Got a 3-year-old that desperately needs an activity? Why not engage them with these Fun Crafts for 3-year-olds.
Crafting with kids is a fun way of educating them about a lot of different things like textures, colors as well as shapes. Crafting not only helps with creativity, and independent play but also develops fine motor skills.
Moreover, it keeps the toddlers engaged for hours. Here are 41 Crafts for 3-Year-Olds that you can also enjoy with them.
1. Fingerprint Glass Magnets
Source: craftsyhacks.com
Kids’ art taking too much space on the fridge door? Here’s a super cool idea that will keep the art on the fridge without hogging up much space.
Fingerprint Glass Magnets! These are a great way to save your child’s cute little art projects and create memories of their early days.
To make these fridge magnets, you will need magnets and large glass cabochons, among other supplies. If you are new to the world of DIY projects, you can order your cabochons here.
2. Rainbow Craft
Source: thediynuts.com
Apart from ABCs, kids pick up colors very easily. However, you need to pick the right object to teach your kids different colors. Most preschool teachers start with a rainbow.
Hence, we have come up with a cute rainbow craft that will serve as a fun activity and a color teaching lesson.
To make this rainbow, you will need marshmallows, cardboard, a black marker, and glue. You can also get some food coloring to make the art more enticing for the kids.
Cut out your cardboard in an arch shape and draw your rainbow lines. Now, help your toddler stick the marshmallows, one color at a time, between the given lines. This is a fun activity that needs very little supervision.
3. Fish Craft
Source: craftsyhacks.com
Every DIY craft project can become the perfect way to teach our kids about the underwater world and how it works. For example, this fish art is great for teaching how fishes live in water, what they eat, and how they breathe underwater.
It’s pretty easy to make; you can do this as a classroom project or a summer project at home. Supplies needed are, popsicle sticks, order yours here, some colorful felt sheets, and crafts glue.
Make a triangle with your popsicle sticks, and stick your felt after cutting it in the same shape and size as the fish. You can add as many details as you want, like fins, tail, mouth, and gills.
If you don’t have felt at hand, you can also use colored paper sheets; get some here.
4. Tissue Paper Apple
Source: burlapandblue.com
Tissue paper crafts are our favorites for a lot of reasons. For one, they are very affordable because the key element is tissues. One roll goes a long way. You can create just about anything with this tissue craft, but we will start with an Apple.
You can either get pre-colored tissue paper or paint with your toddlers. We suggest colored tissue paper since it’s less messy.
Just cut up your tissue into small pieces, and help your little one glue it to the pre-drawn apple. Check out more tissue paper crafts.
5. Salt Dough
Source: craftsyhacks.com
Salt Dough is one of the best doughs out there for kids. You can make just about anything with this dough, be it ornaments or little trinkets for your toddlers.
For the dough, you will need salt, flour, and water. To make the dough more interesting and attractive for the kids, add acrylic paint. You can order all colors here.
To make fun ornaments, you will need a few tools like baking sheets, rolling pins, and cookie cutters.
Order cute cookie cutters here for your salt dough ornaments. All these tools are an investment; you will love making more once you get started with this DIY project.
6. Sun Catcher
Source: sweethazelhoney.com
Suncatcher is an excellent craft to make with small kids. Hang them in the sunniest windows and enjoy the colors reflecting in the light.
All you need are some styrofoam plates, contact paper, and tissues to make this cute suncatcher. If you don’t have contact paper at hand, here’s where you can order some.
Cut the heart hole in your plate, stick the contact paper where the heart is, and stick your colorful tissue in the shape of the heart. Once you are happy with your heart’s density, stick another contact paper on it to secure the tissue in place.
7. Pasta Easter Egg Craft
Source: hezzi-dsbooksandcooks.com
Decorating Easter eggs is a favorite, but why wait till Easter to paint the eggs. This pasta egg craft is perfect for kids missing easter eggs.
The best part is finding all the needed supplies in your home. If you are short on construction paper, get the white sheets here.
Once you are all set with the supplies, draw an egg on the construction paper, give your kids some glue and painted pasta and let them figure out their favorite patterns.
8. Penguin Craft
Source: craftingwithkids.net
If you like sorting crafts according to seasons, here’s one for winter. The Penguin craft is the easiest to do. You don’t even have to supervise your kids much with this one.
You will need colored paper, cotton balls, and some glue. Download the penguin template. Using the template cut out the penguin’s body parts.
Once all the parts are cut out, stick them one by one. Lastly, let your kids glue the cotton balls on the white part and then glue the white part over the black body of the penguin.
This is a fun craft to do on a cozy winter night. Check out more penguin crafts here.
9. Melted Crayon Art
Source: teachingideas.ca
All toddlers love hands-on projects that they can do themselves. This is one of those projects that toddlers can start and end without any help from an adult.
A little guidance goes a long way. Help your toddler sharpen the crayons till they have a neat pile of shavings. Once you have a neat pile of different colors, you can start making your picture.
There are two ways to either let the kids make the picture freehand or draw one for them to fill up with the crayon shaving.
Now comes the fun part, setting the paintings in the sun to melt. Your kids will love going in and out to check on their paintings and see how far they have melted every five minutes.
This craft is the best to keep the kids busy while mothers get their chores done.
10. Colour Wheel
Source: teachingideas.ca
Let’s create a color wheel, but this isn’t your ordinary color wheel. This one is with a cool twist. If you are a teacher or have a few kids at home, this is the perfect activity for them.
Teaching kids to color the color wheel will become the best lesson ever with this color wheel activity. The twist is the extra material that goes in your paint bowls to change the texture of the paint.
Again, it’s a great way to help kids understand different textures through paint and play. For this excellent activity, you will need six colors, six bowls, and six different materials like rice, flour, couscous, etc.
You can use the blank color wheel template as your base for the color wheel.
11. Heart Printed Paper Bags
Source: teach-me-mommy.com
Let’s teach our kids how to be frugal with paint. Have you got any brown paper bags lying around the house? If not, you can order some here for this craft and use them later for presents.
Get some empty toilet paper rolls and bend them to make a heart shape. Now dip this heart shape in paints and stamp your brown paper bag. Your kids will love this fantastic paint activity.
12. Magnet Craft
Source: teachingideas.ca
Paint and magnets together sum up an evening full of fun activities. With this painting with the magnet activity, you can help your kids understand the pull of the magnetic force.
For this activity, you will need two magnets and paint. On a foil or tin tray, tape your paper, and put some blobs of paint. Now place your 1st magnet in the paint and drag the second one under the tray.
As the 2nd one pulls the 1st around, the art will start to emerge. This is an excellent way to teach the kids about color mixing and how magnets work.
13. Spring Lamb Craft
Source: daisiesandpie.co.uk
The kids around me love crafts projects, so I am always on the lookout for easy and simple crafts projects for them. This cute little sheep project is one of the easy ones that you can do with young kids.
Pre-cut all the sheep pieces, i.e., the white body, the black face, and with the help of kids, glue on some googly eyes. If you don’t have googly eyes, you can order a pack here and use it for other DIY projects too.
Once you have all the pieces, you can stick the lamb on the popsicle stick and glue a bit of green tissue or grass. And there you have it; your popsicle lamb is ready for his farm.
You can create a series of farm animals just like this lamb and have fun at storytime.
14. Carrot
Source: hezzi-dsbooksandcooks.com
I love handprint crafts. They are so easy to make and are such great keepsakes. This particular one, the carrot, is the easiest to make. Only red and green construction paper and a cute little toddler are required.
Trace your kid’s hand on the green paper and set it aside. Now trace and cut the shape of the carrot from the red paper and glue your green handprint on the red carrot. That’s it! You are done with your carrot handprint craft.
15. Comet Craft Activity
Source: tikkido.com
Are you looking for a craft that just needs a couple of elements yet keeps your kids engaged for a long time? We have just the thing for you, Comet Craft Activity. These are so easy to make that your kids can do it themselves without any help from you.
You need a pack of pre-cut foil sheets and colorful crepe paper strips. Place a couple of strips in the middle of the foil paper, and crumple the paper into a ball, trapping the strips trapping one end of the strips inside.
You can either use the foil from your pantry or get the easy pre-cut one from here. Having a pre-cut one saves a lot of preparation time when you have a couple of more kids.
16. Spoon Puppet
Source: momsandcrafters.com
These spoon puppets are so easy to make, and by the end of this craft, your kids will have material for their magical puppet show.
All you need are spoons, a sharpie, and some face stickers. You can either buy some face stickers here or get them printed on your own.
You can even help your kids add details to these spoon puppets with yarn and pom-poms. Your kids can later name their puppets and have a full-blown puppet show with them. This is the only activity that keeps the kids amused for hours.
Check out more crafts for kids here.
17. Paper Plate Whale
Source: intheplayroom.co.uk
Do you know the best kind of craft? Paper plate craft! There is nothing better than paper plate craft because it’s so EASY! With one pack of paper plates, you can make tons of things and keep your hyper toddlers occupied.
The best part is that you don’t even need to supervise them at one point. So, more than anything, paper plate craft encourages independent play.
Here’s how you can make a Blue Whale out of paper plates with your toddler. If you need paper plates to start, here’s where you can get a whole pack. You will also need googly eyes, get them here and use them for all your other crafts.
First, paint the plate blue. Once it’s dry, cut the button and for the tail and use spare blue paper to depict water coming out of the whale.
Add details with googly eyes and a black marker. See, how easy that was? Get your paper plate craft started today.
18. Acorn
Source: simpleeverydaymom.com
Toddlers of all ages can enjoy this craft, whether you have a preschooler, pre k, or kindergarten child. It’s the perfect one for fall as the main element is an Acorn and a couple of other basic supplies.
With some colored brown paper, you can create a cute acorn girl or boy and even have a quick storytime using your acorn puppets. You will also need pipe cleaners for this one; click here to order a new pack if you are fresh out.
Using the template, trace and cut your colored paper in the shape of an acorn. Using your pipe cleaners, add details for hands and legs. Stick the eyes and the mouth to your acorn, and you are done.
Kids love sticking things with glue; it makes them feel grown-up working with glue and paper. It also helps develop their motor skills, so this one is a win-win.
19. Snow Globe
Source: messylittlemonster.com
Sending the same kind of Christmas cards every year gets boring, so we came up with a new tradition, making DIY cards. Our Snow Globe is a Christmas favorite.
Download the template, and let’s get started. You will also need to print out a few pictures of your kids to use for the card. Paint the globe, add the photo and use Q-tips to add the snowy details.
Make one as a sample, and let your kids have fun with the rest. It’s a great family activity for the Christmas holidays.
20. Monster
Source: momsandcrafters.com
Crafting monster magnets is a fun activity for birthdays as well as a classroom activity. This one isn’t as frugal as the others but is still a good one as a one-time project.
To make this a fun and easy painting activity, you will need to let conventional paints go and order these paint sticks. They last long, so the cost is worth the buy. You can also get a small pack of 12 colors if you do this at home with a couple of kids. Order your paint sticks here.
The dough needs to be prepared, shaped, and dried beforehand. You can also convert this into a two-day activity. Once you have the monster’s base, you can then paint and add all the details to it.
21. Cotton Ball Penguin
Source: mombrite.com
Ask any kid about the cutest animal on earth, and they will instantly say a Penguin. Hence, all kids love crafts that involve penguins.
This penguin craft is easy, fun, and needs very few supplies. You can do this on a cozy winter day with your kids. All you need is a pack of cotton balls, black and orange construction paper, and googly eyes.
22. Watercolour Seashells
Source: messforless.net
Seashell watercolor activity has a few benefits. It teaches your kids about recycling, and it’s also an activity that develops fine motor skills. Moreover, you can teach your kids color mixing with this fun activity.
While you can use any kind of paint on seashells, watercolor is suggested so the kids can use a free hand with the paints. You can use as many or as few colors you want for this activity.
The only thing you will need is clean seashells apart from watercolors. If you aren’t going to the beach any time soon, you can order a pack of seashells here.
Dress your kids in old t-shirts and let them have fun while painting the shells.
23. Playdough
Source: craftsbyamanda.com
Why is playdough the best activity supply? Because you can make it under 10 minutes and give your kid hours of imaginative sensory play.
This simple playdough can be made with six ingredients, and it will yield you hours of independent play. Isn’t this just the best thing in the world for moms with toddlers?
The best part about making this playdough is that you can find all the ingredients at home. The key ingredient is a cream of tartar that keeps the dough soft and supple for the kids to mold and have endless hours of fun.
Use food coloring to give your dough vibrant colors. Order your food colors here.
24. Smush Paintings
Source: mimosasandmotherhood.com
Many parents avoid painting activities with kids, as they know the cleaning will be too hard for them to handle. Hence, we have brought to your mess-free smush painting.
Now, not only can your kids have their paint time, but you can also relax around the paint.
You can do this craft for all holidays and themes, hearts for valentines, a Christmas tree for Christmas, and a rainbow for St. Patrick’s day.
To create this super sun smush activity, you need cardstock, paint, and ziplock bags. You can order your ziplock bags here.
Once you have all the supplies, you can add your cardstock to the ziplock, add paint and let your kids go wild, smushing the bag to create their art. Once they are done, take out the cardstock paper and let it dry.
25. Frog Headband
Source: simpleeverydaymom.com
Are you planning an animal theme party for your kid’s birthday? We have just the perfect accessory for you. Frog headbands! These headbands are pretty easy to create if you have the template.
You can take inspiration from this one and create other animals too. To make the frog headband, you will need green cardstock and the template. You can also get a pack of headband extenders so that your band fits all heads.
Just cut all the pieces neatly and glue the details; in under 10 minutes, your frog headband will be ready to use.
26. Splat Painting
Source: taminglittlemonsters.com
Splat painting is such a fun activity for kids. Once they get the hang of it, they will ask you again and again. This can be an excellent treat for weekend fun.
It’s better if you do this out in the open, you wouldn’t want the paint to splatter the walls of your house. You will need acrylic paint and sponges for this activity.
Click here to order sponges. If you cut the sponges into smaller pieces, your kids will have more pieces to hammer.
Place your paint-soaked sponges on white cardstock paper and let the kids splat them with wooden spoons. Pretty soon, you will have a couple of masterpieces in your hand.
27. Potato Stamp Art
Source: dfwcrafts.com
Kids love stamping activities, but it’s hard buying stamps time and again, as toddlers are masters of losing their smaller toys. Don’t worry; we have the perfect solution. Let’s make some potato stamps.
Potato stamps are easy to create; all you need are some cookie cutters and paint. Give your kids the stamps and paint, and let them enjoy their newly acquired treasure.
You can order metal cookie cutters for this activity here. Wash and reuse them for other activities as well.
28. Paper Plate Dinosaur
Source: taminglittlemonsters.com
Paper plate activities are the best ones ever. If you have a paper plate pack lying around, use it for this fantastic Dinosaur activity. If you don’t have paper plates, you can order a pack here.
This activity can be used to teach your kids about a lot of things like numbers, colors, Dinosaurs, as well as how to match.
Let your kids paint the clothespins; use wooden ones; they are easier to paint. You can order these here as well. Once they are all painted and dried, cut up the shape and help your kids add the clothespin as the legs of the dino.
You can add dots to your Dinosaur and use this as an opportunity to teach your kids counting. Using multiple colors for the legs can also help your kids match the colors.
Check out these paper crafts for kids for more inspiration.
29. Q Tip Skeleton
Source: littleladoo.com
Whoever said science can’t be taught using fun craft activities hasn’t met us. With our Q-tip skeleton, you can help your kids learn different bones in the bone and have a great time while doing it.
You will need any dark-colored Cardstock, glue, and Q-Tips for your Q-tip skeleton. You can get white Q-tips here to make a realistic skeleton.
Paste your Q-tips following the bone structure of a human skeleton. Your kid will love this activity for so many reasons, and biology is the least of them.
30. Marble Apple Painting
Source: simplyfullofdelight.com
Painting with marble is the most fun way of painting. You can use any kind of paint for this one, but it’s best to use washable ones; click here to get Crayola Washable Paints.
Simply print out your copy of a large apple, stick it inside a flat box or a deep tray. A box is light and easy to maneuver. You can cut any old cereal box for this craft.
Get some marbles, roll them in paint and let your kids roll the paint-soaked marbles on the apple. Teach them to go up/down and left/right to create fun patterns.
Once they get the hang of it, you will have a painted apple that even Picasso will be proud of. Check out more indoor activities for kids.
31. Paper Tube Binoculars
Source: goplaceswithkids.com
Toilet paper roll binoculars are great for all kinds of games; making them is itself a fun activity. If you are someone who feels these empty toilet rolls are useless, you need to try this one to know better.
Making these is the easiest; all you need is to download the template on cardstock paper and fold and cut as per the instructions. Once you have the holes for the rolls out, insert the roll and glue the whole thing together.
Trust me when I say this, your kids will love playing safari or bird watching with these animal binoculars. You never know; you might awaken the explorer in them.
32. DIY Crayons
Source: ottawamommyclub.ca
Do you have leftover crayons that are useless? If yes, we have just the perfect DIY for you. Make this with your kid and give them the new crayons to color with.
To make the DIY crayons, you will need some old crayons and silicone molds. If you need cute heart molds, you can get them here. Sort your crayons and add them to the molds and bake them to melt the crayons.
Once they settle, you will have brand new crayons ready to be used. This is a great activity to teach kids about different states of matter and how solid can change into liquid through heat.
33. Zoo Animals
Source: mamaofminis.com
This one’s for you if your kid loves zoo animals and has been super excited since the last zoo trip. Make zoo animals with colored construction paper and have a ton of fun with your kids.
This craft is ideal for preschoolers and toddlers both. Cut the shapes and details beforehand, and let your kids glue them on the right spot with your help. You can order construction paper here.
34. Bumble Bee
Source: bunnysgarden.com
I used to love painting rocks and using them as paperweights. Rock painting is a fun activity to do with your toddlers, and use the painted rocks as gifts to aunts, uncles, and teachers.
Apart from smooth rocks, you will need yellow and black paint as well as a sealer. You can get your sealer here. Paint your bee and allow the paint to dry. Once dried, use the sealer to seal the paint, and your bee paperweight is ready to be used or gifted.
35. Rock painting
Source: momscollab.com
Just like the bee, you can use any other inspiration to color your rocks. As per your desired activity, you can buy all sorts of stones. We prefer the smooth river ones; kids love painting these as well. Get your smooth river rocks here and paint your heart away.
Suppose you or your kids end up making a stunning one, seal and use it as a paperweight. You can use this activity as a birthday activity too.
Check out more rock painting ideas here.
36. Water Balloon Painting
Source: liltigers.net
Are you looking for a fun and easy sensory activity for summer? Why not use water balloons to paint a summer masterpiece with your kids?
Kids love water balloons, add paint, and this activity will become their favorite summer activity. You will need a pack of balloons, order the perfect size here, some paints, and a muffin tray.
Dip your balloons in paint, and use that as a brush to paint your paper. Ask your kids to be gentle, for if the balloon pops, their painted paper will soak, and they will have to start all over again.
This is a great activity that helps develop motor skills as well as increase focus.
37. Walrus
Source: littleladoo.com
Cut and paste crafts are lifesavers. You can use these crafts only to keep your kids occupied during the summer break but also to teach them a thing or two.
This walrus cut and paste craft is a great initiative to teach them about walrus and their habitat. Download the template, cut it, and with the help of your kids, paste it on a blank paper.
If you have older kids, you can just give them the pieces and let them figure out which piece goes where.
38. Paper Plate Watermelon
Source: taminglittlemonsters.com
And we are back to our cool paper plate crafts; this time, we are making watermelon. Paper plate crafts are a huge hit in our home because they encourage creativity and are also super fun. Did you know you can also promote self-expression with such crafts?
To start your watermelon paper plate craft, you will need a pack of paper plates, green and red paint, and some dried black beans. You can order your beans here.
Once you have your supplies, you are all set to make your watermelon craft. After the paint dries on your melon, glue the seeds to finish your art.
I am sure your kids will love showing off the watermelon at school.
39. Alphabet Puppets
Source: momsandcrafters.com
Teaching ABCs with craft is a fun learning activity. Here’s how you can make your letter series with Alphabet puppets to teach your kids.
Print and paint your puppets, and stick them on jumbo craft sticks. If you don’t have the sticks, you get them here. These sticks will make your puppets look amazingly neat.
40. Under the Sea Shape
Source: messylittlemonster.com
Are you looking for ways to educate your kids about shapes? Well, check this cute under the sea shapes craft. Isn’t the sun the way to teach your kids the basic shapes?
For this craft, all you need are some scissors, colored construction paper, and glue. Cut all the shapes and spread them out in front of your kid. Now, help your kid recognize the shape, and make the craft.
41. Clownfish
Source: simpleeverydaymom.com
Have you seen Nemo with your kids? Did they love the clownfish in the movie? If they did, you should try this clown fish craft. If you haven’t seen the movie, this is the perfect time for some movie time and craft with your toddler.
To make the clownfish, you will need, Colored card stock, Googly eyes, and glue. We recommend Elmer’s School glue; order here.
Use the clownfish template to make your craft. Cut out all the parts and stick them on blue construction paper.
Lastly, let your kids name their new pet and hang it in their room.
DIY projects and crafts are not only fun, but they are also great for many other things like encouraging independent play, self-expression, and creativity.
You can also develop your toddler’s focus and fine motor skills through arts and crafts.
41 Fun Crafts for 3-Year-Olds
Trying to keep your little ones engaged? These fun crafts for 3-year-olds are easy to make and cute.
Materials
- 1. Fingerprint Glass Magnets
- 2. Rainbow Craft
- 3. Fish Craft
- 4. Tissue Paper Apple
- 5. Salt Dough
- 6. Sun Catcher
- 7. Pasta Easter Egg Craft
- 8. Penguin Craft
- 9. Melted Crayon Art
- 10. Colour Wheel
- 11. Heart Printed Paper Bags
- 12. Magnet Craft
- 13. Spring Lamb Craft
- 14. Carrot
- 15. Comet Craft Activity
- 16. Spoon Puppet
- 17. Paper Plate Whale
- 18. Acorn
- 19. Snow Globe
- 20. Monster
- 21. Cotton Ball Penguin
- 22. Watercolour Seashells
- 23. Playdough
- 24. Smush Paintings
- 25. Frog Headband
- 26. Splat Painting
- 27. Potato Stamp Art
- 28. Paper Plate Dinosaur
- 29. Q Tip Skeleton
- 30. Marble Apple Painting
- 31. Paper Tube Binoculars
- 32. DIY Crayons
- 33. Zoo Animals
- 34. Bumble Bee
- 35. Rock painting
- 36. Water Balloon Painting
- 37. Walrus
- 38. Paper Plate Watermelon
- 39. Alphabet Puppets
- 40. Under the Sea Shape
- 41. Clownfish
Instructions
- Choose the craft you like.
- Gather your tools and supplies.
- Get crafty with the kiddos!
rhea
Thursday 27th of April 2023
thanks so much. helped a lot!!!!