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 and creatively. 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, the pencil grasp, foster creativity, self-confidence and so much more.
A great way to mark the occasion is to give classic art activities a holiday twist.
Here are some ideas:
*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support ♡
Free printable from The Glitter Teacher
Offer just one or two markers 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.
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).
Free printable from The Resourceful Mama.
The perfect mess-free tree decorating activity for toddlers!
Free printable from The Glitter Teacher
Offer just one or two markers 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.
If your child is just learning to use scissors you can tape the strips to a small wooden tray so they don’t need to use their hands to hold the strips and can focus on using the scissors first.
This one can get a little messy but it is so fun for toddlers!
When first introducing paint to your toddler, start with just one or two colors until they are comfortable with using paint and paintbrushes. Gradually introduce more colors as the child shows signs of readiness.
If you have yet to introduce paint to your toddler, try starting them with this mess-free painting idea.
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.
This will close in 306 seconds
This will close in 306 seconds
