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19 Crafts for Toddlers: Safe, Easy & Fun Craft Ideas for Toddlers

From bird feeders to box forts

A child's hand stamps a heart onto a piece of fabric. The stamp is made of potatoes. There's a palette of water colors next to the hand as well.
TWPIXELS/GETTY

Like postal workers, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will prevent your kids from tearing through (and tearing apart) your house when they’re bored. As tempting as it is to plunk a tablet in front of them, letting the warm glow of Disney+ entertain them while you try to restore some sense of order—and get maybe five seconds of peace—you want to wait until they’re at least a solid tween before they get completely screen-obsessed. So how do you keep them occupied? That’s where these crafts for toddlers come in. They’re fun, they’re easy enough for the 2- to 4-year-old set and they won’t cover your house in glitter, glue and googly eyes.

Most of these crafts can be tackled using things you already own, sparing you a trip to the store. And if you want to feel really good about your decisions, it’s worth noting that all of them tackle one of the CDC’s four main categories of early childhood learning: social and emotional skills, language and communication, physical development and learning/problem solving. We’ve also included information on the messiness level (giving each craft a score from 1 through 3, age recommendation and time range. Hello, mom of the year.

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Benefits of Crafting for Toddlers

According to the experts at Scholastic, there are myriad benefits of crafting for toddlers and preschoolers, including boosting fine motor skills, introducing shapes and colors and aiding both counting and pattern recognition skills. Arts and crafts also provide parents with an opportunity to engage meaningfully with young children and boost their language skills through the basic, but purposeful interactions involved. The Department of Health and Human Services also acknowledges the importance of “supporting the ‘A’ in STEAM” (that would be ‘A’ for art) for the following reasons:

  • The arts support children’s development across domains.
  • Art experiences help children build creative problem-solving skills.
  • Environments that support the arts are open-ended, accessible, and meaningful.

Safety First: Ensuring Safe Craft Ideas for Toddlers

As previously mentioned, there are many benefits to encouraging your little one to engage with arts and crafts. That said, there are legitimate concerns when it comes to ensuring the safety of toddlers while they work and create art with new materials. Choking hazards, for example, are a major issue, which is why it’s extremely important that parents closely supervise all art projects and assess this risk before choosing to introduce a craft project to their toddler.

Although relatively uncommon, allergies and skin reactions can also come up when very young kids are interacting with new materials—so, again, vigilance is key. (On a separate but somewhat related note, I remember when I left my two-and-a-half year old daughter unattended while I put her baby brother down for a nap, only to discover that her creativity had led her to ‘shampoo her hair’ with Dawn dish soap. Let’s just say her lingering cradle cap got worse and you can never be too watchful.)

Bottom line: Keep a close eye on the crafting fun, keep materials you think pose a hazard out of reach so you can better dispense them without losing track of anything and always choose non-toxic glues and paints for any part of the project your toddler will be actively involved in. And if you’re feeling uneasy about what’s safe and not, I strongly recommend you consult this guide from Penn State University.

19 Easy and Fun Craft Ideas for Toddlers

crafts-for-toddlers: A child's hands holding a pink ball of faux play doh.
La Bicicleta Vermella/Getty

1. How to Make Play Dough

  • Age Range: 1+
  • Supplies Needed: cream of tartar, flour, salt, vegetable oil, food coloring
  • Messiness Level: 2
  • Time Range: <1 hour

If you have flour, salt, vegetable oil, water, food coloring and, uh, cream of tartar (less likely, we know, but it’s crucial for giving the dough its elasticity), you can make your own play dough with nothing but stuff from your kitchen. You’ll have to prepare the dough, since it requires some cooking on the stove, but your kids can get in on coloring it: I Heart Naptime blogger Jamielyn Nye recommends placing each dough ball into resealable bags with a few drops of gel food coloring. Seal them up, then let your toddler knead the color into the ball, watching it transform.

crafts-for-toddlers: A toddler plays with salt dough on a wooden table. They have a little bit of flower on their nose.
Westend61/Getty Images

2. Capture Toddler Handprints in Salt Dough

  • Age Range: 1+
  • Supplies Needed: flour, salt, paint
  • Messiness Level: 3
  • Time Range: <1 hour

No cream of tartar? Pivot! Oh, and capture this moment in time when your kids’ hands are the size of your palm—and potentially turn them into ornaments for a Christmas craft the grandparents will “aww” over. All you need is flour, salt and water, which makes this one of the most low-maintenance crafts for toddlers on the list.

crafts-for-toddlers: A child's hand stamps a heart onto a piece of fabric. The stamp is made of potatoes. There's a palette of water colors next to the hand as well.
TWPixels/Getty

3. Make Potato Stamps

  • Age Range: 1+
  • Supplies Needed: potatoes, paint, paint brush, paring knife
  • Messiness Level: 2
  • Time Range: <1 hour

Potato stamps are classic rainy-day fun, though they’ll require a little work on your part: Slice potatoes in half and use a paring knife to cut out the shapes your kids request. (And if your child demands Elsa’s face? Best of luck to you, friend.) Your toddler can brush on paint, using the stamps to his or her heart’s content.

crafts-for-toddlers: Three pieces of paper that spell out phrases using rainbow salt art.
OneLittleProject.com

4. Rainbow Salt Art

  • Age Range: 3+
  • Supplies Needed: canvas, salt, watercolor paint, mod podge, paint brush, vinyl letter stickers
  • Messiness Level: 3
  • Time Range: <1 hour

This craft from OneLittleProject.com works on so many levels: Your kids can work on identifying letters as you spell out words using vinyl letter stickers, they get to relish in the fun of covering a canvas with Mod Podge, salt and watercolor paint, and the end result is something you actually wouldn’t mind hanging up on your wall.

crafts-for-toddlers: A person paints a picture of an autumnal tree and uses a piece of broccoli to create the leaves on the tree. There are paints bottles in the frame as well.
One Little Project

5. How to Paint with Broccoli

  • Age Range: 1+
  • Supplies Needed: broccoli, craft paper, paint
  • Messiness Level: 3
  • Time Range: <1 hour

Those little florets make for great brushes. Cover a table in craft paper, dab a little paint in a saucer and let your kids see what designs they can make. If you need help getting them started, draw a tree trunk and have them stamp the florets onto the paper, forming the leaves on top. The end result is a pretty impressive fall craft for kids that even a baby can accomplish.

crafts-for-toddlers: A small pig made of watermelon on a white plate.
Courtesy of Delish

6. Turn Snack Time into a Trip to Old Macdonald’s Farm

  • Age Range: 2+
  • Supplies Needed: kid-safe knife, cookie cutters, fresh produce
  • Messiness Level: 2
  • Time Range: <1 hour

Mindy Zald, aka theplatedzoo, has gained a cult following on Instagram for the ways she turns fruit and vegetables into frogs, pigs and even Seussian characters. Scroll through her feed—or watch this video of the animals coming together—to get inspired. Then use cookie cutters and a kid-safe plastic knife to cut out shapes, challenging your toddler to help you dream up a few creatures of your own.

crafts-for-toddlers: A craft made of popsicle sticks painted different colors and decorated with paper and googly eyes to make faces.
I Heart Arts n Crafts

7. How to Make Popsicle Stick Monsters

  • Age Range: 2+
  • Supplies Needed: assorted craft supplies (pom poms, pipe cleaners, washi tape, etc.), popsicle sticks, glue
  • Messiness Level:
  • Time Range: <1 hour

Let your kids’ creativity run wild as they color Popsicle sticks and glue them together (OK, you’ll handle the gluing, lest your dining-room table gain some colorful new additions). Here’s a chance to clear out old craft supplies, like extra pom-poms, pipe cleaners and odd bits of washi tape. Who knows what they’ll need to give that critter its spiky tail or speckles?

crafts-for-toddlers: A young toddler sits at a table making a necklace with dry pasta and string.
Ivolodina/Getty

8. How to Make Pasta Jewelry

  • Age Range: 2+
  • Supplies Needed: dried pasta, yarn or twine, paint (optional)
  • Messiness Level: 1
  • Time Range: no limit

What, macaroni necklaces aren’t chic?! Don’t tell that to your toddler. It’s a classic for a reason, and whether you let them use markers or paint to color their “beads” or just plop down some uncooked noodles and yarn, your little ones can hone their fine motor skills as they practice threading. (Just make sure to keep a close eye on your tot, lest they try to consume the uncooked pasta.)

crafts-for-toddlers: An overhead photo of a toddler finger painting with blue paint on a large sheet of white paper.
SolStock/Getty Images

9. How to Make Edible Finger Paint

  • Age Range: 1+
  • Supplies Needed: food coloring, yogurt
  • Messiness Level: 3
  • Time Range: no limit

Of all the crafts for toddlers, this one is particularly fun for 2-year-olds—and the mess is minimal if they’re still small enough to stay wrangled in a high chair. Add a few drops of food coloring to containers of Greek yogurt, mixing them up to create different shades of “paint.” Spoon a little directly onto the high chair’s tray, letting them use that as their canvas. Once they’re done, snap a pic of their masterpiece, then wash it away. Done. And if you’re not into food coloring, you can always try mixing in pureed baby food. Best of all, because this paint is actually edible, the only thing you need to worry about is mess, not safety.

crafts-for-toddlers: A young toddler plays with a makes a fort out of cardboard boxes.
Jozef Polc/500px/Getty

10. Build a Box Fort with Amazon Boxes

  • Age Range: 2+
  • Supplies Needed: cardboard boxes, markers, stickers, crayons
  • Messiness Level: 1
  • Time Range: no limit

What kid doesn’t love making a box fort? If you have a large box, cut out a door and windows, then hand your kids stickers, crayons and markers so they can design the castle of their dreams. If you only have medium-sized boxes, cut out eye and mouth holes and re-create The Masked Singer at home. The big reveal won’t be too shocking, but then again, neither was the Monster in Season 1.

crafts-for-toddlers: A simple, colourful, cardboard house sits in an empty room, casting a shadow.
Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images

11. Design a Shoebox Dollhouse

  • Age Range: 3+
  • Supplies Needed: glue, shoebox, magazines, miscellaneous toys
  • Messiness Level: 1
  • Time Range: >1 hour

Those magazines you keep meaning to KonMari out of your home have a new purpose. Help your kids cut out plants, furniture and other pictures they like—with close supervision this is a great opportunity for them to improve their fine motor skills with safety scissors—then glue them to the inside of a shoebox. Challenge them to scour their rooms for doll furniture and little character toys to live there (finally, a home for all those Little People!).

crafts-for-toddlers: A small homemade bird feeder covered in peanut butter and seeds hangs from a tree.
Brett Taylor/Getty

12. How to Make a Pine Cone Bird Feeder

  • Age Range: 1+
  • Supplies Needed: pine cone, peanut butter, bird seed, thread
  • Messiness Level: 2
  • Time Range: <1 hour

I love this one as an Earth Day craft—and what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for in sensory experimentation and just plain fun: Let your kid slather a pine cone in peanut butter, then roll it in bird seed. Hang it from a tree with some thread and you’re all set for some quality bird-watching. Which means you’ll also need to…

crafts-for-toddlers: A young girl looks through homemade binoculars made of cardboard toilet rolls. She stands in the woods.
Allan Baxter/Getty

13. Build a Pair of Binoculars for Toddlers

  • Age Range: 2+
  • Supplies Needed: toilet paper tubes, paint, thread or tape
  • Messiness Level: 2
  • Time Range: <1 hour

With two old toilet paper rolls, some paint and thread, they can have their very own pretend pair of binoculars. Let your kids decorate them however they want (for less mess, swap the paint for a ton of stickers), then tie or tape the two tubes side by side. This incredibly easy activity encourages young children to get curious about the world around them.

crafts-for-toddlers: A young toddler sits in a bathtub painting the tub and bathroom walls with washable paint.
JPM/Getty Images

14. “Paint” During Bathtime

  • Age Range: 1+
  • Supplies Needed: shaving cream, food coloring
  • Messiness Level: 2
  • Time Range: <1 hour

Grab a muffin tray, squeeze a little shaving cream into each cup and add a drop of food coloring to each one. Mix them up and you’ve got an instant palette for your budding Van Gogh to paint the bathtub walls with…and, given the canvas, clean-up couldn’t be easier.

crafts-for-toddlers: A small "fairy garden" sits on a rock. The garden is made in a soup bowl with moss, rocks, trinkets, flowers and more.
Tamaw/Getty

15. Construct a Fairy Garden

  • Age Range: 3+
  • Supplies Needed: nature findings (acorns, twigs, plants, soil), glitter, pot
  • Messiness Level: 2
  • Time Range: >1 hour

You may need to take a trip to Home Depot, Lowe’s or your local nursery for this one, but it’s worth it. Have your child choose a small planter—or an old mug or bowl, like in the photo above—and pick out plants to fill it. Then use dollhouse furniture, acorns and twigs, or small toys to create the fairy’s getaway, sprinkling the whole thing with a little pixie dust (aka glitter) to encourage Tinker Bell to visit. While the assembly of the fairy garden will require a fair amount of help from a grown-up, this craft is a perfect opportunity to send a toddler off on a backyard scavenger hunt—a hands-on activity that features nature and stirs the imagination.

16. Craft Lightsabers Out of Pool Noodles

  • Age Range: 3+
  • Supplies Needed: pool noodles, tape
  • Messiness Level: 1
  • Time Range: <1 hour

Your kids have been obsessed with all things Star Wars after catching a glimpse of Baby Yoda, and now you can fully indulge their obsession. Becca Beach’s two-minute YouTube tutorial will show you how you and your kids can use tape and old pool noodles to make the lightsabers of their dreams.

crafts-for-toddlers: A rainbow craft project. There are multiple colored items placed in a way that resembles a rainbow on a piece of paper. There are cotton balls for clouds.
KiwiCo

17. Match the Rainbow: Learn Colors Craft for Toddlers

  • Age Range: 2+
  • Supplies Needed: beads, pom poms and/or buttons; markers and paper
  • Messiness Level: 2
  • Time Range: <1 hour

Here’s an easy way to help your toddler learn colors, courtesy of KiwiCo: Use markers to draw a rainbow on paper, then present your toddler with pom-poms, beads and buttons to match to the colors on the rainbow and then glue on. (Remember to watch closely since choking hazards are involved, and take advantage of the opportunity to teach your tot what does and does not go in one’s mouth.) You can also use this rainbow craft for kids as a chance to discuss the texture of each object used: Is it soft? Hard? Smooth? Fluffy?

crafts-for-toddlers: A photo of plastic straw and pipecleaner flowers decorated with different colored beads. They sit in a glass vase in front of a white background.
One Little Project

18. How to Make Pipe Cleaner Flowers

  • Age Range: 3+
  • Supplies Needed: beads, pipe cleaners, straws
  • Messiness Level: 1
  • Time Range: <1 hour

With some pony beads, pipe cleaners and straws, your little ones can create a bouquet of colorful faux flowers (while unwittingly improving their fine motor skills). Plus, this pipe cleaner craft requires little more than some threading and twisting, so it’s totally mess-free and very toddler-friendly.

crafts-for-toddlers: A young child holds up a ball of slime in the hair. It drips through their fingers.
Elva Etienne/Getty

19. How to Make Slime!

  • Age Range: 2+
  • Supplies Needed: cornstarch, food coloring
  • Messiness Level: 3
  • Time Range: <1 hour

Kids’ obsession with slime isn’t going anywhere, so you might as well introduce them to the OG from your childhood: oobleck. Made with cornstarch, water and food coloring, the non-Newtonian fluid serves as a mini physics class in and of itself. Watch your toddler freak out at the way you can dip your hand into it, like a liquid, and squeeze it, like a solid. It’s sensory learning that never gets old.

Recapping Crafts for Toddlers

Whether you’re working with dough, paint, pasta or peanut butter, crafting with toddlers can feel a little, well, chaotic. (I can remember a few times where the art projects I came up with played out like a mini-tragedy.) But it doesn’t have to be that way and the benefits of arts and crafts for little ones are well-documented.

My advice? Set up a station and get organized before you begin, and always take into account where your child is at developmentally; the age guidelines above are a good place to start, but only you really know how long your kid can sit still or how well they can follow directions. Oh, and above all else, don’t get too invested in the outcome—this is about a creative learning experience, so the activity is still totally worthwhile even if the finished product looks like crap. (just sayin’.)

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candace davison bio

VP of editorial content

  • Oversees home, food and commerce articles
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  • Named one of 2023's Outstanding Young Alumni at the University of South Florida, where she studied mass communications and business

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Freelance PureWow Editor

  • Has 5+ years of experience writing family, travel and wellness content for PureWow
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