Gigi is quickly approaching her second birthday.  It’s been a very busy few months, especially since little d came along .  We’ve  done a ton of activities, some successful, some not.  Some started out as one thing and ended up as something totally different.  Here are our top ten favorite art and play activities from the last six months.  Just as a note, I have a toddler who rarely puts things in her mouth, which has enabled some of these activities.  If you have a little one who likes to taste everything, please use your discretion and have fun!

1.  Car painting is really fun.  You just need some cars and paint really.  It can be done in a box, like we did, or on a large canvas or a simple piece of paper.  We had fun making different textures with the paint.

2.  I got these great old school looking wood beads at Michaels and Gigi loved them!  I put out a few bowls and let her scoop and move them around till her hearts content.  She loved loved loved this activity.  Giving her a small glass for scooping really engaged her.  This lasted a full thirty minutes.  A few beads spilled out over the floor, so for cleanup we went on a color hunt for red beads, blue beads, etc.  The beads also look so pretty in the glass vase,  I’ve been keeping them out on display.

 3.  Sticker making is a favorite activity of mine.  I am sure we will do this a lot as Gigi gets older.  For this one I just drew some simple designs on sticker paper and Gigi colored and painted them.  You can read more about it here.  She put some of them on a piece of cardboard but most of them on all over her clothes.  If you like sticker making and washi tape, these Valentine’s Day stickers were also really fun, but for older kids.

4.  We started this great evolving canvas a few weeks ago and it’s been so much fun.  Gigi can’t get enough of that roller.  I just squirt out paint and she rolls and rolls over the canvas.  We started this with a bunch of kids of different ages.  They all had so much fun.  I am looking forward to a second round of kids coming over to see what happens next.  We keep the canvas in our playhouse so it’s always ready for action.  To read a whole how to on evolving canvases go here.

5.  When was the last time you flew a kite?  We were in Palm Desert recently and a family came to our local park with a kite.  Gigi’s eyes lit up (and so did mine!)  They were nice enough to let her try it and it was sooo much fun.  This isn’t an art activity but it’s still awesome and a great reminder of the good ‘ol days.  I am definitely planning a little kite diy in the future!

6.  I saw this great wire sculpture on Play at Home blog and couldn’t wait to try it.  If you haven’t checked out this blog, you should.  It’s UH.MAZE.ING.  Gigi was a little young for this one, so I recommend it for 2 and up, depending on your child’s fine motor skills.  I had to help a lot but the next day Gigi went right to it and had fun moving the wires in and out of the styrofoam.  We’ll definitely try this again when she gets a little older.

7.  WE LOVE stamp art!  I got these great little stamp sets at Michaels’ that weren’t very expensive and they’re great.  The stamps are a perfect size for little hands.  Gigi enjoyed using the stamps as well as the ink pads, which she just turned upside down and used as paint.  She also loved putting the caps on the ink pads, which was really challenging at first.  I have a pretty determined kid, so this was perfect for her.  Once she got the hang of turning the squares around to fit on the ink, she kept bursting out “I did it.  I did it!”  We’ve done this one a few times.  I give her 5×5 inch squares to work on so it seems a little special.  Some of them came out so beautiful I am taking them to be framed.

8.  Hide and seek is another activity I had to include, even though it’s not an art activity.  I hung a long sheet in the backyard along some trees and Gigi loved running all around it, under it and behind it.  We would chase her, play peek a boo, and just hang out behind the sheet in the shadiest part.  Yesterday she wanted to stand behind it naked and just suck her thumb for a while.  Ha.  The life of a child.  If you don’t have a place outside, hang a sheet in the house and build a fort.  Kids love this stuff!

9.  You can do so many fun things with pipe cleaners.  This is best for a little older than two, depending on your child.  I helped Gigi get the beads on, but in a few months she’ll be able to make bracelets and all kinds of structures on her own.  You can read more about pipe cleaner fun here and here.

10.  This glitter and glue collage was a three step process that was really fun.  Of course Gigi loved the glitter in all the colors.  She kept saying “oooh” with every different one we opened.  Again, Gigi doesn’t put art materials in her mouth if she’s told not to.  This may be a better project for when your child gets a little older if your child is more curious about how things taste.  You can read more about it here.

If you do any of these activities, I’d love to hear about it.  Enjoy!

If you are looking for more great ideas to do with your toddler, check out this great ebook.  It’s packed with awesome activities!