What sort of art projects does your 2yo enjoy?

[MommyAllison]

DD loves to color and draw, and I am at a loss to know what other things are age-appropriate art activities for her now. She is fairly good with a glue stick...not sure I'm ready to give her scissors yet. What sort of art supplies do you have around for your 2yo and what do they do with them? Thanks!

[nancyvh]

Hi Allison~
My 2 YO DD loves to play w/Play Doh or Model Magic . She also loves to paint. We buy her those coloring books w/the water color palette attached. She looooooooves those. To keep things relatively mess free she sits in her high chair-this way the mess is atleast contained. This summer I'll probably put an easel outsie for her and let her paint there as well.


Nancy

[kayte]

Allison -

I highly recommend you getting this book from the library (if yours doesn't have it, get them to request it through Interlibrary Loan-which is free)

http://tinyurl.com/2euhd3

Young at Art by Susan Striker

It gives great activities (including how to introduce all sorts of supplies) at all different ages.

My 25 month old paints (with a brush and fingers), watercolors, uses crayons, colored pencils, chalks, uses circle stickers (removable ones from the office store), stamps, uses clay and playdoh, makes some collage (from precut paper and white glue -- sticks are too much like chapstick for her) and creates elaborate designs with a light box and transparent materials. I am just about to introduce scissors.... I just ordered two training scissors mentioned in this thread....

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=289786

HTH

[Pennylane]

Mine love to do all the above mentioned, but two favorites are collages and the foam stickers.

I cut pictures out of old magazines and they love to paste them all over a big sheet of paper.

The foam stickers are also fun. I know, not very creative, but it is good for their fine motor skills. Or so I've been told :)

Ann

[new_mommy25]

My DD is not quite 2 and I allow her to play with scissors. I bought a plastic pair from Alex. They only cut paper. I let her go to town on scrap paper and magazines and then glue stick them on to paper. I recently discovered that the scissors work awesome on play-doh. I let her cut play-doh a lot and I think it helps her fine motor skills.

Other things she enjoys:
Coloring with crayons or markers
Paint with water books (I find these at the drugstore or Walmart)
Sticker books
Foam stickers
Chalk or dry erase on the easel (these are always out)
Paint on the easel
Sidewalk chalk
Stamps (we have a ton of self inking stamps from the dollar store. Also have a few M&D sets that come with rubber stamps and ink pads).

I would say her favorite right now are stamps and scissors.

[catpagmo]

I agree with PP. My DD is just over 2, and she loves to paste photos from magazines onto paper. Just cut out lots of different photos, large/small, animals, boats, cars, etc... Then let them choose which ones they like.

I personally don't like play-doh as much. I can't stand the mess. My DD likes to scrape the play-doh a little at a time from the big blob, and crumbles it onto the floor. Then the dog eats it, lol.

Have fun!

[deannanb]

Also check out books by MaryAnn F. Kohl
http://www.amazon.com/First-Art-Experiences-Toddlers-Twos/dp/0876592221/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206221624&sr=8-2

[belovedgandp]

We loved stickers. The foam ones are great because it was easier for my DS to get the backing off of them himself. Sheets of stickers it took him until closer to 4 to master getting the sticker off.

We used plastic scissors to cut play dough to learn the mechanics of cutting. Then moved to cutting paper. Still have a hard and fast rule that scissors must stay at the table.

[MommyAllison]

Thank you all! I just had time to skim the replies, but will be back after DD is in bed. She does loooooooove stickers, though I have a hard time finding many that aren't licensed characters. I think we'll try scissors this summer - we're expecting the new baby in the next few weeks and I want to be able to give better supervision when DD starts with scissors - though play doh scissors might be ok...

I had to laugh about the PP who doesn't like play doh - my DH is the exact same way. He keeps trying to ban it from our home, but I just keep telling him how much she loves it and how good it is for her to be creative with it. :)

[Jenny_A]

My 2 year old DD is in a Mothers Morning Out program a couple days a week. The teacher does some really neat art projects with them:

- painting with large marshmellows
- painting with feathers
- painting with old toy cars or tractors

Just give them a little paint, a piece of construction paper, and something creative to paint with and let them go!

Jenny

[citymama]

I just want to say I love this thread and have requested both recommended books from our local library!

[sidmand]

She does loooooooove stickers, though I have a hard time finding many that aren't licensed characters.

DS loves stickers too and although I don't mind licensed characters, I didn't want to spend so much on the stickers that end up on my nose!

AC Moore (craft store, don't know how regional it is?) usually has packs of 500-1000 stickers for various holidays for $1. I just bought some Easter, 4th of July, and Halloween ones. And we had some insect ones...not sure where those came from though. Some are pretty small and DS needs helping taking them off, but then he likes sticking them down.

He also likes stamping. An inexpensive stamppad and some pen-like stamps work great. And making dots with bingo markers. He does lots of crafts at "school" but we usually stick to coloring and playdough at home because it's so messy and takes so long to set up, and about five minutes until he's bored! He also likes his little chalkboard. That's worked really well.

[jhrabosk]

She does loooooooove stickers, though I have a hard time finding many that aren't licensed characters.

I haven't actually bought anything yet, but I've looked at Oriental Trading (http://www.orientaltrading.com/). Tons of cheap non-character stickers, not to mention other good craft supplies.