Child's Play Book Review

Child's Play: Easy Art for Preschoolers by Leslie Hamilton was on display at the library so I decided to bring it home and check it out.  I was very happy that I did.  The book has so much information in it that it was almost hard to get through the whole thing when I got it out of the library.

It is a great book to help you figure out what items you need to start collecting and then go back and pick out a few crafts that you can make from what you have on hand.  If you have a few things on hand already, it might even be ideas for you to get started with now.  It would be a great resource for anyone homeschooling or teaching because there are so many inexpensive ideas on how to do different things with children.  It is something you could pull out every day and get a new idea on how your kids could learn.

The book is broken up into great sections with a table of contents in the front to help you go back and find your favorites!

1. Putting Things Up and Taking Them Down

2. Playing with Color

3. Paper Play
   -Starting Out
   -More Fun with Paper and Paste
   -Paper Projects

4. Easy Art Games
   -Colors and Shapes
   -Opposite Art
   -Hunt Around

5. Drawing on Paper
   -Scribble Away
   -Rubbings
   -Tracing
   -Fun with Chalk
   -Fun with Drawing

6. Painting

7. Printing

8. Playing with Clay

9. Creative Creations

The great thing is that it gives you ideas for crafts and recipes to make dough, cornstarch clay and sparkle clay along with finger paints and more!!! 

Finger Paint Recipe

1/4 c flour
1/4 c water
2-3 tsp of paint or food coloring

This is a great way to stretch the paint you already have or try a quick craft at home.

The book might not have earth shattering crafts but they are perfect for young kids and good reminders of things that we did as kids.  I know that I forgot about leaf rubbings and my son and I went on a leaf hunt and found leaves so that we could do our own rubbings.  It is a great source of easy ideas when you don't want to hunt around the internet to come up with an idea.  There are also tips about the things that you should use and when to be prepared for it to get messy.

 I hope that you check out these fun crafts and all of the other great advice that the book holds at your local library or bookstore.