Scribble Creatures - Toddler Craft

Scribbling is a developmental stage of drawing. Young children don’t have the dexterity or control to draw shapes or pictures but they enjoy the process of scribbling and discovering the effect of their arm movements. Scribble creatures is a very simple no-prep craft where toddlers can scribble, peel and stick to make their drawings into creatures. The benefits are that the toddler has full control over the creative process, and that peeling and working with small objects is good for developing their pincer grip. If you have a very young toddler this craft may not be appropriate due to the choking hazard of small pieces.

Stuff Needed:

Paper.
Googly eyes with peel-off sticky backs.
Crayons (any drawing media will work fine for this activity).

Adult Preparation

Half peel the backing off the googly eyes so your toddler will be able to peel the rest themselves. If they don’t yet have the dexterity for this you can completely remove the backing.

Use googly eyes with peel-off backs. Partially peel the backing so your toddler can do it themselves.

Note: Googly eyes are small and a choking hazard. Working with small objects is a good way for your toddler to develop fine motor control but do make sure you supervise your child to make sure they don’t put them in their mouth.

(Optional) Cut paper into shapes. General ‘blob’ type shapes work best. Let the young artist decide which shapes to use and how.

Toddler Activity

Offer your toddler a selection of crayons and some paper to draw or scribble however they choose.

No preparation! Provide paper, crayons and sticky eyes then let your toddler create!

Show them how to peel the back off an eye and that it will then stick to paper. Let them decide how many eyes to use and where to put the eyes on their picture. Sometimes the results can be quite amusing.

Let the artist decide how many eyes to use and where to put them.

Older toddlers or children doing this activity may find eyes an interesting topic to explore further. On a basic level you can have a conversation about body parts and where our own eyes are. If you have animal or insect books to hand you could look at other eyes. Flat fish like rays have eyes on top of their heads, snails have them on stalks sticking out of their bodies, and most spiders have eight eyes!