When one stays home with one’s small child, sometimes one needs a few minutes of alone time. Enter the magical project that will keep a young child occupied for more than 5 minutes while you sneak in a cup of tea in another room. Alone. Not talking to anyone.
I thought this project would be a quick one, but Beckett, at 3.5 years old, was pretty taken with it. It kept his interest long enough for me to do a little of my own stuff. (Drink a cup of tea in the other room, not talking.)
I think the key was that I punched out A LOT of circles, and he felt the need to cover the whole piece of paper with them.
Do you own paper punches? I highly recommend a couple of sizes of circles and a square punch. We use these things so very often, for so many projects.
Materials:
- Plain or decorative paper (we used colored card stock– surprise! My favorite.)
- Circle-shaped paper punch
- Glue stick
- White card stock, or the color of your choice
That’s it! I didn’t actually command him to cover the whole page, but you could always suggest the idea….
Comments
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Hi Jeanette
Bonus: when your child is old enough to use the punch, let him punch the circles (or just some of them) himself. Great for hand strength. Some circles with raggedy edges look interesting mixed in your collage.
Oh, yes! Good point- these punches are great tools for kids, and fun for little ones when they can finally use them.
That’s hilarious! I’m sure my four year old would love this. More than 5 minutes, you say? I’m in 🙂
I had a feeling that would be a draw… It’s so funny when something catches their fancy and they focus for a little while!
I love the circle art. What size are the circle punchers? Where do you get big ones?
These are 1″ diameter; I linked to Amazon in the materials section for one that looks good. We have a giant punch, too- I think it’s like 2 1/2″ diameter. It’s obviously harder to use, but we use it a lot, too.
cool idea! did you use a regular sized hole punch? if so, how did you keep the circles from getting eeeverywhere?
No! We used a hole punch that’s about 1″ diameter. You can get them at craft stores or even Target, I think. Of course, this made me think about what we could do with regular hole punches. I think when we break one of those out, I’ll either have the vacuum handy or a big floor mat to catch the tiny dots!
Great idea!
It also looks very easy, which is GREAT!
Yes! Easy=good.
I don’t have one of these but it looks like endless fun! I love 5 minute art activities for kids!
Umm….we’re totally doing this one! Right away. I went to the wilton tent sale this week and got a circle punch, I think I need to break it in! 🙂 And I greatly appreciate the bit about the tea, alone, in the next room.
Love this! We have some punchers like yours in butterfly and leaf shapes. My daughter loves to punch out her old paintings and make collages.