Looking for fun and interesting ways to get crafty with your little one?
CBeebies show Monster Makes has loads of great creative activities you can do together with developmental benefits for them.
This make only takes a few items, and can be kept super simple or made more complex.
Watch as Rebecca and Murphy from Monster Makes show you how to make a carton bunny in this video.
Hey there, I'm Rebecca and you may have seen me in the CBeebies House reading out Show and Tells, or chatting to a big multi-coloured monster called Murphy.
Like you, I've also got my own little one at home, toddling around, exploring and wanting to discover everything. I get it, it can feel like a lot of work keeping them occupied and entertained.
But the good news is the CBeebies Parenting website is full of people just like you and me, parents who've been through exactly the same situations.
I love being creative with my daughter. It can be fun, playful, silly and she loves getting messy, which I know can feel daunting and like another thing for you to clean up. But it supports little learning and development in so many ways that we often overlook.
Take a look at this Monster Make. Preschoolers will love it, and you can make it as detailed or as simple as you like.
Let's get monster making!
It's a carton bunny. For this, we'll need a clean, empty carton, a lolly stick, some card, and paint. Start by taking the lid off and painting the carton. Paint it any colour you like. I'm going for pink.
Painty painty, monster painty! Boom boom boom boom boom boom. Hey hey hey hey.
We need to paint the lolly stick orange. This is going to be the bunny's carrot. While those dry…
Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Let's get drawing.
Here you are, Rebecca.
So you're going to need to draw two long, curvy shapes on pink card. These will be the bunny's ears. Now let's draw two long arms and the bunny's feet.
So the bunny can hop.
Lots of little ones find drawing tricky because their hand muscles are still maturing. A great tip is to draw along with them and go step by step using simple shapes like squares, circles or triangles.
Drawing also helps develop an understanding of how objects relate to each other, so don't be upset if their first portrait of you has your arms and legs coming out of one giant head. That's not what you really look like. Most probably.
Now take the white card and draw two circles for the eyes and teeth. Finally, on green card, draw spiky shapes for the carrot leaves and I've added some detail.
Now for some monster cutting magic.
Try placing a small sticker or smiley face on your little one's thumb and remind them they should always be able to see the smiley face when cutting. This helps them to hold and control the scissors.
Let's stick all these pieces to our dry carton. Glue on the ears, the eyes, teeth, arms and feet.
Sticky sticky sticky stick!
Glue on the carrot leaves. Then bend the arms and wrap and glue them around the lolly stick.
Now draw a line on for the mouth. Finally, let's screw the lid back on. One carton bunny. A really simple make for you and your little one to try at home.
The great thing about this make is that, like me, it might encourage you to eat more carrots. What? My little one's having a nap, so I'm having a well-deserved little treat. Have one yourself.
You will need
A clean, empty juice carton
A lolly stick
White and green coloured card
Paint - your choice of colours but we've used pink for the bunny and orange for the carrot
A thick black pen
Scissors
Glue stick
Method
1. Take the lid off and paint your carton in your chosen bunny colour, and leave to dry.
2. Paint the lolly stick orange, and leave to dry.
3. On coloured card, draw long curved shapes for the bunny's ears, two long arms, and two bunny feet.
4. Draw two eyes and teeth on the white card, then draw a spiky carrot leaves shape on the green card.
5. Cut out the ears, arms, feet, eyes, teeth, and carrot leaves with scissors.
6. Using your glue stick, attach all the pieces to the dry carton, then glue the carrot leaves to the lolly stick.
7. Bend the arms, wrap them around the carrot and glue them on.
8. Finally, draw a line either side of the teeth for the mouth and reattach the lid.
What little ones can learn
Draw along with your little one and you'll be able to help develop their motor skills and strengthen the muscles in their hands. Go step-by-step and use simple regular shapes to help boost their drawing skills.
The more your child draws, the better they'll understand the connections between different objects - for example, that arms and legs come out of the body rather than the head!
When cutting using scissors, you can use a sticker on your little one's thumb which they should always try and keep in view, to help them hold and control the scissors using their developing fine motor skills.
