Easter is over and I’m excited to share 11 of our favorite spring crafts for kids. Anyone else hit a little creative wall after a holiday? It’s been all eggs and bunnies around here and as our garden starts to bloom I’m having fun thinking back to all the fun we had crafting last spring. Q was 1.5 then, 2.5 now so I’ll share ways to modify my spring crafts for younger and older toddlers.
My saying goes, bring ideas to the table not expectations. When crafting with toddlers, both younger and older, attention spans can be minimal. It’s easy to hop online and see endless beautiful craft ideas and want to do them with your own toddler. When things don’t go as planned, as they usually don’t, the parents or caregivers can leave the experience feeling frustrated, as can the toddler.
Instead of bringing an expected outcome to the table, bring an idea. For example as below, bring the idea to the table to craft egg carton peonies, for a younger toddler set out some paint with the idea they will paint them pink and then you will finish the craft. I say bring the idea to paint them, not the expectation to paint them. Q decided to paint them with the flowers. His idea, not mine and I loved it – it was completed unexpected.
It’s called process art. I know this term gets thrown around a lot. Process art is a craft with no outcome, as most of our crafts have no outcome at all, I just turn them into something when we’re done. That is what The Scott Cottage is all about though, turning experiences and play for Q into enjoyable moments for us parents to get creative too.
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Egg Carton Peony Spring Craft for Kids
Supplies
I quickly cut up some egg carton into flower shapes, making sure to shape the petals. I used the thin pieces in the centers to make the center flower pieces.
I set them out with paint for Q along with some flowers and he loved painting them with the flowers. When they were all dry I showed him as I glued them together and he ran off to play with them.
As a modification for an older toddler / child, allow them to glue them together. They may not be perfect but that’s the beauty of it! You can then turn them into a bouquet by glueing them to construction paper or a vase drawn on a piece of cardboard. This would make for a cute Mother’s Day gift! Check out the full post here.
Recycled Cardboard Mushrooms
Supplies
- Toilet Paper Rolls
- Thin Cardboard
- Paint
This one was so easy to toss out. I simply cut up some toilet paper rolls into shorter pieces (mushroom base) and cut some circles out of a thin piece of cardboard (mushroom top). Then I set them out with white and red paint and invited Q to paint them. When they were dry I added some dots and glue the tops to the bases. This was a great activity for early color learning as Q differentiated between the red paint and the white paint.
As a modification for older toddlers and children have them add the dots on with controlled movements, counting the dots as they go.
Then you can set these in some small world play, or a sensory tray! Young toddlers will love using these to scoop with and older toddlers will love using them in imaginative play.
See the full post here!
Nature Owl Craft
Supplies
- Pinecone
- Leaves
- Egg Carton
- Acorns
- Bark
Last spring Q was all about nature, as was I. We were a few weeks into quarantine and we spent most of our days in the woods exploring. He’d constantly bring home piles of pinecones, leaves, and acorns and I was always determined to put use to them.
Here I invited Q to paint the egg carton pieces brown. and the acorns green. It was a really simple process craft for him. When the pieces were dry I hot glued them together to look like an owl with a pinecone body, leaf wings, egg carton head, and acorn eyes. I glued them to a piece of bark so I could set in sensory play.
To modify this for older toddlers and kids have them glue on the pieces to the pinecone. These are great for small world play.
Egg Carton Dragonfly Spring Craft
Supplies
- egg carton
- egg shells
- paint
- glue
I love egg carton crafts. It’s easy to toss away the lids and use the bottoms, but instead I quickly cut out some dragonfly shapes from the tops and set them out for some process art.
Q loved painting them brown and then he added some glue and sprinkled on some crushed egg shells.
To craft with egg shells soak them in hot water and gently wash them out with soap. This is a great craft for kids of all ages! See our cute dragonflies here.
Leaf Printing
Supplies
- Leaves
- Paint
- Paper
That easy! I took a print making class in college and loved it more than I ever imagined. This is a fun very early intro into printmaking, showing how by painting one side of a leaf, turning it over and pressing it onto the paper, leaves a marking. Q was fascinated by this and I think he will really enjoy this craft this season as an older toddler!
Love seeing how focused he was on this, full post here!
Tie Dye Baby Wipes
Supplies
- Markers
- Baby Wipes
- Rubber Bands
If anything remotely complicated stresses you out, just give this craft a go. Honestly young toddler attention span on a craft can be even just a few minutes long and Q loved this one as a young toddler. It’s so easy to tie up the baby wipes with rubber bands, invite your little one to color it with markers, un tie and hang to dry!
Older toddlers will love this too and it can be an activity about color mixing. You can also cut them into fun designs and shapes for spring like flowers and butterflies.
Wine Cork Bees Spring Craft
Supplies
- Wine Corks
- Yellow Paint
- White Paper
- Pen
Here’s another one that is THIS EASY! Stamping with wine corks. I know I have a few wine corks around most of the time and I love to craft with them. I invited Q to stamp with them and then I had him watch as I turned them into bees.
To modify for toddlers have them make their own designs with the pen over their stamp marks to make their own bees!
Nature Puzzle
Supplies
- Wooden Puzzle
- Glue
- Nature
I love having easy go to pre-cut items like this wooden puzzle on hand for days I need to get some work done. Q has always loved to glue, so gluing activities were big around here when he was younger, to even more so now.
This is fun for toddlers to learn about nature and colors, as Q gets older he glues items with more purpose and takes his time on placement. Here’s how it all came together.
Frozen Flower Eggs
Supplies
- Egg shells ( cleaned out)
- flowers
- freezer
Most of our crafts cross the line into sensory play, I mean most crafts are sensory play. This is another easy craft that we did multiple times last spring. Q would fill the eggs up with flowers, I’d pour water over, and place them in the freezer. The next day we’d see our egg creations and play with them. A fun reminder too that now all art has to be everlasting!
Check out these dreamy eggs here.
Melted Crayon Suncatchers
Supplies
- Crayon Shavings
- Wax Paper
- Iron
- Twine
- Hole Puncher
I remembered doing this craft as a kid. This is a great craft as toddlers can quickly toss on their crayon shavings and run off to play hah! When Q was done I invited him to watch me iron the pieces of wax paper together so he could see how the crayon melted between. Check out the full post here.
I know he’ll love this more as an older more curious toddler! You can make these into fun shapes too!
Floral Clay
Supplies
- Air Dry Clay (Recipe here)
- Dried Flowers
Last for now, but certainly not least, I am sharing my favorite spring craft with Q. I brought air dry clay into play as play clay a year ago and it’s a great gluten free, taste safe, material for younger toddlers that older ones will love too. Q loved mixing our dried flowers into the clay. We made hand prints and I left them out to dry for a few days. A perfect forever keepsake!
See the full post here!
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