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Butterfly paintings 

You will need some large paper and some different coloured paints and some brushes.
Lay the paper on the table and allow your child to select and use whatever colours take their fancy. Encourage them to use a few different colours around the page but try to concentrate the colours towards the centre, its ok if the paint gets blobbed on – it will add to the end effect. Once they are happy with their colours simply fold the page in half and use your hand to smooth the paint between the two sides of the pages, spreading the paint out. Now very carefully help your child peel the pages apart and you will have a beautiful butterfly effect!

Paper plate rainbows
You will need a paper plate (cut in half). Yellow paint, coloured streamers (or colour paper or crepe paper cut into strips) and some yellow paper cut into 5cm triangles (roughly – don’t worry about measuring them!!) Sticky tape or glue.
Take your half paper plate and paint it yellow (this is the sun) and then allow it to dry.
One the paint is dry using glue or sticky tape arrange the triangles around the half circle of the sun (like sun rays) and stick them down. Then stick the different colours of the rainbow to the bottom of the plate.
If you like you can attach some goggly eyes and a string so the kids can hold it and you can hang it from the door.

Egg carton Lady bugs
You will need an egg cartons cut into individual egg cups, red paint, black marker (or black sticker spots), googly eyes, black pipe cleaners.
Get the kids to paint the egg carton red and allow to dry.
Once dry help them to draw and colour in black circles onto the red body, or if you have black stickers have your child stick them onto the red body.
Using the black pipe cleaners poke  3 pipe cleaners along each side of the body and bed to form legs.
Stick on your googly eyes!

Hand print fish
You will need paper, different coloured paints and a black marker. Some brushes could be useful too.
Have your child dip their hand onto one colour of paint and then place it down firmly on the paper (try to get them not to smoosh it around or you will lose the definition of the hand print) Lift their hand off carefully and wait to dry. Once dry add eyes and mouth using a texta.
If your child is a bit older you could help them use the brush to paint different colours onto their hand so when they make the print they get a colourful fish!!
If you have the time you can paint the background blue before hand printing your fishy onto it. Feel free to embellish with glitter and googly eyes.

Cardboard Tube Lamb
You will need:
1/2 cardboard toilet tube, 5-6 cotton balls, 2 black pipe cleaners, black felt, 2 small wiggle eyes, medium black pom-pom, white craft glue, hot glue gun or instant grab glue, scissors, pattern for lamb head and ears (see link below).
Using the pattern, cut out the head and ears from black felt. Glue the ears to the back of the head and glue eyes to the front. Set head aside.
Roll a cotton ball briefly in your hand, then cut into 3 pieces. Cut the 3 pieces into halves or thirds. Repeat for all cotton balls. Set aside.
Cover the cardboard tube with white craft glue. Place the pieces of cotton onto the glue until cardboard tube is completely covered.
Glue the head to the "front" of your cardboard tube. Glue the black pom-pom to the back for the tail.
Cut the two black pipe cleaners in half. Wrap the pipe cleaner around a small paintbrush or pencil to coil it. Slide the coiled pipe cleaner off and repeat for the other three to create the legs.
Use instant grab glue or hot glue to attach the legs inside the bottom of the cardboard tubehttp://www.craftsbyamanda.com/2011/03/cardboard-tube-lamb-tutorial-video.html

Stamping
You will need paper, different coloured paint and a variety of objects to be dipped in the paints and stamped onto the paper. This could be any number of household items:
Plastic bottles make excellent flowers
Potatoes can be sliced and the gouges made so when they are stamped you get a variety of patterns
Toilet rolls can be manipulated into shapes like hearts to be stamped on the paper
Sponges can provide a different texture
Fruits and vegetables can provide interesting shapes like apples, capsicum and celery
If your children are old enough you can encourage them to arrange the shapes to make a specific picture like a bunch of flowers or a row of hearts

Cut and paste
You will need a template with sections marked for the kids to cut out and a picture for them to rearrange and match the pieces too again. Scissors and glue
This is better for kids that are old enough to manage scissors, but you could do it with younger kids if you have the shapes pre cut.
Using a template of your desired design have the children cut out the appropriate sections. Then, like a puzzle, have them arrange the sections in the correct place on the provided picture and stick them down.

Colouring pages

Colouring in is an activity that is so simple and the kids love it! Here are a couple of website with lots of colouring pages for you to print at home and take with you the Playgroup.http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/colouring-pages
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/