How To Start Crafting With Toothpicks

Crafting with toothpicks is inexpensive, easy, does not require much special skill, and can be enjoyed immensely by children. All that is needed are a few boxes of toothpicks, some wood glue and an imagination, and the result is a pleasant day spent crafting with your children. Best of all is seeing the imaginations of youngsters take wings as they explore the possibilities of using the toothpicks to make just about every item they can think of.

There are tons of individual toothpick craft ideas available on the internet, ranging from the simple to one website I saw where a man made an entire city from toothpicks (I wonder how many years that took?). For younger children under 6 years of age, toothpick crafts can be made without using any glue. A box of gum drops or a handful of marshmallows can join the toothpicks together to complete things like geometric designs, stick figures or animals like snakes. This is also a good manner in which to teach small children about shapes - triangles, rectangles, squares and the differences between them.

You can even use this method to teach the alphabet, by connecting toothpicks and gum drops to form individual letters, and teach numbers the same way. After the child has mastered the basics, you can progress to spelling out small, easy words. This is also a great way to teach basic counting, addition and subtraction skills as well. The great thing is that your kids just think they are crafting with toothpicks, never realizing until much later that you are teaching them basic life skills.

One really simple project for smaller children to make from toothpicks are toothpick flowers. The materials necessary are some paper, toothpicks, glue or tape, a pair of scissors, a 6 inch square of Styrofoam, a pencil and some crayons. Draw the flower on a piece of paper with a pencil and then cut the flower from the paper. Let the child color the flower any way they choose, and then take the flower head and attach it to a toothpick using glue or tape. You can then take about 6 to 12 finished flowers and "plant" them by sticking the base of the toothpicks into the Styrofoam, creating a flower garden.

If you would like to view an interesting activity in child development after a few craft making sessions, take some crafting materials and set them on a table and let the child do their own thing. It is an incredible event to witness how a small child's imagination can invent some very clever and creative designs using toothpick crafts.