It has been a very stormy and rainy couple of days. I’ve been looking for things to do that require very little and that will be activities my toddler would enjoy. We always have cardboard in the house to use so this seemed like the perfect time to get the scissors out and make something. A rainy day craft for toddlers I found is to create a crown.
What do you need?
I found a cardboard box and cut a large strip. I decided it would be best to have a bigger piece and then cut it down after decorating. You could decorate in a number of ways depending on what your toddler wants to do. I used left over paint from paint by number sets with old small paintbrushes. You could also use crayons, felt tips, glitter glue, stickers or colouring pencils.
We both sat at his table and I covered it with a matt so any paint splashes wouldn’t matter. I let him have free reign as to what colours to use and where he wanted to paint, the only instruction I gave him was to paint the cardboard rather than his hands!
Learning exercise
He really enjoyed picking the colours and asking me if he wasn’t sure what the name of a colour was. This turned out to be a good learning exercise for us to do together and we’d talk about what he was doing and how to use the brush. For his first time using a brush and not sponges or his hands he did very well once shown how to use the brush. While he painted his crown I cut myself a small piece of cardboard and painted with him so he could see how to hold the brush and we could engage in what we were both painting.
I let it dry overnight and we then used craft glue to stick it together. For a rainy day craft with a toddler he is still playing with the crown days later and often eats with it on his head! We’ve also started to discuss kings and queens and talk about the different types of crowns like fairy or jewled crowns.
I’m looking forward to doing this rainy day craft for toddlers again using other things to decorate and i’m also thinking of doing one that is Christmas themed or Halloween.