• Sturdy paper plate
• red ribbon
• red, white, and pink craft paint
• craft glue
• hole-punch
• craft scissors
• newspapers

Directions:

• Spread some newspapers over your work area.
• Cut the paper plate in half. Place a stream of the craft glue along the rounded inner edge of one side of the paper plate. Take the other half of the paper plate and place it on top of the other, with the inner side facing inwards. You should now have a pocket shape. Allow the glue to dry.
• Once the glue has dried, let your toddler help you cover the outside of the basket with the red craft paint. Allow the red paint to dry.
• Once the red paint has dried, add small hearts using the white and pink craft paint. Allow the paint to dry. For an easier method, use markers and stickers instead.
• Make 2 bows out of the ribbon. Using the craft glue, glue a bow on each side of the basket.
• Cut off an 8" length of the red ribbon. Thread the ribbon through one of the holes. Tie a knot in the ribbon on the inside of the basket. Repeat this process on the other side.
• Give the basket to your toddler and let her put any valentines she gets in the basket.

Materials:

• Craft scissors
• red or pink construction paper.

Directions:

• Using scissors cut out several large heart shapes from the red or pink construction paper.
• Cut each heart in half vertically, using different types of cuts for each heart. For example, use a curving or zigzagging motion while cutting down the middle of the heart.
• Place the heart halves on a table in front of your toddler. See if he can match the halves correctly.

Note: This would also make a fun activity for a toddler Valentine’s Day party. Each toddler could be given half of a heart and would have to find the other toddler who has the matching half.

Materials:

To mix up a batch of faux snow, pour the Ivory Snow in a bowl with the water and whip with an electric beater until the mixture is doughy.

Shape the damp soap into three balls. Stack them by gently pushing a toothpick halfway into the center of the bottom ball. Then, push the middle ball down onto the toothpick until the two balls touch. Do the same for the snowman's head.

Now, add twig arms, clove eyes, shirt buttons, and a felt scarf. To make a smiling mouth, press on a row of seed beads. For a mini carrot nose, color the tip of a short twig with orange paint. For a hat, use an egg cup from a cardboard carton. Or craft a pair of earmuffs out of a pipe cleaner.

As the soap dries (this can take a few hours), it will lose its grayish tinge and turn bright white.

Note: Young toddlers will need close supervision and assistance while doing this activity.

Make a tent out of chairs and a large sheet or bedspread in any room of the house you choose. Turn the chairs with their backs facing each other and drape the sheet over them. Kids love to play inside of tents and it keeps them busy for quite some time.

Note: Activities should always be supervised by a responsible adult

Commission a toddler masterpiece or celebrate art night with the whole family. Four colorful canvases await handprints, footprints and parent-child collaborations.

How to do it: Paint the base first (regular acrylic paint that you can find at the craft store), then paint his/her hand with a different color of paint. Very carefully help them press their hand down on the canvas, pressing on each part of the hand and every finger. Then on the count of three, we lift the hand off the canvas quickly - like taking off a Band-Aid. Of course it's much easier as your kids get older. Trying to get a one-year-old to spread their fingers, etc. is no easy task.

Added note: While the paint is already on the child's hand, have them do a few more handprints on cardstock so that you have that for their scrapbook, or the family scrapbook, or who knows what you might want it for. But you can't go back and do handprints from when they're younger.

Prep Time: Under 1 hour

What you need:

Scissors
Brown paper bags
Cardboard (cereal box)
Glue stick
Colored construction paper
2 small white pom-poms
Black permanent marker

Materials: cardboard, paper, paper bags

Instructions:

1. From the brown paper bags, cut a circle 3 1/2 inches in diameter for the turkey's head. Next, cut a 3-inch-wide band to fit around your child's head.

2. From the cardboard, cut a strip 5 by 1 1/2 inches to use for a neck. Fold it three times accordion style, then glue one end to the back of the paper circle.

3. For a beak, fold yellow construction paper and cut out a small double triangle (1 1/2 inches along the fold). Cut a rounded L from red paper for the turkey's wattle.

4. To create eyes, draw a black circle on each pom-pom with the marker. Glue the eyes, wattle and one side of the beak to the head. Let them dry. Then, glue the loose end of the neck to the center of the headband.

5. Now, wrap the headband around your child's head; mark where the ends overlap, then remove the band and glue the ends. Finally, glue on construction paper feathers and wings.

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Scissors
Medium-sized brown bag
Newspaper
Glue
Googly eyes
Red balloon
Two large grocery bags
Large rubber band

DIRECTIONS
1. To make the head, stuff the bottom of the medium-sized bag with balled-up newspaper. Twist the top of the bag to form a long, skinny neck.

2. Glue the googly eyes and the balloon wattle onto the face.

3. For the turkey's body, use one large bag. Snip a hole through the front of the bag an inch from the bottom and fit the neck into it. Then, stuff the body two thirds full with newspaper. Close the top of the bag with the rubber band.

4. To make tail feathers, cut four large half-circles from the remaining bag and then glue them in layers to the back of the body.

WHAT YOU NEED
Fall colors of construction paper
leaf shaped cookie cutters or fallen leaves
craft glue
craft scissors

DIRECTIONS
1. Cut the construction paper into strips of 1 ½ to 2 inches in width. Help your toddler glue the ends together to form a loop.

2. Using the leaves or cookie cutters as patterns, trace around them on different colors of construction paper. Be sure to make stems on the leaves, leaving them a little thick.

3. Cut out the leaf shapes. Let your toddler arrange 2 or 3 of the leaves on the paper loops. Try making different patterns or shapes by varying the number of leaves, their shapes, etc. When your toddler finds an arrangement she likes, glue the stems of the leaves down.

4. Once the leaves have dried, wrap the unglued part of the leaves lightly around a pencil to give them a curled effect. Use these napkin holders on Thanksgiving Day.

• Cardboard (not plastic) egg cartoncraft scissors
• craft glue; green pipe cleaners
• sheet of green poster board
• orange craft paint
• washable markers.

1.  Carefully cut the cup sections from the egg carton. Depending on the number of pumpkins you wish to have, you may need two egg cartons.

2.  Glue two of the cups together to form a pumpkin shape. Repeat this step until all of the cups have been used.

3.  Once the glue has dried, help your toddler paint the outside of each pumpkin with orange craft paint. Allow the paint to dry.

4.  Once the paint has dried, draw thin vertical stripes on each of the pumpkins. You might also want to add jack-o-lantern faces with the markers.

5.  Glue the pumpkins to the sheet of green poster board.

6.  Carefully poke a hole in the top of each pumpkin with a pencil. Poke a small piece of the green pipe cleaner into each hole to create stems for the pumpkins. You can create vines in the pumpkin patch by curling up more green pipe cleaners and gluing them around the pumpkins.

Note: Activities should always be supervised by a responsible adult.

• leaves, grass, flower petals, and ferns work well
• Clear Con-Tact paper
• Tape
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Ribbon

1. Take a nature walk and collect some natural beauties.  Help your child arrange them on the sticky side of a piece of clear Con-Tact paper. (You may want to tape down the Con-Tact paper to keep it from moving.)

2. When your child is done, place a second piece sticky-side down on top of the objects and press to seal it. Trim the edges (we cut ours into a circle), punch a hole in the top, and hang it in a window with a short length of ribbon.