Where Play Meets Potential
Gift-giving is a great way to celebrate traditions as well as show your love and appreciation for those you care about. Love, gratitude, and generosity are amazing values to pass down to your children. So, getting your toddler involved with card or gift-giving is a great way to get started early.
How do you get your toddler involved with gift-giving in a meaningful, yet developmentally appropriate way?
Process art is one fun way.
If you are wondering what process art is, if it is like a craft, or how it can lead to a beautiful gift make sure you read my post “How to use Process Art with Children.”
In true process art fashion, I will focus more on the process than the actual product. How you use the process is up to you.
Some ways you can turn these processes into gifts include:
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running! Please check out our disclosure policy for more details.
Shake painting is a fun mess-free option for toddlers. There are many variations to this process. You can use various boxes or containers, then add paint and balls (or other items to roll around inside the container), and let your toddler shake and roll away.
You can make it a freeze dance game by adding music while you shake. You can roll a cylinder container down ramps. You play catch with the container. Lots of ways to play and create a beautiful end product.
We did this around Easter with a wooden egg. Ruby was only about 9 months and she loved it!
We did it again when Ruby was 16 months and she still enjoyed it.
Tape resist is using tape to create an abstract design or words, then painting over it, and finally taking the paint off to reveal the design.
We took a fun spin on painting this by using sensory balloons. It was a great way to cover a large amount of space easily and it gave some more interest to the activity.
You can also use sticker words to paint over to add a cool personalized effect to your gift.
You can use some fun Washi tape like these from The Planner Supplies.
They could even make a fun tape collage.
Or you could personalize a gift by putting a custom sticker onto something (mug, frame, cup, canvas, etc.), painting over it, and then removing the sticker.
Check out these personalized stickers from 85th Adventure Designs.
A mug would make a great personalized gift. Just stick the sticker on, paint, take the sticker off and then heat in the oven to cure.
Pour painting is perfect for toddlers because they love pouring things. I would suggest using small plastic shot glasses. This allows your toddler multiple opportunities to pour the paint instead of finishing after pouring out one large cup of paint.
Materials needed:
Process:
This one is fun for car-loving toddlers. You can roll cars dipped in paint down a ramp or simply let them roll them around. If you do use a ramp, you can also vary this activity by using different textured balls instead of cars.
Using textured tires would make a really fun print on a card for the car lover you need to get a gift for.
Crafty Crayons Shop Car Crayons
Stamps and stickers are another fun mess-free toddler process art activity. Making cards or gifts with the randomly placed stamps and stickers of toddlers is a great way to easily get toddlers involved with the creation of gifts or cards.
Stickers have the added benefit of providing a fine motor workout while creating.
Sponge painting is really fun and covers a larger space more easily for toddlers. Just a warning on this one, it can get really messy so just prepare for the mess and you will be ok.
This can also be a taste safe option for very young children by simply adding food coloring to water and having them stamp the sponges with that. Just know there may be a little staining and if you use paper it could get very soaked.
Another variation on this process is to soak sponges in watercolor or watered down tempera paint and then let your child smash the sponges with a spoon or spatula.
We did this art process on canvas and added a picture to make a beautiful frame. The receivers of this gift loved it!
I added the picture with some Mod Podge and did 3 layers so it would stay on with a nice seal.
This same gift idea could be done with many of the processes mentioned in this post.
Young children love to rip paper. There is something so satisfying about ripping paper. So this art process is great for satisfying that desire to tear. A bonus on this process is it is a great fine motor activity that uses both arms in opposing directions.
Some paper to try ripping and glueing are:
If you are looking for another no-mess option you can try putting paper, cardboard, or canvas into a sealed plastic bag with some paint and let your child smoosh, push, and poke away. You can also add some texture into the bag for added interest.
We have done this with some interesting packaging paper we received, but you could also put in bubble wrap, leaves, fabric, or anything else that is flat enough with some texture.
I love to include nature whenever I can in art and activities. Nature provides so many fun and free loose parts. The beauty of these loose parts are the various textures they provide.
Read more about loose parts for infants and toddlers HERE.
These textures make for some great painting opportunities. So instead of painting with the paint brush once again, try mixing it up with some nature items.
Some items you can try:
If your little one loves to paint, but you are ready to mix it up, try painting with something unique. Trying a new tool will get them thinking creatively and will help them break any habits in their art. They have to think critically and involve more problem-solving when using a non-conventional painting tool.
Painting with string is much different than painting with a paint brush. Talk about the differences to add even more learning through this activity.
Some items to try to paint with are:
You might also find these posts interesting:
How to use Process Art with Children
Unique Gift Ideas for Toddlers
Unique Gift Ideas for Baby’s First Christmas
Please help to support my blogging efforts by sharing this post to others who may find some value in its contents.
My guess is you are here because you are looking for 2 year old gifts that are a little more unique than the average advertisement from Target or Amazon. Well, I have curated a list that works with any budget, plus aids in development, stands
Looking for a way to integrate letter recognition in a fun and festive way? Try this Letter leaves match and stick activity for some letter recognition with an Autumn theme. We had done a similar activity before when my toddler wasn’t even quite a year
A little bit of science, a little bit of Halloween. This Magnetic Halloween Sensory bin is the perfect way to balance learning, play, and the Fall season. I am truly inspired as soon as it hits the Fall season. I am not sure if it
If you love Halloween and the Autumn season, but dread carving a pumpkin, then this post will offer you 10 unique toddler pumpkin activities that don’t involve Jack-o-Lantern faces. These unique toddler pumpkin activities come from years of teaching preschool and wanting to be
What exactly is social and emotional learning (SEL) for toddlers? You may understand that these are important skills for your child to learn, but what exactly do they need to learn and how? What is developmentally appropriate for a toddler? The Collaborative for Academic,
It’s the infamous clean-up time, oh no! Let me set the scene for you. It has been a day full of independent play and there are toys scattered around every room in the house. You really want to teach your child independence and responsibility so
