A good starting point for many young toddlers is a sticker collage. Give them a piece of paper and some self-adhesive stickers. Applying glue can be tricky for younger children. You can also use clear sticky-back plastic, sticky side up. Invite your child to lay flat objects, such as leaves, small cut-out shapes of paper, wrapping paper, or shreds of fabric on the sticky surface. Place another piece of clear sticky-back plastic, sticky side down, so the objects are sandwiched between. Hang the collage in a window and let the sun shine through.

Get into the habit of looking for interesting items when you're on walks. It's a wonderful way to open your child's eyes to the world around them. Leaves, twigs, seeds, nuts, pebbles, shells and rounded coloured beach glass are all good materials. Indoor possibilities include corks, bottle tops, scraps of fabric, small cardboard boxes, toilet rolls and egg boxes.

You can use cut up wrapping paper, greeting cards, magazines and seed catalogue photos. Sort everything by size, colour or material - your child will enjoy helping! Store in labelled containers.

By selecting a few items, you'll avoid making your child feel overwhelmed. Give them time to handle and explore the objects and materials and talk about their shape, texture, colour, and size.

Collage materials should be clean, non-toxic, free of sharp edges and nothing your child could choke on.