Toddler Crafts Clean Up
and Safety Tips

Doing crafts with your toddler can be a lot of fun, but it can also get messy and even dangerous if unsafe items are in reach for your toddler. There are many things that you can do to keep craft time with your children, playgroup or classroom safe and keep the mess of the projects to a minimum.

A very good tip to remember is to have a trash box or basket that is at the table or area of the floor that you are doing your work. Hopefully the crafts that you are doing with your toddler are not creating too much garbage but it helps if you can quickly discard any bit of paper you have trimmed off. Having a trash box or basket will help you keep your craft area clean and will eliminate little bits of paper and other things from reaching the hands that may want to chew or even eat them.

Another good tip is to try is do all of the cutting that the project requires ahead of time before your toddler is involved. Young children don't want to wait around while mom or dad cut out the paper. They will be eager to help with the cutting and frankly when they are too young, helping with cutting the paper is not an option. As well as having all of the cutting out of the way it can be helpful to have all the supplies that you need for your craft projects together before you have your toddler sit at the table or on the floor where you are doing the crafts. This way you won't have to get up and get something in the middle of the project and leave your toddler alone with the crafts supplies you already have out.

Keep any supplies that you need for the craft but your toddler is not allowed to use for safety purposes off the table (or if your working on the floor, off of the floor) where you are doing the crafts. This way curiosity will not get the best of your child and you won't have to worry about them getting hold of such an item as a pair of scissors.

Encourage your little one or little ones to help with clean up before they begin to play with the craft that they made. Having it a rule that everything needs put away and cleaned up before they can move on will help you make clean up time go faster and help them learn about responsibility. Something else that can speed up clean up time is having a bin or box for all of your crafting supplies, allowing you to have all you need easily at your side as well as making it easier to put everything way quickly.

Remember that arts and crafts with your toddler is a lot of fun for the both of you and it will be much more fun if you are not stressed about the clean up and if there isn't anything unsafe about it.