10 more Summer crafts

Mention the word ‘summer’ and thoughts of holidays immediately spring into mind. But, before you pack up your suitcase and reach for your passport, there’s one last term of toddler group crafts to organise.

Does this prospect fill you with excitement as you let your creativity flow? If not then we have put together 10 more Summer crafts to help make your life easier. For those of you who ooze creativity perhaps you can adapt our ideas. These ten crafts should enable you to relax and enjoy getting creative with your pre-schoolers over the term, as they are simple to make and require only materials that are cheaply and readily available.

For even more ideas like these, please read the article 10 colourful craft ideas for summer.

1. Sunflower pots
   Sunflowers are one of the easiest plants to grow. During the growing season, children will enjoy watching the daily growth in the size of the plant.
   
   Let the children decorate small plastic flower pots with foam stickers or pictures from magazines. When the pots are ready fill them with compost and let the children push two or three seeds into the soil (There are lots of seeds to choose from but ‘giant’ varieties turn into tall plants. For families with limited outdoor space you may like to choose a smaller variety like Kew Gardens ‘Little Dorrit’ which can be grown in pots). Don’t forget to water the plants and encourage the children to keep watering at home and to plant them into the garden when they are big enough. If growing the smaller varieties, encourage parents to transfer them to a larger container as they grow. You could run a competition for the largest sunflower grown!
2. Butterfly mask
   To make a template mask draw around a pair of children’s sunglasses on a piece of card. Draw two shapes where the eyes will go and cut out eye holes. Over this basic shape draw a butterfly, the upper wings will have the eye holes in them. Once you have your butterfly template trace this onto card and cut out. The children in your group could decorate the masks with crayons, glitter and stickers. You can add gift ribbon feelers. Finally, cellotape some elastic onto the back of the mask.
   
   Perhaps you could tell the story of ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ when the children are wearing their masks. You could encourage them to dance like a butterfly as you play some music.
3. Ice Cream Collage
   Use a variety of different coloured and patterned papers to create a collage that looks good enough to eat. Cut out cone shapes from brown parcel paper and top with circles of colourful paper. Glitter can be used for adding ‘sprinklings’ or red wool for ‘strawberry sauce’. You could also add ‘chocolate flakes’ or why not try making ice lollies. The children will love creating these delicious pictures.
4. Fathers’ Day card – June 19th 2011
   Print off our DAD card template and use crayons or colouring pencils to decorate. Small stickers on a football, golf or car theme could start a discussion about the things that their dad likes or dislikes. Be sensitive to different family situations and provide plain cards for those who would rather do one for an uncle, granddad or even mum!
5. Ladybird paperweights
   You need to warn the parents and have enough overalls for this one, but if you add a little washing-up liquid to the paint it makes it less likely to stain. Take some suitably sized clean, dry, flat pebbles and cover the head end with masking tape. Get the children to paint the pebbles red. The paint should soak in and become touch dry quite quickly but you could speed up the process with a hairdryer if necessary. Remove the masking tape and use a washable felt tip pen to colour the head black and draw a line down the centre of the body to mark out the two wings. Use small black sticky dots to give the ladybird its spots and two white sticky dots for eyes.
6. Story Time Bunting
   Summer and bunting go hand in hand. Cut triangle shapes from scrap material (you can use paper if you would prefer) and fold the top edge over a length of string or ribbon, glue this down. If you have a story planned for your session, use key characters or events to stick pictures on the bunting to tell the story. For example, when telling the story of Jonah you could use five triangles. On the first triangle stick a picture of Jonah, a signpost with Ninevah on the second, a boat on the third, a whale on the fourth and an island on the fifth. The older children in your group will enjoy re-telling the story using the bunting. You could try printing simple pictures from a computer if you have access to one or ask parents and children to draw the pictures.
7. Vegetable Printing Sea Scene
   Allow individual expression for this picture by providing a variety of materials for this craft. Use blue card for the background and have sponge and potato print shaped fish, crabs, shells or starfish. You could add green tissue paper seaweed and for the very brave, glue a line across the bottom of the picture and dip in sand.
8. Sunshine tambourine
   Draw and colour a sun on the convex sides of two small paper plates. Put a small metal bell or ‘rattly’ filling between the two plates and seal securely by stapling around the edges. Staple ribbons or crepe paper streamers on to complete. More detailed instructions can be found on the Playtime website.
9. Hanging CD Flowers
   This is a lovely craft that really is very simple and cheap to make, great for recycling old CDs. Cut out lots of petal shapes from a wide variety of papers. Glue the petals onto the CDs until the whole CD is covered. The inner circle of the CD can be covered with tissue paper balls. Finally make a ribbon loop to tape onto the back of the CD so it can be hung up at home.
10. Teddy Bears Picnic Biscuits
    Why not hold a teddy bears picnic at your group. Children could bring along their favourite teddy to enjoy their snack with. You could decorate small gingerbread men or plain biscuits with icing and raisins. Packs of icing pens can be purchased from most supermarkets. As with all food crafts, do remember to CHECK FOR ALLERGIES before you start and provide handwashing facilities too.

Need more ideas?

Inspiration can come from books and websites, and also from a trip to a scrapstore or craft shop. If you have toddlers of your own, you can adopt or adapt the best ideas from their nurseries. The cheapest activities will recycle junk that friends or family are throwing out - soon you will probably end up with an eye for 'creative' junk and start your own collection!

Last Updated 24 March 2011