Christmas Gifts for Grandparents: Dough Recipes Children's Crafts

Modeling and craft dough recipes are excellent ways for children to make inexpensive, handmade Christmas gifts for Grandparents and others. More than anyone, Grandparents love receiving handmade Christmas gifts from the children they love. Personal, handmade Christmas gifts create memorable keepsakes Grandparents will treasure for years.

The following recipes, from Jennifer Rader's Rainy Day Activity Book (Doubleday, NY, 1995) are easily prepared and versatile. Ingredients in these recipes are easily found in any grocery store. They may be in your kitchen cabinets already.

Jewelry Dough
Ingredients:
6 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
¼ Cup Salt
¼ Cup Cornstarch
¼ Cup Warm Water

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix, then knead until craft dough is smooth and not sticky (add more water if necessary). Role bits of craft dough into beads of any shape or size, and insert a toothpick through the bead to make the hole. Do not remove the toothpick from the craft dough; leave it in so the hole does not shrink as the craft dough bead dries. Jewelry craft dough can also be molded into shapes to make barrettes and pins (simply glue to plain backs with hot glue).

Leave the craft dough beads to dry for one or two days. Beads can be painted with acrylic paint or poster paint when dry.

Recipe makes approximately ¾ Cup craft dough.

*Author's tip: Rather than relying on having to paint the craft dough beads, make several batches and add a different color food coloring to each.

This jewelry craft dough recipe is ideal for making many strings of inexpensive beads for necklaces and bracelets. Another fabulous handmade gift idea children can make for grandparents would be to use the beads to make Christmas tree garlands. Colorful beaded Christmas tree garlands won't look gaudy and will likely see more real use. Children can use this craft dough recipe to make many cranberry colored beads and make a Christmas tree string of faux cranberries that will last for years.

Handprint Dough
Ingredients:
½ Cup Salt
¾ Cup Boiling Water
1 Cup All-purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1 Teaspoon Alum

In a medium bowl, add salt to boiling water. Stir well to dissolve. Add remaining dry ingredients and knead thoroughly. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about ¼ inch. Use a bowl or plate as a pattern to cut out a circle from the craft dough. Place the circle on waxed paper. Imprint your child's handprint or footprint onto the craft dough circle. When making the imprint, press each finger and the palm of the hand firmly, yet gently, into the craft dough. Leave the craft dough handprint to dry at room temperature for several days. Craft dough handprints can be painted when dry (acrylic paints work well).

Makes enough craft dough for two or three handprints.

*Author's tip: again, food coloring added to the craft dough can eliminate the need to paint the craft dough later.

Children's handprint crafts given as Christmas gifts to Grandparents may seem old-fashioned or a bit overused, but the craft project remains popular because it makes an excellent keepsake, and a way to look back over the years o the way your children once were. For Grandparents and parents of young children, no home feels complete without one.

In addition to handprints, try using this craft dough to make framed photos of your kids for their grandparents. Mount a photograph to a square of scrap cardboard, then press the mounted picture into the craft dough circle (or square, etc.). Gently pull the craft dough over the edge of the print as need be to cover any exposed cardboard and let dry.

Beads, polished rocks, pebbles and more can be pressed into this craft dough to outline or embellish the project. Another alternative use of this craft dough for Grandparent's handmade Christmas gifts is to provide the children with flat glass or plastic accents (available at bead and craft stores), and have the children press them into the craft dough to create a mosaic. Likewise, children can make a handmade "scrapbook" mosaic by pressing shells, pretty rocks, pictures and more collected over vacations and at special family gatherings.

Craft Clay
Ingredients:
2 Cups Baking Soda
1 Cup Cornstarch
1 ½ Cups Water

Cook all ingredients over medium heat in a saucepan until the mixture is too heavy to stir. Let the craft dough cool until it can be handled, then knead it until smooth. When not in use, keep craft dough wrapped in plastic to keep it from drying out.

Use this craft dough to cut, carve or mold objects and leave them to dry for one to two days. Objects can be painted as desired with poster or acrylic paints.

Craft clay recipe makes approximately 3 cups.

Budding artists will find this craft dough very similar to working with clay, and so well suited to sculptures and carving. When dry, this craft dough has a nice white-matte finish, making it more attractive than many bread-type craft doughs. The white finish of this craft clay recipe is ideally suited to handmade snowmen, snowflakes and winter carvings.

Children are often eager to join in the spirit of Christmas and gift giving, and for them, adding their name to an impersonal gift purchased by you may not be enough. Yet, shelling out money for everyone on your child's Christmas gift list may be prohibitive for your family's Christmas budget. With the purchase of a few inexpensive grocery items your children can make their own handmade Christmas gifts for giving to Grandparents and other special relatives and friends in their young lives.

For more crafty Christmas recipes and handmade gift ideas, see all of Mary Ward's articles on Associated Content.