New moms are probably wondering what is meant by “All About Me” crafts for toddlers. Well, if you have a little munchkin running around in your house, you know how difficult it can be to keep them occupied. One moment, they are happily scribbling with colored pencils on a piece of paper, and the next, they are playing with flour in the kitchen. It’s a toss-up between scolding them for the mess they have caused and clicking pictures to show their grandma how cute they look. If you are familiar with such situations, we know that you may be familiar with the struggle that it trying to get their attention.

This is where pre-school activities come in; you can do these with your toddlers easily. Based on the average toddler’s level of comprehension and motor skills, we have come up with basic level crafts that your toddler will love. These activities will allow them to learn different things about the world around them. They can help lay down the educational foundation for your child and build curiosity and a thirst for learning. The following craft kits are easy to put together because they all contain simple accessories that you might already have in your house. If you are pressed for time, of course, you can always hop on over the Pinwheel Crafts store and check out our amazing selection of pre-made craft kits!

Personalized Sensory Bottle

The first two words that most toddlers say are “mama” and “dada,” closely followed by “no” and “bye-bye.” Notice a word missing here? Their name!

Name recognition should be one of the first steps towards teaching your toddler little things about themselves. To make this fun, create a personalized sensory bottle with their name on it, and let them help out. For toddlers, a hands-on method works best, and this craft is pretty exciting to make.

You Will Need

• Alphabet Beads
• Hair Gel
• Empty Water Bottle
• Skewer/Stick/Dowel Rod
  
  

Directions

• Fill half of the empty bottle with hair gel.
• Lay down the alphabet beads on a table so that they spell your toddler’s name
• Use the skewer to gently push the letters inside, facing the front of the bottle (Make sure not to push the letters into the hair gel)
• Once the letters are in position and spell the name in a line, add more hair gel in the bottle (Fill the bottle about two-thirds of the way, or it might start to ooze when your toddler squeezes the bottle)
• If the letters have moved around a bit, use the skewer to bring them back into position
• Tape the bottle’s lid so that if you want to reposition the letters later, you can do it easily
  
  

Clothes Pin Name Stick

Another great name recognition activity is creating a stick that spells your toddler’s name. You can also try different variations of this activity by creating multiple sticks, such as for recognizing animals, fruits, and vegetables.

You Will Need

• Alphabet stickers (Stickers with illustrations of animals, fruits, or vegetables)
• Paint Stir Stick
• Clothes pins
• Cardstock
• Picture of your toddler
• Paint
  
  

Directions

• Paint the stir stick with a color of your toddler’s choice. Let them in one the fun by handing them a brush and showing them how to do it.
• Set aside the painted stick and allow it to dry.
• On a sheet of card stock, paste the alphabet stickers in a vertical line and then paste the name on the painted stick.
• On another piece of card stock, paste another set of letters with spaces in between and then cut them into blocks.
• Attach the individual letters using clothes pins.
• Paste the picture of your toddler on top of the painted stick.
  
  

Make sure that the alphabet image stickers on the stick and the ones on the clothes pin match in color; otherwise, your toddler will get confused and match colors only instead of trying to match the letters to the corresponding images.

The Emotions Game

One of the things that parents should start teaching their toddler at an early age is how to manage their emotions. The age for toddlers range between 1 and 4 years old. At this age, toddlers develop a basic understanding of what’s good and bad. For example, they know if they draw on the wall, Mom will get angry. If they finish the food on their plate, Mom will be happy, and so on.

The act of matching their face to their emotions is a fun activity that will have them giggling out loud. You can keep adding different pictures of your munchkin throughout their toddler years.

You Will Need

• Printed emotion words on card stock
• Photos of your munchkin making faces
• Scissors
• Round Velcro
• Photo album
• Emoji stickers (printed)
  
  

Directions

There’s a fair amount of work that goes into preparing this kit, so be prepared. If you have a laminating machine, you can make the album yourself easily. You can also purchase one-sided adhesive laminating sheets that do not require a special, heated machine. If you do not have access to either of these options, you can simply slide the pictures into album sleeves. Here’s how to make the album:

• Get all the pictures of your toddler printed.
• Search online for pictures of emojis that match the pictures you took of your toddler and print them on sticker paper.
• Laminate the photos, or slide them into the album sleeves.
• Cut out the emotion words, and paste the Velcro rounds on the back of each.
• Stick the other side of Velcro rounds onto the album sleeves. Make sure to leave a little space to the right side and stick the emojis there
  
  

Now, let your kids read the emotion words out loud and stick them on the right pictures.

Body Part Felt Game

Since a toddler is in the discovery phase, you should introduce activities that allow them to learn something different in a new and fun way. The body felt craft kit is one of these unique activities. Half of the fun is in making this kit. Here’s where all the fun begins.

You Will Need

• Printed pictures of body parts – skull, ribs, heart, lungs, kidney, hand, feet, arm, big intestine, and small intestine (all in large sizes)
• Different colored felt (white, red, yellow, brown, cream)
• Scissors
• Black marker
  
  

Directions

• Spread a large piece of felt, or plain fabric on the ground and have your toddler lie down on it
• Use a pencil to trace the outline of their body and then use scissors to cut it
• Match the felt colors with the printed pictures and then cut out the organs
• Once all the organs have been cut, use the black marker to label them
  
  

Help your child to determine which organ goes where. Watch as they stand in front of the mirror and place the felt organs on top of where their actual organs are.

Final Thoughts

Crafts kits like these are the new craze. If you are running short on the time required to assemble them yourself, you can always peruse the selection of prepackaged craft kits for kids over at our store. There you will find great creative toddler activities like the Pinwheel Crafts Unicorn Pillow Kit. These kits can help toddlers to develop new skills and start the learning process early. So, gather all the supplies you can from your house, and for the rest, visit your nearest arts and craft store.