🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 📋 Planning & Sequencing — Multi-step craft projects require children to think about what comes first, next, and last — building the procedural sequencing skills that underlie reading comprehension, mathematics, and everyday problem solving.
• 💪 Persistence & Resilience — Working through a craft that doesn't go as planned, fixing mistakes, and persisting to completion teaches children that effort — not talent — produces results, a mindset that predicts lifelong learning.
• 🌿 Sensory Exploration — Handling varied craft materials — soft fabric, rough sandpaper, smooth clay, scratchy burlap — builds sensory discrimination and supports the processing skills that some children need additional practice with.
• 🏆 Pride & Accomplishment — Completing a craft and displaying or giving it away gives children a concrete experience of accomplishment — building the relationship between effort, completion, and pride that motivates future creative risk-taking.

Basic Preschool Wheels can be modified to create wheels for any number of projects. They are very easy to make and can be made ahead and stored for future use.

Materials you will Need

Cardboard or foam core board
Matte knife (adult only)
Crayons or markers
Drinking Straws
Scissors
Toothpicks
All purpose craft glue
Large needle (adult only)

How to Make It

Step 1:
With your preschooler, determine the size wheels you will need.

Step 2:
Draw the wheels on the cardboard or foam core board.

Step 3:
Cut out the circles with the matte knife and make a hole in the center of each just big enough to accommodate the straw.

Step 4:
Color the wheels the desired color with crayons or markers.

Step 5:
Cut the straw into 2-inch pieces, or longer if the project needs it. Use your judgment to help your preschool determine the length.

Step 6:
Place one end of a piece of drinking straw into the hole of one wheel.

Step 7:
An adult should use the large needle to make a hole all the way through the straw about half and inch from the other end.

Step 8:
Make a hole the right size to accommodate the straw in the project your preschooler is adding wheels to.

Step 9:
Slip the straw through the hole to the inside of the project.

Step 10:
Put a toothpick through the hole in the straw so that it sticks out of both sides of the straw. Glue the toothpick in place. Break off the tips.

Helpful Tips for Parents

Tip 1:
If you are using these wheels for a two-piece box with a fitted lid such as a shirt box, make the holes for the wheels in the bottom section and make slits in the top section so that it will fit down over the wheels.

Tip 2:
If your preschooler is too young to make the wheels but still wants wheels on his/her projects, you can make them ahead of time and save them.

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I'm Margaret Studer, the Preschool Crafts writer for PreschoolRock.com. In addition to crafts, I enjoy writing, children, cooking, and cats. I love to hear from my readers, so please share your preschool craft ideas with me. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or questions about this site, please contact me.

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