75 Craft Ideas for 2 Year-Olds

Is your little explorer constantly on the hunt for new adventures? We’ve curated 75 fun and creative craft ideas that will ignite their creativity. Our youngest is now nearly 4 and have tried most of these at some point since our eldest was born.

Crafting with your children is so much more than just a fun activity – it’s a love language that nurtures their development, fosters precious connections, and creates lasting memories.

When you craft together, you’re not just making um… masterpieces; you’re cultivating essential skills that will serve your little ones into adulthood. From fine motor dexterity and problem-solving to self-expression and confidence, each project is a lesson in disguise, cleverly wrapped in giggles and glue sticks (Top tip – if you buy glue sticks the cheap ones are ok for tissue paper and paper but useless for cardboard and will lead to frustration).

But the true benefit of crafting lies in the moments shared – the shared focused attention, the laughter, and the pride that beams from their faces as they showcase their creations.

75 Simple and Easy Craft Ideas for 2 Year Olds

Here are 75 tried and tested craft activities for 2-year-olds.

1. Edible Finger Paint: Mix equal parts of yoghurt or pudding with a few drops of food colouring to create vibrant, edible paints. Pour the paints onto a plastic plate or tray and let your little one smear, swirl, and stamp with their fingers to create delicious masterpieces they can (safely) taste!
2. Playdough Stamping: Make a batch of homemade playdough and roll it out flat. Let your child press cookie cutters or other stamps into the dough to create imprints. You can even use the stamped dough as a stamp itself on paper for colourful prints.
3. Pasta Necklaces: Cook some pasta and let it cool completely. Have your child string the pasta pieces onto a piece of yarn or string, alternating with beads or other decorations if desired. Once complete, tie the ends together for a unique, edible necklace.
4. Sponge Painting: Cut up sponges into fun shapes and secure them to clothespins or wooden sticks with a rubber band. Dip the sponge stamps into washable paint and let your toddler create prints and patterns on paper.
5. Bubble Wrap Printing: Save bubble wrap from packages and let your child dip it into paint (you can even mix paint with a bit of dish soap for a fun texture). Press the bubble wrap paint-side down onto paper for a bubbly, fun print.
6. Coffee Filter Butterflies: Flatten out a coffee filter and have your child decorate it with washable markers or watercolours. Once dry, pinch the centre and attach a pipecleaner body to create a colourful butterfly.
7. Pom-Pom Stamps: Glue pom-poms onto clothespins, bottle caps, or the ends of pencils. Dip the pom-pom ends into paint and let your child stamp away on paper to create dot patterns and designs.
8. Sticker Mosaics: Provide your toddler with stickers and a piece of paper or cardboard. Encourage them to create a mosaic picture by placing the stickers closely together in patterns or designs.
9. Leaf Rubbings: Go outside and collect different leaves, placing them under a piece of paper. Let your child hold the paper in place while rubbing the side of an unwrapped crayon back and forth over the leaf to reveal its outline and texture.
10. Handprint Art: This classic never gets old! Pour some washable paint onto a plate and have your child make handprints on a piece of paper. Get creative by making handprint animals, trees, or letting them mix colours.
11. Cotton Ball Painting: Dip cotton balls into washable paint and let your toddler dab, roll, and stamp the cotton balls onto paper to create fun textures and designs.
12. Tissue Paper Stained Glass: Lay a piece of contact paper sticky-side up on a surface. Have your child arrange and stick pieces of tissue paper onto the contact paper to create a stained glass window effect. Seal with another piece of contact paper.
13. Toilet Paper Roll Stamps: Stock up on empty toilet paper rolls. Pour paint into shallow trays and let your toddler dip the roll ends into the paint and stamp onto paper to create circles and patterns.
14. Crayon Resist Art: Have your child use crayons to draw designs or scribble on a piece of paper. Once complete, use watercolour paints to paint over the entire paper – the wax crayon will resist the paint for a fun resist effect.
15. Paper Plate Masks: Decorate paper plates with crayons, stickers, feathers, pom-poms – anything goes! Once decorated, punch holes on either side and tie on a string or elastic to create fun, wearable masks.
16. Potato Stamping: Cut a potato in half and carve out simple shapes or designs into the flat side using a pencil or dull knife. Pour paint onto a plate and stamp the carved potato onto paper to create patterns and pictures.
17. Salt Painting: Draw a simple picture or design on paper using a glue stick or bottle of liquid glue. Once dry, pour salt over the glue lines to cover them completely. Shake off excess salt and use liquid watercolours to paint over the salted areas for a fun textured effect.
18. Marble Painting: Place paper in the bottom of a box or tray. Drizzle different colours of paint randomly over the paper. Drop marbles into the paint and have your child roll and shake the tray to create swirled, marbled paintings.
19. Egg Carton Stamping: Cut the individual cups from an egg carton. Dip the open end into paint and stamp onto paper to make polka dots and fun textures. You can even paint the eggs first with different colours.
20. Tear Art: Provide your toddler with colourful construction paper or magazine pages. Show them how to tear the paper into strips, shapes, or pieces. Glue the paper pieces onto a background to create a fun collage.
21. Coloured Rice Sensory Bottles: Fill plastic bottles about 1/4 full with dry rice. Add a few drops of food colouring and a small squirt of vegetable oil. Secure the lids tightly and shake vigorously to dye the rice. Create multiple bottles with different colours.
22. Textured Collages: Collect various textured materials like sandpaper, felt, foil, burlap, etc. Let your child glue the materials onto a piece of cardboard or paper to create a tactile collage.
23. Paper Bag Puppets: Decorate a small paper bag with eyes, nose, mouth, etc. to make a fun puppet. When finished, put your hand inside the bag and make the puppet “come alive”!
24. Crayon Rubbings: Place textured objects like coins, bark, leaves under paper. Have your child hold the paper down and rub the side of a crayon back and forth over the paper to reveal the patterns and textures underneath.
25. Cotton Swab Painting: Put some paint in a shallow tray or plate. Show your toddler how to dip the end of a cotton swab into the paint and use it like a tiny paintbrush or stamp.
26. Straw Painting: Dip the end of a straw into paint and have your child blow through the straw to spray paint across the paper and make cool designs.
27. Sponge Stamping: Cut up sponges into fun shapes like stars, triangles, or squares. Pour out some paint and let your toddler dip the sponge stamps into it and create prints and patterns on their paper.
28. Puffy Paint: Mix shaving cream with glue and a few drops of food colouring. Use this “puffy paint” to fingerpaint fun 3D designs that will puff up as they dry.
29. Paper Plate Weaving: Cut slits around the edge of a paper plate, leaving about an inch from the edge. Show your child how to weave yarn, ribbons, or strips of paper through the slits.
30. Masking Tape Resist: Use masking tape to create patterns, shapes, or pictures on paper. Paint over everything with watercolours, then peel off the tape to expose the design underneath.
31. Nature Mobiles: Go on a nature walk and collect sticks, leaves, flowers, etc. Tie pieces onto a stick with pieces of string or yarn to make a pretty nature mobile.
32. Sock Puppets: Take an old sock and decorate it with googly eyes, pom poms, fabric scraps, etc to turn it into a fun hand puppet.
33. Paper Bag Vests: Decorate a paper bag by cutting out arm holes and then let your child colour, paint, and glue items on to customize their paper bag vest.
34. Contact Paper Stained Glass: Place a piece of contact paper sticky side up. Have your child arrange pieces of tissue paper onto it to create a stained glass design, then cover with another layer of contact paper.
35. Cereal Box Stamping: Cut out fun shapes from cereal boxes. Pour some paint onto a plate or tray and use the shapes as stamps by dipping into the paint and printing onto paper.
36. Cardboard Tube Binoculars: Decorate two toilet paper or towel roll tubes, then tape them together side-by-side to make binoculars they can look through.
37. Popsicle Stick Picture Frames: Glue popsicle/craft sticks together to make a picture frame shape. Decorate with stickers, paint, etc. Insert a photo or picture.
38. Yarn Wrapped Letters: Provide cardboard letters or shapes. Show your child how to wrap and glue yarn around the letters to create textured monograms or designs.
39. Watercolour Resist: First, use a white crayon to draw designs on paper. Then paint over the whole paper with watercolors – the crayon will resist the paint so the designs stay white.
40. Foil Printing: Crinkle up a piece of aluminium foil, then open it back up and use it like a stamp pad to dip into paint and print cool textures onto paper.
41. Shaving Cream Marbling: Spread shaving cream over a tray or baking sheet. Drip or swirl liquid food colors into the cream. Lay a piece of paper or cardstock on top to make a cool marbled print.
42. Stamping with Nature: Go outside and collect leaves, flowers, pinecones, etc. Use them as natural stamps by pressing them into paint and onto paper.
43. Coffee Filter Suncatchers: Color coffee filters with markers, let dry. Sandwich between two pieces of contact paper to make pretty suncatchers to hang in windows.
44. Paper Plate Masks: Decorate one side of a paper plate using crayons, stickers, feathers, etc. Cut out holes for eyes and attach a string or elastic to make a mask.
45. Pom-Pom Painting: Glue or tape pom-poms to the ends of pencils, clothespins etc. Dip in paint and use as fun stampers or brushes.
46. Toilet Paper Roll Binoculars: Decorate two toilet paper rolls, then tape or glue them together to make binoculars. Attach a string to hang around neck.
47. Yarn Wrapped Rocks: Gather some smooth rocks from outside. Use white glue to coat and wrap them completely with yarn.
48. Popsicle Stick Puzzles: Glue a few craft/popsicle sticks together in simple shapes like an “L” or square. Let dry, then encourage them to take apart and reassemble.
49. Paper Bag Puppets: Decorate the bottom of a paper bag with arts/crafts materials to make a fun puppet face. Put hand inside and operate the puppet.
50. Painted Rocks: Collect some rocks and let your child paint patterns, shapes, animals, etc onto them using acrylic paints.

Recycled craft ideas for 2-year-olds

Sure, here are longer how-to guides for those 25 craft ideas:

1. Egg Carton Stamps: Collect empty egg cartons and cut out the individual egg cup sections. Let your child dip the open end into washable paint and stamp onto paper to create fun prints and patterns. You can even paint the inside of the egg cups in different colours first.
2. Cardboard Tube Kazoos: Take a cardboard tube from a toilet paper or paper towel roll. Stretch a square of wax paper or plastic wrap over one end and secure it tightly with a rubber band. Hum or sing into the open end to create fun kazoo sounds!
3. Plastic Bottle Shakers: Recycle plastic bottles by filling them partway with dry rice, beans, beads, etc. Make sure to secure the lids tightly. Decorate the outside with stickers or paint, then shake to make a fun noise maker!
4. Newspaper Hats: Take a few sheets of newspaper and roll them into a cone shape. Secure the overlapping edges with tape or a stapler. Trim off excess paper at the bottom and decorate the hat with markers, stickers, etc.
5. Cereal Box Guitars: Use an empty cereal box as the base. Cut a hole towards one end and cover it with sturdy paper or plastic wrap secured with a rubber band to make the “soundboard”. Attach a paper towel or toilet paper tube to act as the guitar neck.
6. Toilet Paper Roll Butterflies: Decorate toilet paper rolls with paint, markers, glue and tissue paper, etc. Once dry, pinch the roll inward about 1/3 from each end to make the wing shape. Attach a pom-pom or bead for the body and pipe cleaner antennae.
7. Milk Carton Planters: Thoroughly clean and dry out a plastic milk carton. Use scissors or a utility knife to cut off the top portion, creating a planter box shape. Make drainage holes in the bottom, then fill with potting soil and seeds/seedlings.
8. Cardboard Box Cars/Trains: Save up rectangular cardboard boxes like cereal or cracker boxes. Your child can decorate them with paint, stickers, attached paper plates for wheels, etc. Boxes can be connected into a train or use straws/rolls for a trailer hitch.
9. Paper Bag Vests: Take a regular paper grocery bag and cut out arm holes on each side towards the bottom. Allow your child to colour, paint, glue on decorations to make their very own wearable paper bag vest!
10. Paper Towel Roll Stamping: Collect paper towel roll tubes and pour washable paint into shallow trays. Show your toddler how to dip the end of the tubes into the paint and stamp circles and patterns onto their paper.
11. Aluminium Foil Sculptures: Give your child a few sheets of aluminium foil and let their imagination run wild sculpting and shaping the foil into animals, objects, abstract shapes, etc. Add on googly eyes or other decorations.
12. Plastic Bottle Stamps: Recycle plastic bottles by cutting off the bottom portion to create a stamping surface. Pour paint into shallow trays and dip the bottle bottom into the paint, then stamp onto paper.
13. Egg Carton Caterpillars: Paint the individual cups of an egg carton different bright colours and let dry. Glue on googly eyes, pipe cleaner antennae and pom-pom noses/mouths to turn them into caterpillar segments. Link together with a pipe cleaner body.
14. Cardboard Tube Binoculars: Decorate two toilet paper or paper towel rolls with paint, stickers, crayons to make them look like binoculars. Attach the two tubes together side-by-side using tape or glue, and run a long piece of string or yarn through for a strap.
15. Milk Carton Bird Feeders: Thoroughly wash out a plastic milk or juice carton. Use a utility knife to cut out entry holes on opposite sides. Fill with bird seed and secure a string or pipe cleaner at the top so it can be hung outside.
16. Cereal Box Weaving: Cut off the front panel of a cereal box and make evenly spaced horizontal slits, leaving 1″ uncut at each side. Weave strips of coloured paper, fabric or yarn through the slits to create a woven pattern.
17. Toilet Paper Roll Snakes: Decorate toilet paper rolls with paint, markers and googly eyes to look like snake heads. Once dry, link multiple rolls together into a long snake body. Attach a red paper tongue if desired!
18. Newspaper Baskets: Take sheets of newspaper and tightly roll them into long tubes. Weave and shape the tubes together into a basket shape using tape or glue to secure the intersections. Trim any excess paper.
19. Plastic Bottle Maracas: Remove the caps from plastic bottles and partially fill with dry rice, beans, beads, etc. Replace lids tightly. Decorate the outside with stickers, washi tape or paint, then shake to enjoy the fun maraca sounds!
20. Cardboard Tube Monsters: Let your child decorate cardboard tubes (toilet paper, paper towel, wrapping paper) with paint, markers, glue on googly eyes, pipe cleaner horns/hair, etc. to make silly-looking monster creations.
21. Egg Carton Flowers: Paint the individual egg cup sections of an egg carton in different colours for the flower petals. Glue a yellow pom-pom in the centre and attach a green pipe cleaner stem.
22. Paper Bag Puppets: Decorate the bottom portion of a paper bag with markers, googly eyes, yarn for hair, etc. to turn it into a fun puppet face. Put your hand inside the bag and bring the puppet to life!
23. Plastic Bottle Bowling: Remove labels from several plastic bottles. Set them up in a triangle shape like bowling pins. Use a ball or another plastic bottle as the “bowling ball” to try and knock them down.
24. Cardboard Box Houses: Let your child decorate the inside and outside of a large cardboard box using crayons, paint, stickers, etc. to turn it into a playhouse! Cut out windows, doors, etc.
25. Toilet Paper Roll Stamps: Collect toilet paper rolls and use them as basic cylinder stamps. Pour washable paint into shallow trays and let your toddler dip the roll ends into the paint, then stamp onto paper.

The key is to get creative with everyday household items and packaging materials that would otherwise be thrown away, often known as Junk modelling. These recycled craft ideas are fun for little ones but also promote environmental awareness and creativity from a young age.

The Best Scissors for Toddlers

Choosing the right scissors for young children to use for crafts is important for several reasons:

Safety – Kids’ scissors are designed with blunt, rounded tips to prevent injuries if accidentally poked or mishandled. Standard adult scissors have dangerously sharp points.

Proper Grip – Children’s scissors often have shorter blades and larger, chunky handles that are sized for little hands to grasp correctly and develop proper scissor skills. You can see in the picture below that my son’s grip on these scissors is wrong and will be uncomfortable. This is because the scissors are too big for him.

Ease of Use – The blades on kid-safe scissors require less force to cut through paper and lightweight materials that young kids are working with for crafts.

Motivation – Child-friendly scissors with fun colors or character designs engage kids and make cutting practice more enjoyable.

Developing Skills – Using age-appropriate scissors from an early age helps kids build hand strength, dexterity, and coordination needed for this pre-writing skill.

By providing safe, easy-to-manipulate scissors made for their smaller hands and abilities, kids can practice cutting skills without frustration while avoiding potential injuries from grown-up scissors.