Ideas for a 4 and 2 Yr Old.

My mom always comes up with great ideas. Once she took a streamer roll (ya know the ones you decorate parties with) and let the kids tie up the house....they tied it from door to door to room to room and then they had to crawl over and under...they even tied up my dad....they loved it....also...making a fort is fun...good luck...let me know how it goes...

Go to www.kinderart.com . It is free site and they have great ideas for all ages and for seasons and months. I am an activities director for the mom's club of washington and I use it to plan the activities of the club

My friend, Caroline, is a consultant for Big Yellow Box, by Crayola. They have a lot of projects for children and parents to do together- and the prices are really reasonable!!
To find out more information, email her at
____@____.com -- you won't be disappointed!!

I have a 5 and a 3 year old - you know what works well, I bought them some stamps and ink pads (washable ink) they really enjoy it and its minimal mess

Jenn Smith
http://jennsmith.stayinhomeandlovinit.com

These are mostly painting activites with a twist , you can get out a cookie sheet and spray it with shaving cream and they can doodle in it when they are done you have easy clean up. Another favorite is using either paper or a cookie sheet and taking instant vanilla pudding and using food coloring so they can one learn their colors and two have fun finger painting and they can lick thier fingers because it is pudding . A safe and easier way of finger painting. I also save toilet paper rolls , old cards , scraps of colored paper ,and paper bags and let them use glue to make mosaics . Hope this helps.

Hi J. have you tried finger painting its alot of fun

Here's what I would suggest: finger painting, painting with a brush, gluing (save styrofoam peanuts, scraps of paper, beads, buttons, use Cheerios, etc...let them do collages), paint with water for when you just don't have it in you to make a big production out of art and you don't want a lot of cleanup, bake with them instead of crafting (make spritz cookies with a cookie press and have lots of different edible decorations on hand and let them have a blast! I have a recipe if you need one, just message me), make paper chains (use a glue stick, this was a big hit with my daughter when she was 3-4 years old), marble paint (you could use golf balls if you're concerend about the little one swallowing the marbles..message me if you aren't sure what marble painting is),make bird feeders out of pinecones covered in peanut butter rolled in bird seed. I would say to keep it pretty open ended at this age, it's more process than product at this point. Go to your local craft store and just wander, you may get inspired! Have fun!

have u ckecked online? or your local craft stores? i usually go tot the craft store at least once a week & get him little crafts for $1.00 he loves to make them. then we give them to grandparents or other gfamily members as gifts.

check out www.familyfun.com
They have a great magazine, but I stopped subscribing since all of the information is free on their website. Very creative and simple :)

One thing I remember from Nursery school... and my 2 year old currently loves to do this, too... is making a "collage". I put all kinds of things in front of her she can glue (I actually remember this from when I was 4, and I LOVED to make these!) the 2 year old you'll have to help with the glue probably... give them a huge piece of paper, and odds and ends of cut up pieces of paper.... bring old magazines in the bathroom with you, seriously, and whenever you're in there, cut out interesting things and put them into a little basket. Cut out faces, flowers, animals, etc. Also you can cut shapes out of solid colored paper: circles, squares, crescents, etc. Get some glitter and put it in a shaker like salt and pepper, just open the holes a little wider to accomodate the glitter passing thru the holes. Little scrap pieces of ric rack or fabric, feathers, Offer ALL these things to your kids, sitting at a table, to glue onto the paper as they want to. You can keep all these little glueable items in a large basket or a few smaller ones, to pack away when you're done for the next time. I have so much arts and crafts stuff here, that all the scraps are not wasted, are put away for collage making. It's always easy with whatever you have handy, even little various shaped macaroni can be used! That's just one idea, it always works like a charm with my 2 year old, and at 4, like I said, I loved doing this!

Hi, J. have you tried doing a google search on crafts for children. There are a lot of websites that have a lot of neat crafts for kids. I have a 4 1/2 year old and she loves to do crafts and I have found just doing a search for crafts is very helpful. I hope this helps.

hi J., make painted macaroni jewelry, make pictures out of crumpled up colored tissue paper, make those beads where you cut long triangles out of magazine pages and roll them up with glue are great, they take lots of time and concentration, do tie dyeing, you can use coffee filters and food coloring, make stained glass by putting crayon shavings between 2 pieces of wax paper, then you can iron them, you can sandwich other stuff in there too, like leaves, yarn, etc,,,, play doh is great, and kids of all ages love anything with glue and glitter, just save stuff from around the house, empty cereal/tissue/shoe/milk boxes, tp rolls, etc, they can make little cities, all kinds of stuff, make mobiles, make masks out of paper plates, make instruments out of paper plates, empty boxes full of beans, rice, pasta, whatever, make puppets out of socks, get those tubs of foam shapes, theyre fun, some stick themselves, some you can glue......get a couple of craft books, there are tons of them out there, so many ideas...

I was just thinking about the same thing, only I have 2 boys ages 4 and 19 mos.-I recently went to AC Moore and got lots of inspiration.

I like the candle and/or soap making kits.

try these.. they have everything
nick
http://nickjr.co.uk/primary/nickjr.aspx

bouncers
http://www.kneebouncers.com/kneebouncers.html

hti one is for all ages is like minnie school
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/