Easy Fridge Magnet Craft for Toddlers

As the new half term starts it is time for me to get planning the weekly craft activity for the playgroup I help to run.  I have been trawling pinterest to come up with ideas for a Mothers Day craft to no avail.  Ultimately I came to the conclusion that as most of those attending were mothers (we have to get very involved with helping the toddlers do the craft) there was no point in doing cards.  Instead we are making fridge magnets. This is an easy craft for toddlers to do and surely everyone loves a fridge magnet don’t they?

This fridge magnet craft is ideal for toddlers as it is easy for them to do.  Apart from the initial drawing and cutting out of the butterfly wings I found that my 2.5yr olds could pretty much do it themselves.  Now I am not suggesting that you leave your small people alone with glue and pom poms whilst you put your feet up and watch Jeremy Kyle.  If you do I would expect to come back to pom poms stuck in eyebrows on walls and glitter pretty much everywhere, but good luck if that’s the route you take.  What I am saying is that this is one where they can actually make it.  You don’t have to make it for them and then lie to yourself forever more that they made it.  So its easy, its quick and the mess is limited especially if you opt out of the glitter.

What you need:

• • A lolly stick (clean)
  • A small piece of coloured card cut into the shape of butterfly wings (these need to be roughly the same size as your lolly stick so you may need to cut stick with scissors)
  • Goggly eyes
  • Colourful pipe cleaners
  • Small pom poms
  • PVA glue
  • Glitter (if you feel brave)
  • Stick on Magnets (I got these ones: Magnet Expert® A4 Sheet of 88 Self Adhesive Magnetic Dots ( 20mm dia x 0.7mm ) ( Pack of 1 ) – AMAZON )

The How

1. Take the card cut into the shape of butterfly wings and put a line of glue down the centre
2. Put PVA glue on the lolly stick
3. Stick the lolly stick to the card.  This just acts as a stabilizer so that it isn’t really flimsy.
4. Cut off a small piece of a pipe cleaner around 4-5 inches long and bend it in two.  This is something you will need to do as the ends will be sharp
5. Fold the sharp ends in on themselves and bend over the ends so that it looks vaguely like antenna 
6. Use the PVA glue to stick the antenna onto the lolly stick.  This bit I did have to help with as it is fiddly and doesn’t stick quickly so you kind of need to hold it there whilst the littles do step 7 which then secures it in place.  Alternatively you could use sellotape, but I think the glue creates a nicer finish.
7. Use PVA glue to stick on pom poms.  In an ideal world you would wait for this part to dry before moving on, but this is toddler world so clearly that won’t happen.  As a result I did end up having to glue the head on again around 24hrs later as it hadn’t stuck properly.
8. Glue on the eyes
9. Add any decoration your toddler would like to on the wings
10. Add the stick on magnets to the back of the butterfly
11. Stick it on your fridge and admire the beauty of it all!

As there was quite a lot of rain over half term we also made snakes and crocodiles: