15 Creative Summer Crafts for Toddlers This Year

Summer can feel long when you’re trying to keep little hands busy and happy. If you’re looking for fun, simple activities for home, daycare, or a rainy afternoon, these toddler-friendly crafts will help. Each project is bright, summery, and easy to prep with basic supplies.

You’ll find ideas that build fine motor skills, spark imagination, and make cute keepsakes. Let’s jump into 15 creative summer crafts for toddlers this year.

1. Paper Plate Sunshine Face

This craft makes a cheerful sunshine with a smiling face and bold yellow rays that toddlers will love to wave around. Kids enjoy painting, gluing “rays,” and adding silly faces, making it a quick, low-mess win.

Materials Needed:

1. Paper plate (plain or coated)
2. Yellow paint or crayons
3. Orange/yellow construction paper
4. Black marker
5. Glue stick

How to make it:

1. Paint or color the paper plate yellow and let it dry.
2. Cut paper triangles for rays and glue them around the plate edge.
3. Draw a happy face with big eyes, rosy cheeks, or stickers.
4. Let dry and hang in a sunny window or on the fridge.

2. Beach Ball Sponge Stamps

The finished art looks like a page full of colorful beach balls made by stamping paint with soft sponge circles. Toddlers love pressing the stamps and watching circles turn into beach balls with a few simple lines.

Materials Needed:

1. Round sponge pieces or sponge cut into circles
2. Washable paint (red, blue, yellow, green)
3. White cardstock or butcher paper
4. Black marker
5. Paper plate for paint

How to make it:

1. Pour small puddles of paint on a paper plate.
2. Dip sponge circles into paint and stamp circles on paper.
3. When dry, draw curved lines and a small center to make beach ball sections.
4. Display the bright page as summer wall art.

3. Ocean Paper Plate Aquarium

This looks like a tiny, round aquarium with blue water, fish, seaweed, and bubbly stickers inside a paper plate frame. Kids enjoy choosing fish colors and sticking decorations to build their own ocean scene.

Materials Needed:

1. 2 paper plates
2. Blue paint or blue tissue paper
3. Construction paper (green, orange, yellow)
4. Clear plastic wrap
5. Glue stick and tape

How to make it:

1. Paint one plate blue or glue blue tissue to cover it.
2. Cut simple fish and seaweed shapes; glue them onto the blue plate.
3. Tape clear plastic wrap over the second plate’s cut-out center to make a “window.”
4. Glue the plates together and let dry before shaking for fun.

4. Handprint Watermelon Art

This craft makes a sweet slice of watermelon where the red fruit is made from painted handprints and dotted with black “seeds.” Toddlers love the tickly paint on their hands and seeing their prints turn into a summer snack.

Materials Needed:

1. White cardstock
2. Washable red and green paint
3. Black marker or dot stickers
4. Paintbrush
5. Wipes for cleanup

How to make it:

1. Paint a green arc “rind” on the bottom edge of the paper.
2. Paint child’s palm red and press handprints above the rind to fill the slice.
3. Add black dots or stickers for seeds.
4. Let dry and hang as seasonal kitchen art.

5. Seashell Shaker Bottle

The finished craft is a clear bottle shaker filled with sand, tiny shells, and beads that sound like gentle waves when shaken. Kids love choosing what goes inside and making soothing ocean sounds.

Materials Needed:

1. Clean plastic bottle with lid
2. Dry sand or rice
3. Small seashells
4. Pony beads or sequins
5. Tape or hot glue for sealing (adult use)

How to make it:

1. Add a small layer of sand or rice to the bottle.
2. Drop in shells and beads until it looks full but shakeable.
3. Seal the lid securely with tape or hot glue.
4. Shake to hear the “beach” and roll it on the floor for fun.

6. Popsicle Stick Sailboats

These small, bright sailboats have craft stick bases and paper triangle sails that stand up for pretend ocean play. Toddlers enjoy building simple shapes and pushing the boats through water bins.

Materials Needed:

1. Popsicle sticks
2. Glue (tacky glue)
3. Colorful paper for sails
4. Drinking straw or toothpick mast
5. Washable markers

How to make it:

1. Glue sticks side by side to form a flat boat base.
2. Attach a short straw or toothpick upright for the mast.
3. Cut a triangle sail and slide or glue it onto the mast.
4. Decorate with markers and float in a shallow water tray (supervised).

7. Sunflower Cupcake Liner Collage

This piece becomes a sunny field of sunflowers made from yellow cupcake liners with brown centers. Kids love crinkling, gluing, and pressing the liners to make big bold blooms.

Materials Needed:

1. Yellow cupcake liners
2. Brown paper circles or pom-poms
3. Green construction paper
4. Glue stick
5. White cardstock background

How to make it:

1. Flatten cupcake liners and glue them as flower heads on the cardstock.
2. Glue brown circles or pom-poms in the centers.
3. Cut and glue green stems and leaves.
4. Let dry and display as a bright summer garden scene.

8. Ice Cream Cone Pom-Pom Art

This looks like a giant ice cream cone with fluffy pom-pom scoops stacked high in bright summer colors. Toddlers enjoy choosing “flavors,” sticking pom-poms, and pretending to serve treats.

Materials Needed:

1. Brown construction paper (cone)
2. Assorted pom-poms
3. White cardstock
4. Glue
5. Crayon for waffle lines

How to make it:

1. Cut a triangle cone and draw crisscross waffle lines.
2. Glue the cone near the bottom of the cardstock.
3. Add pom-pom scoops in a stack above the cone.
4. Let dry and hang in a pretend ice cream shop corner.

9. Bubble Wrap Fish Prints

The final page shows sparkly, scaly fish shapes printed with bubble wrap texture and bright summer paint. Kids love pressing the bumpy wrap and lifting to see the pattern appear.

Materials Needed:

1. Bubble wrap
2. Washable paint (blues, pinks, oranges)
3. White paper
4. Fish shape template (simple oval with tail)
5. Paint roller or brush

How to make it:

1. Cut bubble wrap to the size of your fish template.
2. Paint the bubble side and press onto the paper fish shape.
3. Lift to reveal “scales,” then glue fish onto a blue background.
4. Add eyes and waves; let dry and display.

10. Summer Fruit Paper Fans

These handheld fans look like slices of watermelon, lemon, or kiwi that actually help keep kids cool. Toddlers enjoy decorating and then using the fan to make their own breeze.

Materials Needed:

1. Colored paper (red, yellow, green, white)
2. Jumbo craft stick
3. Glue stick or tape
4. Markers
5. Stapler (optional, adult help)

How to make it:

1. Cut a circle and fold it in half to make a fan shape.
2. Decorate as fruit: seeds for watermelon, dots for kiwi, rings for lemon.
3. Glue or staple the craft stick handle to the straight edge.
4. Wave to test the breeze and cool down.

11. Sandcastle Puffy Paint Art

This looks like a raised, sandy sandcastle made from homemade puffy paint that dries with real texture. Kids love squeezing the paint and feeling the bumpy “sand.”

Materials Needed:

1. Brown/tan paint mixed with a little glue and salt (puffy texture)
2. Squeeze bottle or spoon
3. Blue cardstock
4. Shell stickers or flags (paper triangles)
5. Marker

How to make it:

1. Mix paint, a bit of white glue, and a spoon of salt for grit.
2. Squeeze or spoon castle shapes onto blue cardstock.
3. Add tiny paper flag triangles and shell stickers.
4. Let dry completely before hanging upright.

12. Nature Sun Catcher Rings

These sun catchers are clear rings filled with pressed summer leaves and flower petals that glow in the window. Toddlers enjoy gathering nature bits and sticking them in place.

Materials Needed:

1. Paper plate ring (center cut out)
2. Clear contact paper
3. Small leaves and flower petals
4. Ribbon for hanging
5. Hole punch

How to make it:

1. Stick contact paper to the back of the plate ring, sticky side up.
2. Press leaves and petals around the ring.
3. Seal with a second piece of contact paper.
4. Punch a hole, add ribbon, and hang in a sunny window.

13. Pool Noodle Octopus

The finished piece is a chubby octopus made from a slice of pool noodle with wiggly paper arms and googly eyes. Kids love the squishy texture and silly face.

Materials Needed:

1. Short piece of pool noodle
2. Googly eyes
3. Construction paper strips (arms)
4. Glue dots or tacky glue
5. Marker

How to make it:

1. Stand the noodle piece upright as the body.
2. Glue paper strips inside the bottom opening as arms.
3. Add googly eyes and draw a smile.
4. Let set, then wiggle the arms for pretend ocean play.

14. Rainbow Summer Kite Collage

This is a flat paper kite with rainbow tissue paper “patches” and a curly tail, perfect for hanging as bright summer decor. Toddlers enjoy tearing tissue paper and sticking it like a mosaic.

Materials Needed:

1. White cardstock kite shape
2. Tissue paper squares (rainbow colors)
3. Glue stick
4. Yarn or ribbon for tail
5. Stickers or crayons

How to make it:

1. Outline a kite on cardstock and cut it out.
2. Glue tissue squares across the kite, overlapping colors.
3. Tape on a yarn tail and add bow stickers or paper bows.
4. Hang from a window or ceiling.

15. Seashell Salt Dough Keepsakes

These small plaques feature real shells pressed into hand-shaped salt dough, painted in soft beach colors after baking or air drying. Kids enjoy squishing the dough, pressing shells, and gifting the final piece.

Materials Needed:

1. Salt dough (1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup water)
2. Seashells
3. Washable paints and brush
4. Straw for hanging hole (optional)
5. Ribbon or twine

How to make it:

1. Mix dough, knead, and press into small rounds or hand shapes.
2. Press shells firmly to make prints or leave them in place.
3. Air dry or bake at low heat until firm (adult help).
4. Paint, add a ribbon through a straw-made hole, and display.