Easy Winter Crafts for the Pre-School Child

Inside and outside, the beauty and magic of winter can be inspirational, both for bringing out the child in you and for your child. There are many fun and delightful ways to encourage your preschooler to be creative in the winter, helping them to learn and use their imagination.

Preschoolers love to be creative and in giving free rein to their imaginative instincts, they are learning about themselves and the world around them. Their creative efforts do not have to be works of art and no matter what you think of their finished creation, your encouragement and their delight with their accomplishment is all that really matters.

For this reason, keep it simple. Make it too complicated and your child will become discouraged and frustrated. Why not have fun with your child by making these easy-to-do crafts together?

Winter and snow scenes can look impressive and capture the white landscape of winter on dark coloured paper, using different coloured chalks. It won't be difficult for your child to draw a snowy picture using white and yellow chalk on a black background. Use cotton wool and yarn for a snowman and snowflakes to add depth to the picture.

Use printable winter pictures for your child to colour in. These are easily found on-line. This helps your child get used to holding pencils, use colour and they might talk about their picture while colouring in. Colouring.ws for instance, includes winter colouring pages for young children along with some connect-the-dots fun.

Children love to build a snowman and they can have just as much fun indoors by making a snowman banner. All that's needed is five to ten sheets of thick white paper, crayons or colouring pencils and a long length of ribbon. Help your child draw and colour the snowmen. They can all be the same or because they are to be attached to the ribbon rope, you might make some hang upside down or look as if they're holding on to the ribbon. Attach the snowmen to the ribbon to complete your snowman banner.

Snowmen paper plates are also easy and fun to do for the preschooler. Glue two white paper plates together to represent the snowman's face and body then use your imagination to decorate your snowman. Add cotton wool for instance to make it a more substantial craft. Use felt pens to draw the face or use buttons for the eyes. Attach a hat, pipe and cane using black card or paper.

Preschoolers love to have fun making pictures out of shaving cream. Cover a table or tray with shaving foam and leave your child to have fun making winter scenes. They could have some more messy delight if you put different coloured paint in squeeze bottles, help y our child glue some cotton wool on to paper plates, then let him or her squeeze the different colours over the cotton wool to make an Ice Cream Sundae!

Easy-to-do crafts with a winter theme encourage preschoolers to be creative, develop their fine motor skills and have fun with the family while helping to keep their energy focused.