Some days at home with a 2-year-old can feel really long. He has energy, I am surrounded with a heap of housework, and the day just goes. So these days I started keeping a small box of simple things for us — coloured paper, paint, string, tape and stickers. I have being collecting such types of things for months. Nothing expensive. Just little activities we can do together at our table.
But, honestly, these small moments have become some of my favourite times with him.
**First, his favourite — stickers**
In fact, my boy loves vehicles. Cars, buses, fire trucks — anything with wheels. So this vehicle sticker sheet was like a treasure for him. I have collected set of stickers
He sat with the sheet in his hands, looking at each one carefully. Taxi, police car, fire truck, ambulance… and his hard work started — peeling the sticker off with his small fingers. So, it is not easy for a 2-year-old, you know. His fingers tried and tried, and when one sticker finally came off, his face became so proud.
Peeling and sticking looks like a small thing, but it is big practice for little fingers. And I loved just watching him choose — which vehicle first? Where will it go? Every choice was his own. But I have to tell that how much he is interested he never wants to sit hours in one place, hahah!
**Then we made a paper friend**
For this one, we used orange paper, black paper and a little glue. I cut a big orange circle for the face, and he helped me put the pieces together — two small triangle eyes, a tiny triangle nose, and a black hat on top. Then we added long straw-colored arms, like a little scarecrow in a field.
Some pieces sat a little crooked. The hat was not straight. But that is exactly why I love it. It looks like what it is — something a mama and her 2-year-old made together at home.
While we worked, he kept touching the orange paper and watching the face come together. Slowly, piece by piece, our paper friend was born.
**And the little mummy — our one Halloween creation**
This one we made for Halloween, and it took the most time. We made a small figure from paper, painted his face — two big red eyes and a funny stitched mouth — and then came the best part: wrapping.
We wrapped string around and around his body, and added black tape strips across him, until he slowly turned into a mummy. My boy loved the wrapping. Round and round, round and round. When we finished and I held him up, he looked at that red-eyed face like he had made a real friend.
Spooky? A little. Cute? Very much.
**Why I love these small activities**
None of these cost much. Paper, paint, string, tape, one sticker sheet — simple things we already had at home. But look at what he practised without even knowing: peeling, sticking, tearing, wrapping, choosing, waiting, finishing.
In fact for me, these slow moments at our table are the real treasure. Not the finished craft. Not the photo. Just his busy little hands, next to mine.
Next year he will be bigger, and his creations will look different. So I am keeping these ones safe.
Do you do small activities like this with your little one too? What is their favourite — stickers, painting, or cutting and sticking?
