Toddler Crafts that Improve Motor Skills & Creativity

Toddlers are a whirlwind of energy and curiosity. As parents and caregivers, we constantly seek ways to channel their enthusiasm into activities promoting growth and development. This is where the magic of toddler crafts and activities comes into play. The toddler years are so important because they are a time of constant learning. The cognitive functions and motor skills grow and evolve at a rapid pace. Introducing them to activities that stimulate their minds can lay the foundation for a lifelong love of learning. 

This blog explores seven creative and educational crafts and activities great for learning toddlers. The toddler crafts on our list are nature collages, puzzle play, playdough/clay creations, building blocks, color-mixing, texture exploration, and creating art with recyclable materials. These activities entertain and encourage your child to explore, experiment, and think critically.

Nature Collages

Take a nature walk with your toddler and collect leaves, twigs, flowers, and other interesting, safe-to-handle items. Encourage your child to arrange these items into a collage on a large posterboard or directly on the ground. This activity lets them explore the natural world and sparks creativity as they decide how to arrange the pieces. You can give them further instructions like “group all of the items together by color” or “layout all of your items from smallest to biggest/ shortest to longest.” They will need to think critically about balancing colors and shapes, getting their logical and creative juices flowing!

Puzzle Play

Puzzles are excellent for encouraging critical thinking. Choose kids’ puzzles that are age-appropriate for your toddler, or create your own puzzle. To quickly make your own puzzle, print out a color image of something your toddler will easily recognize (like a car, food, or zoo animal). Then, cut the image into 9 or 12 equal squares. Scramble the pieces before giving them to your toddler. 

You can start by working on the puzzles together and encouraging them to solve them independently as they become more confident. Puzzles challenge children to think logically, spatially, and analytically.

Playdough/Clay Creations

Playdough or clay are fantastic mediums for sparking creativity in kids. They can craft animals, shapes, or anything that comes to mind. This hands-on activity encourages fine motor skills, imagination, and problem-solving. If you want to give them directions, show them a picture of a square, circle, or triangle and ask them to recreate it using the clay. You don’t want to overwhelm or frustrate them, so keep the shapes simple when you’re starting out (no trapezoids or parallelograms!).

Color Mixing

Learning about colors supports a toddler’s cognitive development, provides visual stimulation, and helps with object recognition. This is a messy activity, so we recommend you do this outside or lay down a spare sheet, towels, or a placemat before beginning. You can also do this color-mixing activity using just plain yogurt and food coloring to make this as safe as possible for your toddler. That way, you don’t have to worry about their safety if they choose to eat the “paint.” For this activity, you’ll need four cups of plain (white) yogurt; red, yellow, and blue food coloring; four spoons; and six paper plates:

1. Fill four paper plates with 1 cup of your favorite plain yogurt. (You can also use toddler-safe cups or bowls.)
2. Next, add a few (3-6) drops of red food coloring to one plate, yellow to the second, and blue to the third. Leave the fourth plate as it is. 
3. Make sure the food coloring is evenly distributed throughout the yogurt so the color is completely changed.
4. Lay out the other two empty paper plates in front of your toddler (this is where they’ll mix the colors together).

Encourage your toddler to explore mixing the colors by dipping their fingers, hands, or even child-safe brushes into the vibrant yogurt paints. To get them started, mix yellow and blue together on one of the empty paper plates to create green. Encourage them to identify the colors by name and ask open-ended questions to spark their curiosity, such as “What happens when you mix red and blue? Can you create a new color?” This activity stimulates your toddler using their vision, sense of touch, and sense of taste. You can use baby wipes to clean them off once they’re done playing!

Texture Exploration

Offer your child a variety of textured materials like sandpaper, fabrics (wool, cotton, silk, etc.), sponges, paper, and dried foods (pasta, rice, etc.). Let them touch and feel these materials and discuss the differences in texture. This sensory exploration develops their tactile senses and encourages critical thinking as they compare and contrast the textures.

Recycled Art

Gather recyclable materials like cardboard boxes, egg cartons, and plastic containers. Encourage your toddler to turn these items into works of art by ripping them up, gluing them, or painting them. This activity encourages creativity as they envision what they can create from these materials and critical thinking as they plan and assemble their art pieces.

Conclusion

Incorporating these crafts and activities into your toddler’s routine keeps them engaged and fosters their creativity and critical thinking abilities. They develop essential skills to serve them well as they explore, create, and problem-solve. Remember, the goal is to pass on the joy of learning and discovery, so allow your toddler to explore at their own pace and in their unique way.