Not All Screen Time Is Created Equal: 5 Cricut Projects to Do With Your Toddler

Look, we get it. You're trying to cut back on screen time, and here you are reading a blog about using a machine that requires... a screen. The irony is not lost on us. But here's the thing: the Cricut is one of those rare exceptions where the screen is just the doorway. Once you press "cut," the magic happens in the real world, right at your kitchen table, with little hands covered in glitter and a toddler who is absolutely convinced they're helping.

These five projects are designed to be done together, messy, tactile, creative connection at its best.

1. Personalised Playdough Tubs

Cut your toddler's name and some fun little shapes out of vinyl and slap them on a plain storage container or jar. Fill it with homemade playdough and suddenly it's theirs. Kids who feel ownership over their materials are so much more likely to use them, and this takes maybe 10 minutes start to finish. Let them pick the colours. Spoiler: they will pick every colour

2. Cards for Any Occasion

Birthdays, thank yous, "just because" - a Cricut makes card-making genuinely easy, and toddlers are surprisingly excellent at it. You cut the shapes, they do the sticking, the scribbling inside, and the very important job of deciding which sticker goes where. The result is something handmade that actually looks intentional, not like it survived a glitter tornado (even if it did). Got an upcoming birthday party? Make the card to go with the gift. Want to make a grandparent's day? Let your toddler colour in the shapes you've cut and watch them beam with pride when they hand it over. It's the kind of thing that gets put on the fridge and stays there for months.

3. Iron-On T-Shirts

Pick a theme your toddler is obsessed with right now (dinosaurs, rainbows, their own name, the specific bus they saw last Tuesday) and cut a simple iron-on design together. You control the machine, they pick the shape and colour. Then grab some fabric pens from your local store and let them go wild decorating the other side while you actually sit down and drink your coffee while it's hot. They wear it everywhere and tell everyone they made it. Because honestly? They kind of did.

4. Photo Stickers

Pick a favourite photo of your toddler, upload it into Design Space, and print and cut it into a custom sticker. You can do a whole sheet of them, different sizes, different photos, whatever they pick. Kids are absolutely beside themselves when they see their own face (or their pet, or their favourite toy) turned into an actual sticker. These make brilliant little gifts too, which earns you serious points all round.

5. Reward Charts

Cut and customise a simple reward chart from cardstock with your toddler's name and whatever they're working on right now (getting dressed, eating dinner without a performance, using their words). Let them help stick it to the fridge. Kids are far more invested in a system they helped build, and a Cricut-made cardstock chart is a step up from the ones you print from the internet at midnight.

Want to try any of these projects at Messy Mates? We've got the Cricut set up in-studio and we'd love to show you how easy it actually is. Come and play. You can also check out everything Cricut has to offer over at cricut.com 

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