Mini pom-poms
• Glue stick
• Tissue paper
• Scissors

Method

1. Prepare the toilet rolls by getting your child to paint them.
2. Glue on the larger pom-poms for eyes and smaller ones for the nostrils.
3. Cut long triangular strips of tissue paper for the fire.
4. Glue the base of the triangles onto the roll, overlapping as you go, until you have enough tissue paper to make it look like fire.

Paper giraffe

You will need:

• A4 yellow paper
• Brown paper
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Marker

 Method

1. Help your toddler roll thin, narrow cones from the yellow paper.
2. Using scissors, trim the bottom of the cone so it can stand on a flat surface.
3. Tear long, thin strips of brown paper and then tear these strips into small squares.
4. Glue the brown squares onto the cone.
5. Draw a simple face onto a scrap of the yellow paper.
6. Cut out the face and glue to the top of the cone.