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Upcycle Toddler Art

Welcome to our Creative Ideas Blog – quick simple low-budget art ideas for teaching art to kids.

THESE FUN SIMPLE ART PROJECTS ARE DESIGNED FOR BOTH TEACHERS AND PARENTS TO TRY OUT IN THE CLASSROOM OR AT HOME WITH YOUR CHILDREN. USE SIMPLE RESOURCES – ACHIEVE AMAZING RESULTS – LEARN ALL ABOUT UPCYCLING – CREATE WITH THINGS WHICH YOU ALREADY HAVE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. NO FANCY ART EQUIPMENT NECESSARY!

CHEAP LOW-BUDGET IDEAS PERFECT FOR GROWING MINDS, AND FOR KEEPING KIDS CREATIVELY ENGAGED. 

This blog is a fantastic FREE educational resource for teachers – learn how to teach kids art, and discover a range of fun 30 minute art lessons perfect for filling in a spare block of time, or to support other key learning areas. The perfect Visual Art resource for teachers.

RAW art is a team of art specialists who run art incursions in schools and kindys throughout SEQ and Sydney/ Newcastle. We also have a fabulous range of DIY art kits which we send to schools and kids throughout Australia.

Be sure to leave us a comment below – we would love to know your thoughts about these ideas and projects. Or – even better – have a go!! – and share with us your results – tag us on Insta @rawartworkshops. We would LOVE to see your projects too.

Upcycle toddler art

Do you ever feel like you are drowning in your child’s lovely drawings and you just don’t know what to do with them?

Well I have some ideas for you that will recycle some of those beautiful drawings into cheerful and inventive new artworks that the kids can get involved in… again.

Stickers:

Super simple, cut your child’s drawings up into shapes – I used a square punch for speed. Feel free to edit out the boring bits and keep the best for the next step. Now get your child involved in creating a new composition with the shapes. Glue each one as you go, hand them onto your little artist and let them stick their little pieces onto a coloured piece of paper or card as a background. Cut up a years worth of throw-away sketches and you will be radically condensing your archive while still saving the effort!

Mobile:

This one is slightly more technical and might be more of a parent project. Glue your drawings onto thick pieces of box card, front and back. Cut out circles of different sizes, you can trace around cups to get the shapes. Now cut them out, holepunch, and bring them all together with some pipe cleaners or wire. This is another project you can keep adding to for years.  

Beading:

Make your 2D drawings wearable 3D art! Cut the best parts of the drawings into strips. A pencil or piece of dowel might help here, glue along one edge and roll the paper into tubes. Leave to dry for 20-30 minutes and then cut into varying size beads. Now your toddler can jump back in. Get them to thread the paper beads onto some sturdy twine to make wall hangings, or a wearable necklace. Perfect handmade gift for grandma perhaps?

These ideas are great for getting your little one to start thinking about developing their artworks into something more complex, thinking outside the white paper, and working new parts of their brains and hands. 

Until next time!

Tracy x

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