Baby Crafts

[kaiser497]

I am looking for ideas of crafts for babies... ages 8-20 months or so. I already to a lot of finger painting and contact paper art. Specifically, I hand him pieces of paper that he sticks to the contact paper.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thank you in advance!!

[Maria K]

I'm going out to buy contact paper today... I love that!
- Maria

[kimbe]

I love the contact paper idea! I was going to suggest the opposite. DD loves to stick stickers to paper. We got her a sticker book and she loves sticking them, peeling them off and then sticking them on again.

How about regular painting? DD loves to paint with the plain old watercolors. (I cut the paintbrush so she could hold it better.)

Fabric. We like to glue fabric to paper or tie it together to make bracelets and necklaces and headbands.

Tracing their hands and feet. This has been one of DD's favorite activities since she was about 15 months old.

HTH! I am always looking for ideas too. I am going to get some contact paper tomorrow too!

[danagee]

This isnt necessarily crafty, I guess, but it's a fun & easy (possibly messy) project.
I'm going to have ds plant sunflower seeds in a little cup of dirt & we'll give it to the preschool teachers once it gets bigger.

Dana
ds 8/04 * dd 1/06

[mom-in-waiting]

Hi...I'm not yet a mom, but I am an art educator. The focus of my work has never been with the youngest children, but here are some thoughts I can offer...

For children, "art" is not really about the product or end result. It is about the process. Art is a way for the child to learn about and understand his or her world. So, the same way in which you want a child to experiment with language -- they learn their letters, letters combine to form words, words combine to express thoughts -- you're really trying to do the same thing with "art."

I would encourage you to introduce your child to materials that encourage sensory exploration -- which, of course, is how children experience the world.

They will enjoy feeling different textures rough, smooth, fuzzy, squishy, bumpy, etc. Try gathering a collection of fabric swatches, wallpaper samples, sandpaper, things from nature. Your child will enjoy feeling and handling them. When they are a little older, "sorting" is an excellent activity. Which is the roughest, the smoothest. Placing everything rough in one box, smooth in another.

This works with colors, too. You can collect postcards, fabrics, magazine ads and see how your child reacts to the colors. Later, you can experiment with sorting by color.

And shapes. Etc.

As for traditional art media, you will learn a lot as you watch your child (when old enough) experiment with all of the different kinds of "marks" they can make on paper. Long lines, short, lines, curvy lines. They will bang the pencil and make dots. Lots of dots. Many dots in some places, fewer in other places. This is all about gaining control over the pencil and paper.

All in all, you are working to build your child's vocabulary. And if you read up about artistic development of children, you will soon marvel at your child's mind developing. It's really very exciting!

So, these aren't so much "craft projects" but concepts to include in the projects that you'll plan.

I'd be happy to chat more if anyone is ever interested.

[Jen841]

I guess it is more of an activity, but the kids love playing with shaving cream at daycare and/or whipped cream. Easy pre-bath activity in the highchair if you need some Mommy time to make dinner/clean kitchen/fold laundry,... or all of the above!