Craft activity ideas

A question about : Craft activity ideas

My daughter loves craft activities and I am trying to come up with some ideas for things to do with her but I am not the most imaginative of people and would really appreciate any suggestions for things for her to do (and things that I can do with her). I have had a look on Pinterest and got some good ideas but would love more. She is only 3 so it would be fairly basic stuff like gluing/sticking etc but any suggestions would be very gratefully received!

Best answers:

• 99p stores and other cheap places you can buy a roll of lining paper which can be good to just put on the floor and let her go mad with stickers, crayons etc. Much cheaper than buying that much paper. If you get some tape and put it together you could potentially cover your whole floor. Be a good one for footprint painting as well.
• My nieces always loved anything with sparkles - glitter glue was their favourite.
  You could find pictures of fairies for example on the internet and trace off an outline for your daughter to fill in with the glitter, scraps of sparkly fabric and similar.
  Also if you have any spare buttons you can both make a button (or bead) bracelet by threading them onto something like crochet cotton.
  Sewing - use binca/binka and a blunt needle (I've used a darning needle and knitting yarn with scraps of lace curtains tied to the back of a chair) - I think you can buy all this fairly cheaply.
  Making a collage with kitchen things - pasta, pulses etc. Even layering them into a jar for colour contrast can be fun.
• With two pieces of very thin foam, or even some fabric, lay down two pieces, cut round your hand (generously) and cut them both out in a mitten shape. Glue the edges. Decorate and it's a hand puppet.
  Cheap/plastic flowerpots, some plaster of Paris (from a chemist?) and some shells, stones, beads, buttons: make the stuff up, coat the outside of the plantpot, stick the items onto it. Decorated pot!
  Make a papier mache mask: Balloon, blown up. Glue/strips of paper stuck on one layer at a time and dried (tie the balloon up with 2' of string and hang it from the washing line).... several layers later, pop the balloon, cut the balloon shape in half, cut out eyes, paint it with a monster face or animal face ... drill holes in the sides and fit some elastic to hold it in place on your face/head.
• I second the lining paper (or any wallpaper used on the reverse). We make life size ginger bread men by drawing around the kids and they stick wool for hair etc.
  Get an argos catalogue and let her choose things to put in a vitrtual shop by snipping out and gluing into a scrap book. Then she can be shop keeper and extend the play.
  Decorating buitcuits isnt particularly crafty but fun any way - and messy!
  Painting terracotta pots for her own plant.
  Cress egg heads.
  Collage with tin foil and sweet wrappers.
  Wilkos were selling their paint a mask kits recently in the sale. These things are always worth picking up, even if they are not age appropriate, for later on if you have space to spare.
  How about making a huge box house. Ask for a washing macine box or the like now as in school hols they are rare. There is a garage blind shop near us and I have picked up the cardboard tubes to make totem poles with (or palm trees, or just to slide balls down).
  Think rubbish and how can i transform it. That's where a lot of my ideas come from.
• I was in hobbycraft recently and they were selling those blank papier mache little boxes off for 50p - bought a few and my eldest (not quite 2 1/2) spent ages gluing feathers and sticky foam pieces and self adhesive jewels onto one to make a treasure box for herself.
  Lidl also had the big cardboard play houses in you colour in yourself a while back - might still have 'em (Hobbycraft had similar but more expensive obviously)
• Thanks for all the replies everyone, hugely appreciated. You've given me lots of ideas for things to do and things to check out. I did pick up one of the colour in houses from Lidl's a couple of weeks ago but I will make a trip to Wilko's to see what they have got. Also the lining paper idea is fab - I saw some in the Ј shop recently so will definitely get some of that. Thanks to for all the activity ideas.
• I was at the 99p store yesterday and stocked up on tissue paper, paper plates (for paper plate faces) and mirrored and coloured card. They've got some animal print card in as well with a few animals already cut out for you. Great for giraffes, zebras and leopards etc.
  The Works tends to have 3 for 2 on craft stuff so I always stock up on feathers and googly eyes. You can paint a blue peacock and cover with green feathers, flamingo with pink etc. Also paint and decorate wooden spoons with wool, feathers etc
  Cornflower on a tray with/without food colouring is lovely and good for fine motor skills. You can also look up past episodes of Melody (Cbeebies)-they normally do a lovely craft during each episode. We made a great jungle collage with fabric, felt animals and foil for our watering hole.
  Poundland do a nice bag of biscuit cutters - ours had lots of different dog cutters in it so we make gingerbread charaters from Hairy Maclary.
  Can you tell that we have a bit of an animal theme going on in our house?!
• Good old fashioned potato printing.
  Cut out butterfly shapes, paint one side and then fold in half for a symmetrical image.
  Peg dolls
  Spoon puppets
  Salt dough models that she can paint when dry. She can also make Christmas decorations with this when the time comes.
  Scapbook/memory book. Take and print pictures and then cut out paper or cardboard frames for her to colour and glue over the top.
• B+M also good for craft supplies (think it varies what they have depending on where you are though - my mum says her branches are crud compared to mine). Asda had a big bag of collagey bits (stick on gems, tissue paper and the like) for about Ј8 last time I was in as well.
  Finger painting, sponge painting, toy cars in paint and then making tyre tracks across paper is a nice one if you've got a transport obsessed kid (I have a digger mad girl).
  Just cheap child safe scissors and playdough is a great one for scissor skills... an unused cat litter tray and some glitter and a clean paintbrush is good for mark making as you can make squiggles and letters in the glitter (also the easiest and mess free-est way of doing the cornflour thing... from experience though - don't wear black trousers doing that - I left school looking like a snowman when I did it with a class once)
  They're hard to track down but if you can get the old fashioned wooden clothes pegs (I have a pack somewhere in the house and it's driving me INSANE trying to find the blasted things) - peg dollies.
• Hobby craft sell dolly pegs.
• 3 year olds can do LOADS.
  Check out The Imagination Tree for inspiration.
• Wallpaper/lining paper - hand prints, footprints, drawing round the body to make 'people'.
  Sand pictures - Hand/foot in glue, press onto card and then pour sand over gluey card. Excess sand can go back in the pot.
  Dough hedgehogs - Make a ball out of salt dough, flatten one side, pinch a nose into dough and then use pasta shapes for spikes.
  Pasta necklaces or pictures. You can dye the pasta using food colouring and vinegar (make your dye, put pasta & dye into a bag or tube, shake it hard, then lay pasta on a tray to dry). If you want to make necklaces with rigatone/macaroni then straws make good 'needles' for little ones.
• For my 3 year old, I just tend to let her loose with newspapers and the Argos catalogue and a pair of (safety) scissors. And glue, and glitter, and lots of it!