I did a post not that long ago on  toddler crafts.  What I did in that post was  describe the basic activities that most toddlers are capable of.

The activities boiled down to pasting, coloring and cutting.

The truth is that toddlers should not only be restricted to those activities as  they are capable of much more.

The activities that I listed in the above post are ones that are not overly messy and very accessible and easy for all adults to to to with toddlers.

Toddlers  are not capable of  representational work but there are certainly many more wonderful sensory activities that they toddlers can be involved in without worrying about what they are going to “make”.

So what I decided to do was to direct you to a wonderful blog done by a  Mom who ran a  toddler art group in her home. (she stopped when ready to give birth to her  second child) I did another post introducing her blog The Artful Parent but I add even more of her stuff in this one.

Her blog has many things in it and it may be confusing for you to scroll through the whole to find the right toddler activities that may be appropriate.

So what I am going to do is direct you to specific postings that she has done that I feel are particularly good activities for toddlers.

I basically chose the activities that were totally non product oriented for you to start doing some great process only art with your young toddlers.

The activities are quite messy which is just what these toddlers need so if you are leery of mess don’t even begin.

I would like to share a story that I heard from a friend of mine who runs a preschool program on the importance of messy art.

In my friends preschool program she had a little girl  ( a 2 1/2 yr old) who would not go to the bathroom.

It was causing her alot of pain and stomach problems.

After some research, this friend of mine discovered that the reason for this child’s discomfort was that she was afraid of getting dirty.  Digging even deeper, she found that the mother of this child was a “clean freak” therefor the child manifested her fear of dirt in a physical, damaging way.

In order to help this child, my friend started getting her involved in very messy activities, clay, painting, mushing etc.

The child resisted at first but pretty soon was full into the swing of the messy art activities.

Within a few days, the child was using the bathroom normally.

Messy, sensory activities are very important for very young children and should not be denied to them because of an adults fear of mess.

Though I am not saying that all toddler problems can be solved with messy art activities they are a very necessary part of a young child’s development.

I chose 7 art activities  from this blog “the Artful Parent”  that I think you will be able to do with your toddlers that they will love and get an enormous amount  of satisfaction out of.

Enjoy, and if you yourself do have some fear of mess, do the activities with the children.

You never know, you may loosen up.

A great printing activity:

Printing on canvas (similar to the activity above, but uses canvas as a background)

Collages with natural objects and plaster of paris

Salty watercolors (This one came out of the book scribbles by Mary Ann F. Kohl)

Painting with toddlers

String painting

Liquid watercolors and coffee filters

As I have mentioned in the past. Mary Ann F Kohl is the queen of process only art and you may want to check out some of her books that are great for toddler art. The ones I listed below are the ones that are particularly suited to toddler art.

Scribble Art: Independent Creative Art Experiences for Children (Bright Ideas for Learning)

The Big Messy Art Book: But Easy to Clean Up

Preschool Art: It’s the Process, Not the Product

First Art : Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos