Toddler craft box

We used to keep a "cutting box" when the kids were small. I had an old shoe box with a pair of safety scissors tied to it. The box was filled with junk mail, magazine pages, colored paper, wrapping paper scraps, ribbon, coupons, catalogues, etc. that they could practice cutting on. They were encouraged to cut OVER the box so any mess fell into the box instead of ending up all over the floor.

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More ideas -

Black construction paper and chalk. They can make some really neat looking drawings! And it's a way they can use chalk indoors all year round.

We save huge pieces of cardboard and lay them out in the yard in the summer. The kids wear old clothes/swimsuits/swim diapers and do "full body painting" on the cardboard. We've also filled water balloons with a mixture of paint and water and thrown them at the cardboard. The BEST thing about painting outdoors in the summer - run the kids through the sprinkler before they go inside and most of the mess is taken care of!

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I still have two bookcases in the kitchen devoted to all of that. I'll add the paint when the weather is a little more consistent.

We have a huge array of stencils for drawing and graph paper for designing (Rochelle, of course). College rule lined paper for writing letters and lots of colored pencils. I've boycotted washable markers after several warnings about the caps.

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It's kind of big and bulky, but my brother gave my son a wooden rack that holds a huge roll of butcher paper. J can roll the paper out - as long or as short as he wants, and draw to his heart's content. Then he can rip it off (there's a board that serves as a "cutter" - no sharp edges), and start again.

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Here's a link to that paper roll dispenser: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Catalog_Id=1&Product_Id=3414&RememberCatalogId=1&Status_Code=ACTV&uniq=2006yr%3A4mth%3A22day%3A13hr%3A42min%3A49s%3A750ms%3A+

Hope it works, sorry it's so long. If it fails, you can go to http://www.lakeshorelearning.com and do a search for "butcher paper dispenser" or "drawing paper dispenser" and they'll have several choices. All of them are metal, though, I suspect that my wooden one may have been discontinued.

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My Mom's playdough recipe absolutely rocks. I am probably violating some family code by sharing it, but here you go:

Bring 1-1/2 C water and 1/2 C table salt almost to a boil. Take off the stove and add 2 tbsp shortening and lots of food coloring. Add 2 tsp powdered alum. Stir in 1 1/2 C flour. Knead until doughy and smooth.

The shortening makes a really nice, glossy consistency very much like commercial playdough.

There's also a recipe for Floam here, which looks fun, but I haven't tried it yet. DD is only 8 months old - I'm waiting until we get out of the "everything into the mouth" phase:

http://www.beyondsatire.us/?q=node/82

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If you add some white glue to the shaving cream you can use it on colored paper and it will dry (eventually) like puffy paint.

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Thank you! I've already purged the dollar store, and maybe now my toddler won't EAT the homemade playdough like she did last time. How anything can eat that much salt is beyond me.

I LOVE the cutting box idea..

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Large plastic bin filled with rice= an indoor sandbox. :)

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I've posted it under a different topic, but koolaid has a great recipe for playdough that uses their drink powder mix, which means you get scented playdough.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/koolaid/2001/scroll/scroll_detail_play_dough.html

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Also, I've pulled up this edible playdough recipe for those of you who have toddlers who regularly eat the dough. If your child has a peanut allergy, I would instead just make pie dough (or use ready made) to play with, adding colors to the dough to make it more interesting, then you can bake their creations.

EDIBLE PLAY DOUGH

Great beginner recipe for children and moms - EAT & PLAY

1 C. Peanut Butter
1 C. Corn Syrup
1 1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 1/4 Cup Powdered Milk

Mix all the above together. The consistency can vary..softer or harder. That is done by using the Powdered Milk.
Also, this works best if it's chilled for at least 2 hours before use.

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My daughter is a total craft junkie so we have far more supplies lying around than most, such as:
Old magazines for cut-and-paste projects
Pony Beads and old shoelaces (Cheerios also work for stringing and provide a built-in snack!)
Hit up the office supply store for interesting sorts of paper--we have coin envelopes, scratch pads, graph paper, index cards, etc. that Lucy loves painting and drawing on.
Old business cards!
If you have one near you, Rite Aid runs Dollar Days Bins from time to time and we've stocked up on foam shapes--animals, shapes, suns and moons, holidays.
Felt squares
Colored pom poms

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Card shops throw out the envelopes after a holiday and if you time it right the representative will give them to you free.

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stickers. my son loves stickers. we buy ours at the doller store.
the doller store near us has these sponge type beads that we glued on to paper.

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My clasroom of one to two year olds loved this one! I had them paint plain white paper plates (one blue, one green, one red, and so on). I also had them paint clothes pins (five blue, five green, five red, and so on). After they dried, I had the paper plates lamenated (completely optional). I wrote what color was on the plate in big bold letter, so they would begin to recognize the word that goes along with the colors as well. They will learn to match colors in no time and it will help develop their pincer grasp for scissor use later on.

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This is a great playdough recipe. My 2 year old loves to play with this and it takes a long time to harden.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water


In med pot add all ingredients and cook over medium heat till thick(pulls away from sides and bottom)stirring constantly. Remove from heat add food coloring and kneed until desired color adding more coloring as needed.

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