According to Laura Phillips, PsyD, ABPdN, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Learning and Development Center for the Child Mind Institute in New York City, 2-year-olds develop quickly both cognitively and physically. Certain projects, like crafts, can further improve their growth and development, helping your child reach milestones and master new skills.
“The content and materials of arts and crafts are helpful in fostering the development of specific motor, cognitive, linguistic, and pre-academic skills,” says Dr. Phillips. “They also allow for the interpersonal exchanges that are critical for brain development, lifelong learning, and social-emotional competence.”
Since 2-year-olds aren’t fully independent, your child might act frustrated or uninterested in crafts without your help. Even so, Dr. Phillips says presenting your 2-year-old with crafts that are challenging but still possible for them to do with support helps nurture frustration tolerance, perseverance, problem-solving, and secure attachment.
Read on for eight educational arts and crafts for 2-year-olds to do at home.
Draw With Crayons
While 1-year-olds thrive with finger painting, 2-year-olds have better fine motor skills and coordination. Dr. Phillips says this enables them to scribble and draw simple strokes with crayons.
Consider offering different canvases besides paper such as cardboard, paper plates, or grooved wood. These different backgrounds offer added texture, which makes for a fun sensory experience.
Match Stickers by Color
“Improvements in perceptual skills, problem-solving, and frustration tolerance—along with developing conceptualization capacity—mean that 2-year-olds are more capable of matching objects,” says Dr. Phillips.
Here’s an example of a matching craft that’s just right for 2-year-olds: Lay out different stickers, and have your child pick out all of the red ones. Ask them to stick them onto a piece of paper for a red-themed collage.
Count With Dot Markers
As your child makes dots with these jumbo-sized markers, you can teach them how to count. (“Let’s make four dots on this page! One, two, three, four.”)
Here’s a bonus with this craft for 2-year-olds: “You may also notice that your toddler starts to use one hand more often than the other, hinting at the establishment of hand dominance,” says Dr. Phillips.
Mix Colors
To teach color matching, help your child combine paints in different colors (for example, mix red and blue to make purple). Talk through the steps to enhance communication and linguistic skills.
Your child can also make artwork with their new shades. Using a paintbrush encourages fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and visual judgment.
Create With Sidewalk Chalk
Sidewalk chalk has plenty of benefits: It gets kids outside, improves fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, and encourages creativity. It also offers a nice break from other drawing supplies like crayons and pencils.
Paint With Droppers
Getty Images / Natalia Lebedinskaia
Want to develop extra strength in your child’s fingers and hands? Swap your paintbrushes for toddler-safe pipettes!
Your child can fill the dropper with paint, hold it above their canvas, and release the contents slowly. The result of this simple toddler craft will be abstract artwork that’s perfect for hanging on the fridge!
NOTE: Some general-use droppers have a small cap that’s considered a small part. Make sure to use a dropper that’s approved for little ones.
Make Collages
Not only do collages improve fine motor skills, but they also teach cause-and-effect relationships and encourage self-expression. Follow these steps for basic collage-making:
- Cut paper into strips for your toddler (they’re probably still too young for scissors). Alternatively, you can have your child tear paper into strips and bits.
- Gather the strips in a bin.
- Set out child-safe glue, and demonstrate how to paste the items onto a surface.
By following your actions, this toddler craft idea will teach your 2-year-old communication skills and imitation.
Trace Basic Objects
While your toddler can’t trace difficult letters and shapes, they might be able to trace basic lines. So, draw some straight, zig-zagged, and curved lines on a sheet of paper. Then, hold your child’s hand and trace them together. Eventually, they’ll be able to follow the guidelines themselves. This craft for 2-year-olds exercises their hands and their brain!
