We’ve had some pretty busy days here, so I am way behind in posting. Here are some quick ideas for toddler activities I tried the other day with Bl (16 mo): Continue reading “A day of toddler fun- little bit of everything”
Category: Art
Flower “stained glass” windows
We were having cold-spring-like weather in late June, so here is a good indoor craft we did (though will also work for the now-sweltering heat!): Flower “stained glass” windows. I saw this idea over at The Artful Parent. We did briefly head out to the yard to gather flowers & leaves, which was a nice respite from being inside.
Materials:
– contact paper ( got a 12″ x 36′ roll at Walmart for about $5)
– paper plates
-exacto knife & cutting mat/cardboard ( to cut middle out of plate)
-scissors (to cut contact paper)
-flowers/leaves
Bl was a bit interested in pulling the leaves off the flowers (what toddlers isn’t?), but lost interest in sticking them on the contact paper. Bl took a piano break.
Which was okay, because that left Mommy with a pile of flowers to play with. There is WAY worse ways to be left.
Once it was “completed”, I covered it with another piece of contact paper (flowers sandwiched between the sticky sides). I left the contact paper long, and used the overhang to stick it to the window (not pretty, but toddler-watching-quick).
Voice of experience: be careful how you apply the contact paper/ smooth it down, so the petals/leaves don’t get folded over the wrong way
Bl checking out Mommy's work After seeing the first finished product, Bl was much more interested in taking part. Unfortunately, so was Mommy….
*sigh* *process, not product….*
Once the flower carnage was over, and Bl had moved on to other things, I recreated my flower mandala.
Bl appreciating the view I tried the activity again with Br (3 1/2). He was certainly more interested in taking part, but wanted to generally put the whole flower on, rather than individual petals, despite my explanations it would be very lumpy and not as easy to see through.
I had Br help figure out how big to cut the contact paper ( lesson in relative size) and cut it (scissor practice= fine motor skills).
Br measuring & cutting the contact paper for his "stained glass" Okay, so Br was probably more interested in the chance to use big scissors than the artistic design.
Br's completed design-Notice his rapt attention to smoothing the contact paper on carefully.... 😉 Oh well. It will be interesting to see how the boys differ doing this activity in the future, but was pretty decent for a first-attempt. Okay….mostly, I enjoyed playing with the flowers….
Post Script: both kids found these way more interesting once they were hung on our sliding glass door- it was neat to see the details that showed up in the flowers & leaves once a little light was shining though them.
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