This summer we offered art programming for toddlers 15-24 months and their caregivers, something we haven’t done here at the library before! I want to encourage you: do any crafting with toddlers (SO FUN) and please steal any of the crafts I have here to do at your library, house or school!

Supplies
3x3x3 white boxes (from Uline)
Jingle Bells – large (I used these)
Handout Page 1 (print double sided with page 2)
Handout Page 2
Images (For kids to cut up)

The Nitty-Gritty Details of the Craft
Before you give the boxes to the children, you will need to use a glue gun to glue the bells to the bottom of the assembled 3x3x3 boxes. This makes the chime sound better! I also dripped a little glue down the opening when I was closing the box so the toddlers couldn’t open it again. It was a done deal.
The day of the craft, the toddlers received the image handout to cut apart, a box and glue stick. Kiddie scissors were on the table for their adult-supervised use. Once their boxes were done, I gave them a laminated sheet of the songs/rhymes that went with the box (see pages 1 & 2 of the handout). Once the images are glued onto the box, you roll the box like a die and sing or say the rhyme that it lands on!

This one of three posts about our Playful Crafters programs as presented at the “Tiny Crafters: Art and Sensory Programs for ages 0-5” session at the Illinois Library Association Conference on October 22, 2015 in Peoria, Illinois. Stay tuned for Playful Crafters: Bubble Stomp Painting next Saturday!