Related Articles

It's raining outside and your preschooler is bored. You don't want to just turn on the TV, but if you have to read about 'The Poky Little Puppy' one more time, you might just go insane. So, what can you do? You can make some easy crafts with your little one instead. You and your child will both enjoy this special time together and you can both express your creativity. It's a great way for you to spend quality time with your child. Why not get started right away.

Make Sockpuppets Together Let's start by making a cute little sock puppet out of one of those lonely socks that lost its mate. I love this craft idea because you keep your child entertained while you make the puppets together, and she ends up with a new toy that will keep her busy for quite some time after you are done making the puppet.

Puppets are also a great way for your preschooler to express her ideas and how she views the world around here. They are one of the best toys to spark your child's imagination, plus they are very easy to make. All you need is a sock, and various crafting supplies to turn it into a puppet. Glue or sew two buttons on as eyes, then leave it up to your child to decide what this puppet is going to be and how it should be decorated. The two of you can add some hair, glue in a red felt tongue and of course give it the appropriate accessories. A princess puppet would of course need a crown made out of aluminum foil or construction paper. Only the sky is the limit to what the two of you can make out of a sock.

Make a Collage Does your child love to cut things out - with safety scissors of course.Why not use this to keep your child busy making a collage. All you need are a blank piece of paper, some magazines or other papers with pictures in them (grocery store advertisements work well), scissors, a glue stick and some markers or crayons.

Start by handing your child some magazine pages and then just let her cut out whatever she would like to include in the collage. Next, let her glue them on the piece of paper. The last step is to have her draw and write on the collage with the markers or crayons. Offer to write notes or headlines on the collage for your child. Don't forget to hang the piece of art up when you're all done.

Paper Plate Crafts One of the things that you can find in almost any home is paper plates and they make a great basis for quite a few different crafts. Just add some markers, paint, construction paper or crayons and you are ready for a fun project.

One of our favorites is paper plate masks. Start by cutting two holes for the eyes, then hand your child some markers, yarn and construction paper and let them turn the paper plate into any mask they'd like. They can be animals, favorite cartoon characters or any creature they can dream up.

Of course masks aren't the only thing you can make with a paper plate. How about turning it into a plate of pretend food?Use tan yarn as spaghetti that's then covered with a piece of red construction paper (the sauce). Glue the spaghetti and sauce on the plate, then draw some 'cheese' on with a yellow crayon. Alphabet cereal and a paper plate can turn into a fun craft that will also help your child practice spelling. Just ask her to turn them into a bowl of alphabet soup and encourage her to spell her name or simple words with the cereal letters.

For more great parenting advice, visit our parenting blog. If you would like more fun craft ideas delivered to you email inbox, along with tips, recipes, product reviews and more join our online parenting magazine today!