When it comes to art trays for young toddlers, keeping it simple and open-ended is key. The most important thing is that the child enjoys the process and that they have opportunities to master new skills and express themselves freely. Keep your expectations realistic. Toddlers’ attention spans are short but that shouldn’t deter you from making art activities available to them from a young age. By age 4 my daughter is working on self-initiated complex art activities for prolonged periods of time. So be patient in these early years.
Art activities are not only super fun for toddlers and young children but they also offer a number of benefits in those early years. They help strengthen finger and hand muscles, hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, fine motor skills, pencil grasp, foster creativity, self-confidence and so much more.
Here are some simple ideas for toddler art trays:
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Offer just one or two pencils to start with. Chances are your toddler will spend less than a minute on this activity when they start. Keep offering. It will pay off in the long run.
Stickers are such a fun activity for toddlers! For toddlers it is nearly impossible to get the stickers off the sheet so I would peel the stickers off beforehand and partially stick them on a small wooden tray so my daughter could easily take them off and stick them on the paper as you can see in the picture.
Hole punchers are super fun and really work on those finger muscles. Be sure you get one that is soft enough so your toddler can use (some can be hard for young toddlers and cause them to become easily frustrated).
When first introducing paint to your toddler, start with just one color until the child is comfortable with the motions. Gradually introduce more colors as the child shows signs of readiness.
If you haven’t yet introduced paint to your toddler, try starting them with this mess-free painting idea.
If you have yet to introduce cutting to your toddler, start with playdough and plastic scissors so the child can get familiar with the motions. Once they have mastered that, you can slowly introduce blunt tip metal scissors. Be sure to supervise when you make scissors available to the child as long as you feel you need to
Crayons are super fun for toddlers because the color is usually more vibrant than a coloring pencil. Choose a thicker crayon so it offers an easier grip for young toddlers and stick to just one or two crayons to start with. Gradually make more available to the child as they show signs of readiness.
Stamping is another fun toddler activity that works on developing hand strength, eye-hand coordination, spatial awareness and the concept of cause and effect.
Manipulating playdough offers incredible benefits to the child. In addition to being a calming activity that meets sensory needs for many children, it also is great for strengthening finger and hand muscles in preparation for writing.
If your child is just learning how to use glue, I recommend offering a non-toxic glue in an open small container with a brush that can be used to spread the glue on the paper.
There’s so much we can learn from children by observing their art process. You can notice which hand tends to be more dominant or how they choose to work with a specific material. For example, at around 18 months my daughter liked to draw lines with pencils whereas with crayons she would make dots on the page most of the time.
Cleaning up is part of the learning process, so make sure to encourage your child to tidy up after they finish their work. Model how to do it until your child feels confident enough to initiate the tidying up process independently.
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