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My grandma claims that the only thing I needed to keep me entertained when I was little was paper and tape. My daughter must follow in my footsteps. She spends a lot of her independent time (read about the benefits of independent time here) coloring on scrap paper. She is 2 1/2 now, but she has loved coloring for more than a year. Finding craft supplies that a two year old can safely use can be hard. Here is a list of toddler craft supplies that my daughter has loved using while being two.Â
I divided my recommended supplies into two sections: independent supplies and supervised supplies. Independent supplies are what my daughter has access to whenever she wants. Supervised supplies are what I have stored away to use with her when I can give her my full attention.
Best Art Supplies For a Two Year Old
Best Independent Toddler Craft Supplies:
Paper
Paper is a given. When my daughter was younger, we used large poster board sheets that could be set out on the floor. We used a sheet until it was all filled up which normally took a week or so. We still occasionally use big sheets, but now we mostly use printer paper or scrap paper.
Crayons
In a blog called Crayons and Spice I can’t not talk about crayons. We started out using bigger crayons, but pretty quickly switched to normal crayons. We get the ultra-clean washable kind. They sound ridiculous, but are actually really nice to have. My daughter snuck a purple crayon in my pocket and turned an entire load of laundry purple. All I had to do was wash it again and the purple was completely gone. The only downside is they are also super spit soluble so keep them away from babies.
Popsicle sticks
Popsicle sticks are not only great for crafts like this popsicle stick bird feeder, but are also great on their own. We have had colored popsicle sticks in my daughter’s quiet backpack for church for over a year and she still plays with them. Combine them with glue (and add supervision) and you have entertainment for a long time.
Best Supervised Toddler Craft Supplies:
Glue
Both glue sticks and white glue are a major hit with my daughter. She can already squeeze the glue out for herself. She has used white glue on several crafts including Christmas mosaic ornaments and nature monsters. You definitely need to supervise glue if you don’t want your toddler using an entire bottle or stick in less than a minute. The idea of less is more definitely a hard concept for kids. If my daughter used as much glue as she wanted, all her projects would take approximately three weeks to dry.
Tape
Tape has much less mess potential than glue, but I still have to supervise my daughter when she uses it. It has the sharp cutting edge and she would unravel the whole roll if I let her. We have practiced using it for things like wrapping presents, but it is still a work in progress.
Paint
Paint has so many uses, but it can be kind of intimidating to use with a toddler. With a few precautions it can be easy and not that messy. My daughter absolutely loves painting and has made so many projects with it. It surprised me how good she immediately was at only painting on what I told her to. She is even pretty good at cleaning her paintbrush between different colors.
Markers and Pens
I think it is hilarious how fun markers and pens are to my daughter. And I don’t mean fun sparkly gel pens, I mean plain old black pens. I can give her markers or pens and some paper and she will stay entertained for a long time. I made her a notebook and I’m pretty sure I could still pull it out and get several minutes of entertainment out of it. She does tend to accidently mark on her clothes, so I do need to stay close by when she uses them. We have used markers in several crafts like artwork Christmas candles and tissue ghosts.
Googly eyes
You can make any craft way cuter by just adding googly eyes to it. Not only will you find it cuter, it will be way more exciting to your child. We spent a morning gluing googly eyes onto sticks, leaves, and rocks we found outside and my daughter loved it. We have also used them to up the cute factor in our bubble wrap octopuses and toilet paper mummy.
Outcome of Toddler Craft Supplies
I hope that this helps you come up with some fun craft ideas for your toddler. A few simple supplies can both entertain your two year old and help them develop their creativity. While structured crafts can be lots of fun, just allowing your child to experiment is great too. And crafts can be done anywhere. My daughter has a special crafting desk in her room, but she just as often crafts on the kitchen table.
If you found this helpful, check out these craft essentials every mom needs. What is your kid’s favorite thing to craft with?
