The Preschooler’s Busy Book (16 page)

Sequins, beads, glitter (optional)

Pour a small amount of glue into a paper cup or small plastic container, and add about a quarter cup water to get the consistency of paint.
Have your child use a paintbrush to paint the glue solution onto a piece of paper.
Then, crumple up strips of brightly colored tissue paper and press them onto the paper.
Use a variety of colors and add sequins, beads, and glitter for a real piece of art.

Old magazines, catalogs, or greeting cards

Photograph of your child (optional)

Cardboard

Glue

Scissors

Cut out pictures from magazines, catalogs, or greeting cards, or use an enlarged photograph of your child.
Glue the picture onto a piece of cardboard that has been cut to the same size.
When dry, let your child cut the picture into pieces to create her own puzzle.
Puzzles are great for helping your child recognize shapes—a prerequisite to learning letters and numbers.

Tissue paper

White glue

Paintbrush

White poster board

Acrylic polymer (optional)

Synthetic paintbrush (optional)

Have your child tear various colors of tissue paper into large pieces.
Brush white glue thinned with water onto the back of each piece and arrange them on a piece of white poster board.
Show your child how to create new colors by overlapping two pieces of different tissue paper; yellow over red makes orange, light blue over pink makes purple, and so on.
To give a nice sheen to the finished product, coat it with an acrylic polymer using a synthetic paintbrush (available at an art supply store).

Brown and white construction paper

Scissors

Glue

Black marker or crayon

Cut circles of brown construction paper.
You will need one large circle for the body, two small circles for paws, a medium circle for the head, two half circles for feet, and two smaller half circles for ears.
Show your child how to glue the circles onto white construction paper to form a bear.
Your child can use a black marker or crayon to draw a face.
You can also cut out small white circles to glue into place on the paws, ears, and tummy.

Thin cardboard or brown construction paper

Pen or marker

Scissors

Glue

Lace, ribbon, fabric scraps

Pieces of cereal, small candy, or licorice

Draw the outline of a gingerbread girl or boy on thin cardboard or brown construction paper.
Your child can cut it out and dress it by gluing bits of lace and ribbon or scraps of fabric onto the figure.
Make a face out of cereal or candy.

Bright light

Construction paper

Tape

Pencil

Scissors

Glue

Have your child stand sideways against a wall and shine a bright light on her to make a profile shadow on the wall.
Tape a piece of construction paper onto the wall shadow, and trace your child’s silhouette.
Have her cut it out and mount it on another piece of construction paper in a contrasting color.

Cardboard

Scissors

Aluminum foil

Glue

Tissue paper cut into 4-inch squares

Cut cardboard into the shape of a hand mirror.
Cut a piece of aluminum foil into a corresponding shape and glue it onto one side of the cardboard to make “glass.” Have your child crumple four-inch squares of colored tissue paper into balls and glue them close together on the other side of the mirror to make a flower-covered back.

Heavy-duty aluminum foil

Colored tissue paper

Acrylic polymer

Water

Synthetic paintbrush

Make your own foil wrapping paper using heavy-duty aluminum foil, tissue paper, and acrylic polymer (available at art supply stores).
Tear or cut pieces of tissue paper and arrange them on the aluminum foil.
Mix the acrylic polymer with a little water and brush over the tissue paper, letting it soak through.
It will make the paper stick to the foil and give it a really glossy finish.

Cardboard

Ornamental Frosting (see
page 365
)

Jelly beans

Help your child draw a picture with Ornamental Frosting on a piece of cardboard—this frosting works like glue and tastes great!
Have her place jelly beans on the frosting.
You can give this project a seasonal theme by using pastel jelly beans on a rabbit picture for Easter, or green jelly beans on a Christmas tree and beans of other colors for lights and decorations.
Avoid using glue for this project, because your child is sure to eat the jelly beans.

This is a great way to use up the remains of the Easter eggs.
Your child will have a lot of fun breaking up the eggshells, and the pretty colors make a great mosaic.

Colored eggshells

Construction paper

Crayon, pen, or marker

Glue

On a piece of construction paper, have your child draw a simple design.
Fill it in with glue and add the bits of colored eggshell.
If you don’t have colored eggshells available, dye your eggshells just as you would dye hard-boiled eggs.
(See
pages 287
–
294
.)

Old magazines

Scissors

Glue

Paper plate

Pipe cleaner

Tape

Have your child cut pictures of her favorite foods from old magazines.
Paste them onto a paper plate and tape a curved pipe cleaner onto the back for hanging.
Or make a place mat by gluing the pictures onto a piece of construction paper and covering with clear contact paper.

Not only will craft projects challenge your child’s imagination and artistic ability, they will fill in many hours on a rainy afternoon and help keep your child stimulated and happy.
Make crafts as gifts for friends and family, or use them to brighten up your child’s room and the rest of the house.
Most of these projects can be made using objects found around the house or collected on your daily walks.

Styrofoam balls and blocks in different sizes

Toothpicks

Scraps of yarn and fabric

Glue

Markers or paint

Use toothpicks to join Styrofoam shapes together to form people, a snowman, animals, and so on.
Glue scraps of yarn and fabric onto the Styrofoam to make hair and clothes.
Use markers or paint to add faces or other details.

Construction paper

Crayon, pen, or marker

Scraps of fabric or lace, paper doilies, glitter, and stickers

Fold a piece of plain or construction paper in half to make a greeting card.
Have your child trace around cookie cutters in appropriate shapes, e.g., hearts for Valentine’s Day, trees or angels for Christmas.
The card can then be decorated with scraps of fabric or lace, paper doilies, glitter, stickers, and so on.

Paper

Crayons or markers

Have your child draw a design on a piece of construction paper or plain paper and show her how to make a fan by folding the paper back and forth in one-inch folds.
She can color one or both sides of the fan.
As a variation, fold the fan first, then unfold and have your child color and decorate each panel separately.

Playdough

Toothpick or large, blunt needle

Clear gloss enamel or nail polish

String

Have your child roll small pieces of playdough into balls to make beads.
Pierce each bead with a toothpick or large blunt needle and allow to dry for several days.
Check holes after a day to see if they need repunching.
When dry, coat with clear gloss enamel or nail polish to bring out the color.
Thread beads onto a string and knot the ends together to create a necklace or bracelet.

Paint sample cards

Hole punch

Paper fastener

Yarn or string

Pick up some colorful paint sample cards from your local hardware store.
Punch a hole in the center of the bottom and top of each card.
At one end, join the cards with a paper fastener.
At the other, lace yarn through the holes in each card to form the top of a fan.

Wooden kitchen spoon