The sun is out and the holidays are edging ever closer which means that I’m allowing myself to share this round up of summer crafts for toddlers – hurray!
We love sharing easy craft ideas that you can do with your kids and while summer is the perfect opportunity to get outside and play sometimes it’s also nice to have a few easy summer crafts as a back up if you need a bit of chill out time at home during those hot summer days(or *whispers* if the weather is less than awesome).
In this round up you’ll find lots of crafts and art projects with flowers, ice cream cones, watermelons plus loads more to ensure that you have a blast together all summer long.
We have included affiliate links to some of the products and resources and as an associate we may earn from qualifying purchases.
What You'll Find on This Page
Easy Toddler Crafts
All the crafts in this post are ones that should be suitable for toddlers and preschoolers but you’ll also find a lot of ideas that are suitable for kids of all ages, great if you have more than one child at home.
As you’ll know the toddlers years are ones of massive change in what children are able to do. I’ve included craft ideas for one, two and three year olds in this round up so take a look through them and find the ones which are most suitable for your child’s age and abilities as well of course as their interests – arguably the most important bit of all!
As usual when crafting with toddlers and younger children adult supervision is needed at all times due to craft supplies with small pieces such as pom poms and googly eyes or sharp items such as scissors.
As well as lots of summer crafts for toddlers you’ll find some lovely ideas for summer themed books to share with your child and more ideas for easy toddler crafts that you might like to try.
Like this post? If you want to make sure that you don’t forget any of the ideas in here today make sure that you bookmark this page or pin an image from it so you have them all to hand when you need them – plus you’ll have them kept aside for next year too if you’re ready to try some different ideas then!
To help make things a bit easier for you I’ve listed all of the crafts in this round up in the same order that they appear in the collages below so you can easily find the ones you like the look of. There’s more ideas than just in the collages though so do take a look through the list and find any that take your fancy.
While this list started with around 20 crafts it’s grown over the years to over 30 as I’ve found more toddler summer crafts to include. I hope to make it even bigger next year!
Summer Crafts for Toddlers
Tissue Paper Fish
Under the sea crafts for toddlers are great for during the summer – especially if you’ve got a trip to the beach planned.
This rainbow fish craft uses a fun technique to paint and you can change the colours to whatever your toddler likes best.
Paper Roll Butterfly
Non-Toy Gift’s tutorial for a rainbow paper roll butterfly is just gorgeous and using handprints means that this makes a great keepsake for the future too.
Paper Plate Sun
Get inspired by the sunshine and make this handprint sun craft.
Paper plate crafts are always a great option to make with toddlers and preschoolers as they are so low cost and durable and this one was a joint projected between my kiddos that my daughter joined in making when she was one.
Paper Plate Watermelon
Fruit crafts are great for summer and watermelon ones perhaps most of all!
This paper plate watermelon craft is great for fine motor skills although obviously (as with all toddler crafts) you will need to supervise your child due to small pieces.
Shark Suncatcher
This shark craft from Buggy and Buddy look like so much fun to make and you could easily adapt it for other ocean animals too.
Paper Plate Bee
Get inspired by the wildlife and insects in your backyard and make a cute paper plate bee craft like this one from Non-Toy Gifts.
Shell Suncatcher
I’ve been making suncatchers with my kids since they were toddlers and we’ve always loved the way putting the end result up in a window can brighten the room up so much!
This cute shell suncatcher craft can be made using our free template and looks super cheerful.
Torn Paper Ice Cream
I’m a big fan of any kind of simple paper crafts as they’re so cheap to make with kids and giving this an ice cream theme means that it’s a great summer craft for toddlers – after all you might as well go with a theme that interests them!
You can make this easy paper ice cream craft using our free template which helps make it quicker to set up too.
Mosaic Cactus
You can make this easy mosaic cactus craft using our free printable and it’s a good one for mixed age groups as toddlers and preschoolers can sprinkle on cut pieces of green paper while older kids can use scissors to cut the shapes out themselves and glue them on in more of a mosaic style.
Handprint Flowers
My Bored Toddler shares a tutorial on how to make these sweet handprint flowers designed especially for toddlers to be able to make.
I think these are gorgeous and definitely something I’d want to pin up on my fridge!
Paper Plate Ball
Whether or not you’re planning a trip to the beach this summer I think we can all agree that beach balls are pretty iconic with their classic striped design that makes them perfect for summer arts.
You can make a cute paper plate beach ball like this one from The Simple Parent at home using really basic materials and I think it looks like great fun too.
Tissue Paper Seahorse
Love seahorses? Yep, me too and my daughter loved making this simple seahorse craft.
Using tissue paper is a really fun way to fill in a shape or outline to color it in rather than just using markers and scrunching the tissue paper is really good fun to to do!
Potato Masher Sunflower
Sunflowers are the perfect flowers for summer and this craft from Happy Toddler Playtime is perfect for toddlers to make. If you don’t have colored paper to hand for the leaves and stem you could try drawing these on instead.
Paper Plate Parrots
Parrots are something that make me think of sunny days and desert islands!
You can make some fun paper plate parrots and my kids loved my kids loved adding the feathers to these. If you don’t have any ribbon like we’ve used you could swap this for strips of colored paper or fabric.
Printed Butterfly Craft
This easy butterfly craft is great for toddlers as the large printing materials are perfect for little hands to hold.
Bubble Art Butterflies
If you haven’t tried painting with bubbles before then you’re going to love this one, I think that this is one of the most fun summer activities for kids although you’ll have to be certain that your child can blow into a straw rather than suck!
You can create some bubble art butterflies like these ones from Red Ted Art by following their tutorial.
Dragonfly Suncatchers
These dragonfly suncatchers look great hung up in the window. This is an activity that I did together with my daughter and the contact paper means that the sun can shine through them and really light up the colors.
Printed Ice Cream Craft
Cut out the cone shape for younger kids and this ice cream cone craft is great fun for kids to paint. You could change up the colors depending on their favorite ice cream flavors!
Easy Butterfly Craft
This simple butterfly craft is one that I made with my daughter when she was two years old.
It’s a great way to use up leftover packaging and looks really pretty too.
Seashell Decorations
Do your kids come home from the beach with lots of seashell treasures? These decorations are a fun craft to make with them.
Paper Plate Fish
Crayons and Cravings share a tutorial for a simple paper plate fish craft, something that I think is a classic for ocean or under the sea crafts as well as summer activities.
Paint Splat Butterfly
Another classic summer craft idea but this one uses paper plates to make the butterflies a bit more durable.
This is a great craft for kids to learn a bit about color mixing as well as color recognition.
Pom Pom Painted Watermelon
Grab some paint and pom poms and make this easy watermelon craft using one of our free templates.
Campfire Craft
This campfire craft is always really popular as it’s so easy to make but the colors look fantastic!
Grab paper and paint to create these fun sponge printed flames.
Butterfly Suncatcher
This butterfly suncatcher craft is super pretty and will look fantastic up in your toddler’s window.
Ladybug Craft
We love looking for bugs in the backyard during the summer and this ladybug craft is one that I made with my daughter when she was a toddler.
Rocking Crabs Craft
We made these fun making these rocking paper plate crabs using paper plates and torn paper.
Cupcake Liner Flowers
This flower craft is great for practising beginning scissor skills and would look sweet on the front of a card too.
Nature Butterfly Craft
Make a sweet butterfly nature craft using our free template, this activity is a great excuse to get outdoors in the sunshine too!
Mosaic Flowers
Make some pretty mosaic flowers using cardstock and scrap paper.
Paper Plate Turtle
My daughter made this cute paper plate turtle when she was a toddler.
Paper Plate Pineapple
You’ll need to cut the felt parts out for your child to make this his paper plate pineapple craft by Crayons and Cravings but I think the final craft looks fantastic.
Popsicle Craft
I love this cute watermelon ice lolly craft that The Joy of Sharing made with her toddler.
Coffee Filter Butterflies
Red Ted Art shares a tutorial for making butterflies out of coffee filters.
Tissue Paper Popsicle Craft
Make these pretty ice lolly crafts from A Dab of Glue Will Do that are great for fine motor skills too.
Potato Masher Sun
Create these cute sun crafts from Happy Toddler Playtime.
Summer Books for Toddlers
I love themed books at different times of the year and my kids always have done too (although that doesn’t mean I don’t still get asked to read Christmas stories during August!).
These summer themed books for toddlers all look fantastic – perfect for a post crafting cuddle and chill out with a snack.
- Maisy Goes Camping by Lucy Cousins – we love the Maisy books and this looks perfect for kids who are getting ready for their first camping experience
- Peppa Pig Goes Swimming by Scholastic – swimming is always a big activity for us in the summer and this story is all about George being scared of getting in the pool
- Llama Llama Sand and Sun by Anna Dewdney – a touch and feel book
More Easy Crafts for Toddlers
We love these fun bug crafts for toddlers.
Finally why not check out this round up of weather crafts for toddlers with ideas suitable for all year round.