Children love nothing better than getting messy, whether this be with paint, food, glue or the dreaded glitter. Some of the best craft activities for this age can also be used to incorporate some form of learning. This could be practicing letter and number formation, learning about volume and capacity or color mixing.
Below are some of the best craft activities that can be enjoyed by this age group. Activities that they can have lots of fun doing while still learning or developing their skills.
Glitter Star Jars
Materials Needed
- Mason Jar
- Glitter
- Glow in the dark stars
- Spoon
- Karo Syrup
First, fill the jar with Karo syrup leaving about an inch of the jar empty. Then pour in a generous amount of glitter, which will just sit on the top of the syrup. Take a spoon and stir it until all the glitter is mixed through the syrup.
Next, add in the glow in the dark stars and stir again until it is all mixed together and voila!
Beautiful glitter and shine by day and glowing stars by night.
*This activity can be used to develop fine motor skills, cause, and effect. The development of language can be used when discussing what the glitter looks like in the day time and then the differences.
Painting with Balloons
Materials Needed
- 6 Balloons red, orange, yellow, purple, green and blue
- Paint red, orange, yellow, purple, green and blue
- Paint tray
- Large plain white paper
Firstly, you need to inflate the balloons, these are standard party balloons. You will need to fill the balloons with air, then place the blue balloon in the blue paint, the red balloon in the red paint and so on.
You will need a large workspace to carry this activity out as the balloons can get slippery and some children may like to roll them around the paper. Balloons should only be inflated a small amount making them the perfect size to be held by little hands.
Children will love the open-ended play that this craft activity provides. They can let their imagination run wild as they manipulate the balloons to make all different patterns and colors.
*This activity helps fine motor skills, color recognition, cause and effect as they mix colors together. Language development while discussing the different patterns that the balloons make.
Paper Plate Cloud
Materials Needed
- Paper plates
- Blue paper
- Blue and white paint
- Cotton wool balls
- Googly eyes
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
- Paintbrushes
Start off by painting the paper plate with blue and white paint. While the paint is still wet cover the plate with the cotton wool balls. You will need to pull the balls apart a bit to thin them out.
Next cut three lengths from the blue paper and cut one of the lengths in half, these will become the arms. Fold the arms and legs into a concertina pattern. With the remainder of the blue paper draw a big smile and cut it out.
Using the hot glue gun, glue on the eyes, arms, legs, and mouth. Finally, glue on the cotton wool hands and feet.
*This activity helps to promote fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, imagination and creativity. It can also be used to help language development as you talk about the letter C and clouds.