Crafts for a 1 Year Old

For infants, young children, and toddlers, there are so many fun, imaginative arts and crafts activities available. You might not be aware of the options available to you, or you might not know where to begin to keep things as straightforward, uncomplicated, and enjoyable as possible.

I can speak from experience when I say that one unsuccessful, out-of-control painting project with your child may be really unsettling. It might be challenging to decide what activities to facilitate for different age groups. Little ones develop and grow so quickly.

You should have plenty of age-appropriate craft ideas after looking through this collection of enjoyable and simple arts and crafts for one-year-olds. It will arm you with a wealth of information, such as instructions and suggestions for activities, as well as materials and connections for supplies.

We want you to leave this blog feeling confident and ready to lead interesting art projects and activities for one- to two-year-olds.

Edible Playdough

Try edible dough with food coloring added. Rice, cereal, corn starch, apple sauce, vegetable oil, and food coloring could be used in the recipe. It’s entertaining to show a baby how to mold this dough in various ways. This edible dough might be used to create anything, including creatures, foods, flowers, tools, clothing, and automobiles.

Crayons

Toddler crayons are great because they teach youngsters how to write and color. To avoid unintentional scribbles on the wall and for greater grip, thick, washable crayons are a need. To prevent the sheet from rolling around too much, it also helps to tape it to the surface, whether it’s the floor or a table.

Offer a couple and keep an eye on her the entire time if you are concerned that your one-year-old may chew on them. Even though the majority of crayons made for children are safe, there are situations when you need to stop her before she puts a crayon in her mouth.

Painted Handprint Tree

Why choose just one handprint when you may create a Christmas project with many? This much-liked preschool activity from the Pinkie for Pink blog is perfect for toddlers as well. Naturally, you’ll need to assist them in making the handprints, but they’ll love decorating the tree they actually fashioned with their own hands.

Stickers

Using stickers helps kids build their patience while enhancing their fine motor abilities. Reusable stickers are great since your kid can remove them again and apply them somewhere else without leaving any residue.

Playing with Rice

Since they tend to fall off, rice grains are difficult to grip. Playing with rice improves a baby’s grasping and holding abilities. Submerge the baby’s preferred food or toys in a mound of rice. Let them go exploring, discover things for themselves, and feel unbridled delight.

Paint with Water

All you need is some construction paper, a big paintbrush, and some water. Teach her how to “paint” the sheet by dipping the brush in water. The areas she rubbed with water will cause the construction paper to darken, resulting in artistic patterns.

Scrunched Paper Christmas Tree

Toddler Christmas tree projects are a terrific way to get your kids excited for the approaching holiday. Since no toddler can resist playing with paper, this is one they are likely to enjoy. By making crumpled tissue paper into lovely decorations for your construction paper trees, Crafts on Sea turns one person’s garbage into another’s treasure.

Contact Paper Art

To make a sticky canvas for this contact paper art project, adhere or staple contact paper to a piece of cardboard. Have some materials on hand for your young child to use to express their creativity, such as feathers, sequins, and tissue paper cutouts.

We made use of garden-gathered dried flowers and leaves. I couldn’t resist adding the bird, and I believe it turned out fairly good. Seal the project by covering it with another layer of contact paper when the activity is finished.

Ice painting

Put one drop of edible color into each section of the ice tray to create multicolored ice cubes. Set the ice tray to freeze by inserting a craft stick into each space. These vibrant ice cubes with art sticks can be given to the infant to paint on cards or hard sheets after they have frozen.

Play Dough

With play dough, the possibilities are unlimited. Your one-year-old can crush, roll, rip off pieces, poke, and do a lot of other things. You might even demonstrate to her how to combine two colors to create a new hue or how to shape basic squares and circles to teach shapes. A word of caution, though: stay away from putting play dough on carpet since those chunks stick there fairly quickly! Similarly to crayons, keep an eye on her at all times to make sure she doesn’t eat any.

Salt Dough Ornament

Making salt dough Christmas crafts with your toddler is certainly at the top of your list of things to do this holiday season if you’re a parent of a young child. Nothing is more satisfying than keeping their small fingers on your tree for a lifetime. This sparkling one from the DIYCuteness website is fantastic. It’s festive without being garish—the ideal option for your tree and a fantastic gift as well!

Bubble Wrap Painting

A piece of bubble wrap with the bubbles pointing up should be placed on the ground. The bubble wrap may be painted by the infant. The infant can be given a piece of paper to press into this painted wrap. The paper has vibrant bubble designs imprinted on it when it is removed. Painting with bubble wrap is an easy way to introduce colors to a baby. Another finger-strengthening workout is popping the bubbles in the wrap.

Finger Paint on Foil and Other Different Textures

An exciting and enhanced sensory experience involves painting on surfaces like aluminum foil, bubble wrap, foam, honeycomb paper, felt, and other materials with different textures. The bubble wrap painting technique has a quirky twist in Views from a Step Stool.

Giving your child fresh and unique surfaces to paint on is a terrific way to begin teaching them about “opposites.”

They might not understand it well at first, but as they describe what they are sensing and seeing, they will start to understand the idea: This one is shiny, you say. such as “This paper seems rough,” etc.

Spaghetti Sensory Play

Regular spaghetti is prepared for this and tossed with oil. Spaghetti is colored and dried by being spread out on parchment paper. For the infants, it is a wonderful sensory experience. The newborns appreciate this pastime because the spaghetti feels sticky and is easy for them to handle.

Tear and glue

Do you recall the construction paper I described at the outset? Teach your 1-year-old how to destroy them. She should begin by tearing a single, huge sheet into progressively smaller pieces. Next, repeat the process with sheets of various colors.

Practice adhering them to a different sheet to create a collage after that. You may apply the adhesive yourself and have her adhere the parts. She can also dip the pieces in the adhesive before sticking them to the sheet by pouring it into a basin. Or you might just ask her to use a glue stick to finish the task. Her pincer grasp and fine motor abilities are also aided by holding the little pieces in her hands.

Finger Paint a Cardboard Box

A cardboard box is an artwork in progress! Therefore, rather than discarding the empty packaging, let your one-year-old create their own masterpiece with it. The ideal size is a diaper box.

They will have the chance to practice painting on various surfaces and in various orientations thanks to this wonderful opportunity. It will inspire children to develop new imaginative skills.

One of our favorite hobbies for rainy days is painting and decorating a cardboard box, even for older toddlers and preschoolers. Additionally, preserve any extra cardboard that is left over since it makes the ideal canvas for future activities.

Sensory Bead Bags

This is a wonderful mess-free sensory play exercise to help infants learn language. Babies with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) might benefit from sensory bead packs as well (3). The bead bags may be filled with beads of various colors, textures, and even noises.

There are a variety of beads, including butterfly beads, Christmas ornament beads, money beads, sea creatures, plants, animals, and bird beads, that can appear when the infant presses the beads bag. Elderly care is essential since the infant could bite the bag and pose a choking risk.

Stamped Apple Art

Cut an apple in half, then let your child use one half to make a stamp by dipping it in some edible paint. Holding the stamp now, create a vibrant imprint on some paper. To provide extra diversity, you may make little or huge shapes and patterns in the half section.

Cookie Cutter Stamping

Compared to self-inking stamping, this type of stamping is distinct. Use paint as the “ink” and cookie cutters as the stamps. You should only help your youngster dip the cookie cutter into the paint and then direct it onto either paper or a canvas.

Another that might be used to spruce up some homemade gift wrap, but watch out—babies and toddlers will be more interested in playing and experimenting than coming up with anything that would be worth photographing. That’s okay, too!

Colored Rice Art

Rice grains may be dyed by mixing them with vinegar and natural food dyes. Using glue sticks, create a basic drawing on a piece of paper. The infant can scatter the colorful grains throughout this drawing. Beautiful artwork is created when the grains adhere to the glue. To promote sensory play, you might also allow the infant to trace their fingers through the strewn grains.

Painting Ornaments


Want to make mementos for family and friends? Paint unfinished decorations with your 1-year-old! These unique ornaments are wonderful presents, whether they are imprinted with her fingers, a brush, or even her fingerprints or hand prints. Paint the other side and add a greeting to record the occasion when the paint has dry. Just have rags and wipes handy in case anything spills!

Ribbon Clouds

In this pastime, adults can assist infants. Simply cut out some clouds from cardboard. Have your child paint them or embellish them with cotton, glitter, or any other craft’s finishing touch. To finish the effect, stitch together all of these clouds.

Color Wonder Mess Free Coloring Board

Another imaginative trip activity is this Color Wonder coloring book. It’s a clean choice that’s nevertheless flexible. This kit is also a fantastic method to introduce marker coloring to one and two year olds.

Paper Plate Fruits

On paper plates, do drawings of various fruits. Let the child attempt to paint these sketches using the hues of the fruits. Another option is to purchase already-made fruit stickers and have the child place them on the plates. As the infant associates the names, hues, and forms of fruits with this craft, their picture memory is stimulated.

Magic Water Painting Book

Magic Water Coloring Book is very simple to use and will never cause a mess. This includes reusable pages that you may paint on repeatedly and a refillable water pen. Great, isn’t that right?

Shaving Cream Clouds

It is simple to teach the infant about clouds and rain. You may do that by utilizing common home items, such shaving cream, which can create clouds. Add shaving cream on top of the water in a transparent cup or glass. You can add a few drops of blue food coloring to this mixture. These shaving cream clouds become rain when they become too dense. Tell the child that rain occurs when thick clouds of water droplets form in the sky.

Baby-safe Marble Painting

This straightforward craft idea is simple to make. Bring some paints, paper, marbles, and a cardboard box. The paper within the box should now be taped at the bottom. Put a few marbles and dollops of paint inside the box. Close the box and give it a good shake. The infant enjoys shaking, and it could also improve their shoulder muscles as a result.

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