Preschool Crafts

My sister asked me for ideas of projects that will help her 3 year old develop her scissors skills. Here are a few ideas I came up with, also good for general "we want to do a craft" sorts of days.

1) cut out pictures of foods she likes from magazines (or around a theme, like veggies) and glue them onto a paper plate

2) Noah's Ark: cut out animals from National Geographic, etc. and glue onto a big ark cut from a grocery bag. Don't forget to make a flap for the door! :)

3) Make your own person: cut out body parts from mag pictures and reassemble to make your own funny person

4) hunt for shapes: find squares, circles, etc in mags and cut out, glue onto a paper

5) Foot prints: trace foot and cut out, put two together backwards (like how kids usually wear their shoes!) and use the feet as wings to a butterfly

6) ABC's - look for each letter of the alphabet and cut out. Cut a bunch of 8.5x11's in half the short ways and stack the papers to make a little book. Glue each letter onto it's own page. Later on you can find pictures that start with each letter, cut those out and glue them onto the appropriate pages. Good long-term, work on it a little at a time project.

7) Paper quilt - find "The Quiltmaker's Gift" or other kids quilt-themed story at the library. After reading it, cut out squares and triangles and glue into a rectangle on a grocery bag to make your own "quilt" designs. You could get fancy and add fringe trim around the outside edge.

Libraries often give away really old magazines - what a great resource of images for little fingers to cut! Don't forget to get a plastic tote in which to keep the magazines and "precious" clippings!