10 Craft Activities to Teach Your Preschooler

Our little ones are masters of the moment—they love the feeling of smearing paint all over paper, the sparkle in glitters, the texture of goopy slime, and the possibility of creating different objects with playdough.

Unlike adults, they enjoy the process of creation, rather than focusing on the finished product.

Fostering creativity doesn’t just increase your kid’s chances of becoming a young Picasso; it also helps them develop social, emotional, and cognitive skills.

As children manipulate paintbrushes, their fine motor skills improve. They learn the basics of math by sorting pieces and colors. Most importantly, kids feel happy and calm when they’re creating; art boosts their self-confidence.

They feel free to make mistakes in these moments, and explore new ways of fixing mistakes; this improves their problem-solving skills well beyond the craft room.

Craft activity ideas

Go beyond doodling with crayons with these craft activity ideas that encourage your child to enjoy the process of art creation.

1. Autumn crafts

‘Tis the season of russet leaves and pumpkin festivals! Dried autumn leaves are great for tons of art and crafts projects.

Gather saffron leaves from the backyard, glue them onto paper, and add details with a marker, making them into hedgehogs. Add real pinecones and leaf art in the background to complete your fall masterpiece.

2. Paper plate animals

Paper plates provide the perfect canvas for creative young kids—they’re sturdy for gluing and paint, and they even double as convenient paint palettes.

Encourage your little one to finger paint the paper plates, and attach different colored construction paper for the faces and limbs. For instance, turn the paper plate upside down and help your preschooler paint it gray.

Paste a pair of googly eyes on top, and two small paper plates as circles on the sides for the ears. Similarly, your little one can create their very own petting zoo with different animals, all while learning the names and the sounds that these animals make.

3. Pasta jewelry

This tactile craft channels your child’s inner designer. It’s just as fun to create as it is to wear these beautiful pieces.

Get a packet of different shaped pasta and help your child paint them into different colors with watercolors. Finally, run a thread through the pieces of pasta and fashion it into necklaces and bracelets.

4. Cotton round caterpillars

The best part about craft activities is that you get to use everyday household items and incorporate them into fun art projects.

Pour a few drops of watercolor paint onto cotton rounds—little ones love watching the paint colors spread. Then arrange these cotton rounds into different shapes. For instance, assemble green cotton rounds onto construction paper in the shape of a caterpillar—just don’t forget the googly eyes!

5. Popsicle stick snowflakes

Sparkle is the focus with this art project! Your preschooler can assemble Popsicle sticks into the shape of a six cornered snowflake and cover the sticks with glitter and sequins. Hang these with the help of a thread, turning your living room into a winter wonderland!

Bonus idea: Cut white paper into small pieces and place them all over the floor for a true winter masterpiece.

6. Painting with squirt guns

Kids love messy crafts, and we know just how you can embrace their messy creations along with a twist of fun and creativity.

Fill water guns with liquid watercolor paint. Clip sheets of construction paper onto a canvas or tack down the sheet on to a tree trunk. Then let your preschoolers go to town on the sheets!

Keep in mind that this is an outdoors-only kind of art project.

7. Egg carton snails

Upcycle egg cartons into crawling critters with this art project!

Turn the egg cups upside down, paint them fun colors and transform them into shells. You can twist a pipe cleaner to make the snail’s face and add googly eyes to it. Grown-ups may have to lend a hand to help preschoolers hot glue things together.

8. Button tree art

Who doesn’t love a sensory-rich art project? All you need is a blank canvas, paint, and a bunch of colorful buttons from the sewing storage box.

Paint a tree trunk and branches on the canvas with brown paint, and hot glue a whole lot of buttons on the branches for a colorful masterpiece!

9. TP roll rockets

A fun kids project for not only the 4^th of July, but for any time of the year: making DIY rockets!

Recycle old tissue paper rolls for the body of the rocket. Wrap a sheet of glitter paper around the roll and attach cone shaped construction paper on the top. Use strips of crepe paper at the bottom to visualize the smoke that comes out of the rocket. Add a colored straw protruding from the end of the roll, and let your preschooler’s imagination run wild with their fancy rocket.

10. Simple wood crafts

Your little one will be delighted to play conductor with an easy-to-make train track set.

Use a sheet of chipboard for the base of the tracks and help your young one glue down mini craft sticks at short intervals for the tracks.

To DIY the train: Get three wooden blocks, glue two together for the base of the train, and place one block on top for train windows. You can even use a wooden spool as the train’s chimney, with a piece of cotton coming out of it as smoke.

We provide age-appropriate learning centers to promote your child’s creativity!

Preschool childcare programs, like the one at Kids ‘R’ Kids Learning Academy, provide a sensory-rich environment with self-directed and teacher-directed activities that encourages creative play and builds on your child’s cognitive skills.

With decades of experience under our belt, our highly-trained staff works on unleashing your little one’s inquisitive nature with safe play and state-of-the-art learning centers.