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As well as caring for your baby's physical needs, you also need to encourage him or her to develop creativity and an inquisitive mind. Starting to do craft projects with your one-year-old will help them in many different ways.

Note: I will be using the word his' throughout this article to denote a child of any age.

Learning craft skills will help your toddler to develop his small motor skills and to hone his critical thinking. As he works with your on these projects, you will be able to introduce the concepts of color, number etc in an easy and non-threatening way. However, the most important part of teaching your child craft skills at an early age is the fact that you will be spending time together. This bonding is hugely important to a child's development, and seeing you happy and relaxed will relax him too.

Of course, a child of this age has few motor skills, so the projects you choose will have to be carefully selected. Choose ones in which your child can let his creativity go wild, and where it doesn't matter about the mess made. Don't be too critical of his efforts, but praise the effort he puts into the pieces.

Once the craft session has finished, you can tidy up and assess the things that have been made. Sometimes, the act of creating has been enough, and the actual things produced can be disposed of. Many things, though, can be used by you as a basis for gifts or keepsakes to remind you of this precious time.

Printing

Printing projects are a great way to introduce a child to the concept of adding color and pattern to paper. Use long rolls of lining paper, or the reverse side of left-over wallpaper.

Pour the paint into saucers so that it is easily accessible, and provide a variety of shapes for printing. You can buy pre-cut shapes from craft shops and baby supply shops, which are often made from foam, but don't forget that you can use anything to print with. You can cut your own shapes from potatoes, use the end of corks, pieces of foam, polystyrene, cut fruit etc.

Once the printing has finished, let the work dry. You can use the printing in many different ways.

- use it as wrapping paper if it is good enough

- cut it down and use as backing paper for scrapbooking projects

- use it in card making

- laminate sheets and make coasters and place mats from it

- add photographs of your child and frame it

- line drawers with it

Painting

A very young child won't have the skills to make fine art, but can produce some interesting patterns. Limit the number of colors you offer

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