Most parents are navigating through a new life with kids at home 24/7 in lockdown. Many children have stopped attending daycare or school and playgroups, playgrounds, zoo, beach are off limits. So we need to keep the little ones busy so parents can still work and keep their sanity!
Local Art Teacher and owner of JumpingClay Australia, Jana Griffiths, has pulled together a few craft and art activities which are simple and easy to do. She has made each project suitable for either toddlers or primary school kids.
PASTA COLLAGED PORTRAIT
For Toddlers
Let your toddler DRAW a face or CUT scraps of paper for the face features. Put glue where the hair should be and use any household PASTA. Your toddler will enjoy creating a delicious hair-do!
For Primary School Kids
Learn how to draw the FACE PROPORTIONS step by step HERE
Using your drawing as a guideline, add magazine cutouts, grab a glue stick and create a fun collage!
PRINTING WITH SHAVING FOAM
For Toddlers
Spread some shaving foam on a tray and put drops of food colouring in it. Give your child a stick and watch them enjoy mixing the colours in the foamy surface.
Press a piece of paper down for couple of seconds, then turn it up and remove the excess foam using a spatula. Your toddler would be amazed by the colourful patterns reveled underneath the foam and the best part of it-you can make as many colourful prints as you want. For more fun effects, try placing some stencils in the foam too!
For Primary School Kids
Use any paint and sticks, foam rollers, forks, old tooth brushes etc. to apply the paint and to create different textures. Learn the differences between real and visual texture HERE
Once the textures are dry, cut them and arrange them into different shapes and compositions.
INDOOR FUN WITH HOME MADE PAINT
For Toddlers
Make your own cheap and washable paint by mixing one-part flour, two parts water, a pinch of salt and food colouring. This paint is also eco-friendly and safe to be applied as handprints and footprints!
For Primary School Kids
Explore the artist toolkit and learn about line, shape, repetition and pattern as elements and principles of art HERE
Follow the instructions to create and print an electronic artwork.
MULTI PURPOSE PAPER CONES
For Toddlers
Make a DIGERIDOO using a cardboard cone from kitchen rolls or wrapping paper and let your little one decorate it with stickers and crayons. For better visual results, you can divide the cone surface using masking tape. Let your child fill in each section with dots, dipping earbuds in paint. Peel the tape once the colouring is finished!
For Primary School Kids
Use the paper cones to create a PAPER MARBLE RUN and check the educational benefits behind it click here
There are many different ways of creating marble runs, here are some ideas click here
JEWELLERY MAKING
For Toddlers
Use messy monkeys or any other similarly shaped cereal/snack. You can let your toddler paint the pieces first or you can use them as they are. Your toddler will enjoy putting them on a string or pipe cleaner whilst practicing fine motor skills.
For Primary School Kids
You can use any modelling clay, but we have used JumpingClay as it’s safe, eco-friendly and mess free. It is suitable for ages 3+ and it is super fun to use as any desired colour/tone/detail can be easily achieved. For example, the beads in the images bellow were created by using the three primary colours: red, blue and yellow and mixing them with some white and black.
JumpingClay unlike many other polymer clays does not require baking and it dries within 24 hours. Therefore, after you make your necklace or bracelet beads, leave them aside to harden a bit because this clay is very soft and light. Couple of hours later you can use a toothpick to poke the holes for the string that will go through and connect them all. And by the next day, you’ll have your own designed jewellery to wear!
JumpingClay is currently offering 20% off site wide.
Check out Jumping Clay’s Facebook Page and Instagram
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