Many teachers use crafts for preschool children to ignite some creativity and provide safe entertainment throughout the day. Appropriate crafts for preschool children to do might include coloring pages, cutting and gluing simple shapes from construction paper to form patterns, or finger-painting with nontoxic, washable paints. Some children will be drawn more to certain activities than others, so it is a good idea to rotate the kinds of projects the children will be doing so everyone is exposed to various arts and crafts experiences. Additionally, while the point of crafts for preschool children seems like fun and self-expression, possible safety hazards should never be overlooked.
When coming up with crafts for preschool, keep in mind the ages of all of the children. If some of the children are older, they may be able to easily manipulate scissors and other objects, but the younger children will struggle. Ideally, keep any objects involved large and sturdy enough for small children to hold. Even then, some of the children may need help cutting paper into shapes or gluing objects together properly. Keeping objects fairly large will also help prevent accidental swallowing of craft materials by some of the children.
Crafts for preschool children should also be fairly simple to complete. Having a few steps or objectives to complete during an art project can help children learn to follow step-by-step directions to achieve a goal. If the instructions are too complicated for preschool children, however, they are likely to get frustrated and lose interest or give up. Using bold, bright colors instead of more muted colors such as pastels should also help keep preschool children interested in the project.
Always use child-safe equipment when having preschool children do crafts or art projects. Nontoxic paint, glue, and markers are extremely important in case a child swallows some of the supplies. Blunt-nosed "safety" scissors are also imperative if the children will be cutting paper or other materials on their own. Even if the teacher will be doing all of the cutting for the class, it is still very important to make sure the scissors are blunted safety scissors in case one of the children tries to use the scissors while the teacher's back is turned. Keep in mind that children can be creative in unexpected ways because their minds do not yet work like adult minds, and therefore, they may be able to find danger in unexpected places.