Opposites Craft for Toddlers

Opposites are an abstract concept that toddlers have difficulty grasping, but hands-on activities will help little ones with a beginning understanding of the topic. Craft activities can involve children in finding concrete examples of things that are very different, so they can learn that words such as big and small, hot and cold or summer and winter are opposites.

  1. Black and White Pictures

    • Toddlers have started to learn their colors, and providing black and white materials will allow toddlers a hands-on way to see how different these two colors are. Give children paper as well as black and white paint or crayons for them to make their own masterpieces. As they work, point out the black and how dark it is, and then the white and its brightness so they start to understand that opposites mean things that are very different.

    Make a Necklace

    • Help children string large and small beads.

      Toddlers can learn opposites as well as practice fine motor skills by threading beads on a string to make a necklace. Buy large beads and small beads to teach the opposites of big and small, as well as something to string them on. Beads can be made of wood, plastic or foam, and parents or teachers can work with toddlers to create a big-small pattern on their necklace. Keep in mind that toddlers may still place items in their mouth, so watch children carefully to prevent choking on the beads.

    Little Hand, Big Hand

    • Another simple activity to teach the concept of big and small can be done in just a few minutes, but toddlers will enjoy it so much they will want to repeat it. On one side of a piece of paper, trace the child's hand. Then on the other side, adults can trace their own hand. As the toddler colors in the hands, talk about the size difference in the two hands and how they are opposites. The Everything Preschool website suggests letting the toddler come up with other items to add to the paper that are large or small.

    Opposite Collages

    • Let a child cut pictures out of magazines to make an opposites collage.

      Toddlers enjoy looking through old magazines and cutting out pictures that they can then glue on paper. Instruct children to look for pictures of happy faces and sad faces to cut out. Then, draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper and let toddlers glue the happy faces on one side and the sad on the other to show they are opposites. This activity can be used to teach many opposites such as summer and winter, day and night or hot and cold.

    Printable Book of Opposites

    • The idea of opposites will need to be revisited often until toddlers truly understand the concept. One way to reinforce learning is to provide a book for toddlers that shows concrete examples of opposites. Enchanted Learning provides a printable book of animal opposites that adults can help toddlers make. After printing, toddlers can color the animal pictures and an adult can help them staple it together to make their very own book.

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