Great Gifts Kids Can Make

My daughter loves to create. She loves anything crafty. She wants to glue, color, paint, and model! And, her "treasures" are seen all over the house. When we decided to share some of her treasures with family members they were so happy to receive the handmade gifts that we decided she could create special mementos for everyone she loved!

Here are just a few of the great ideas we want to share so you and your child can make gifts for the ones you love!!! All of these gifts can be created by your child and they are actually USEFUL to the person who receives them!

Pencil Cans
Start with any can (i.e. from vegetables, soup, or even coffee for a very big pencil can!). You decorate in many ways. Here are a few of our favorites.

1. Paint the outside of the can with a mixture of 2 parts tempera paint to one part glue. Let dry and then you can either paint designs in different colors, decorate with stickers or foam shapes, or leave plain.

2. Use thick ribbon to wrap around the can completely. Put a little glue on the end of the ribbon and then squeeze glue on the can as you go around and around until the can is completely covered. Again, you can leave it like this or you can add decorations on top of the ribbon.

3. Use wallpaper or contact paper to cover the can.

Picture Frames
There are a lot of ways to make picture frames. Add your favorite picture of your child(ren) and this is a gift that is sure to be treasured!

1. Start with a piece of craft foam. Cut it in half. On one of the halves, you will cut out a rectangle for the picture to show through. Once the hole is cut, you can glue the two pieces together on 3 sides, leaving the top open to insert the photo. Now, decorate as you would like using paints, markers, or cut out pieces of foam.

2. Use 4 popsicle sticks and glue together into a square. Paint the sticks and decorate. This one looks especially nice decorated with glitter but any other decoration is good too.

3. Use a box from pasta that has a clear "window" in it for a picture frame. Cut to the appropriate size and decorate.

4. Buy a wooden frame and decorate it. You can use "Floam" to decorate the edges.

5. Puzzle pieces from an old puzzle make nice picture frames. You can use the pieces as is or you can paint them. These can be glued on foam or popsicle stick picture frames

Bookmarks
Use cardstock or craft foam and cut out a long rectangle for each bookmark. Use a hole puncher to punch a hole in the top of the rectangle. Then you can add any of the following decorations:

1. Cut out pictures from magazines that pertain to the person you are making the bookmark for. For example, cut out pictures of toys for a bookmark for a child. . For an dad, you may choose pictures of cars.

2. Dry and press flowers. Glue pressed flowers onto bookmark and put clear contact paper over to protect.

3. Draw an appropriate picture with crayons or markers. Or, you can color a pretty design. My daughter loves to make hearts!

4. Decoupage the bookmark. Use small pieces of pictures from magazines. Usually colors are matched up but they don't have to be. Glue them on and "paint" on top with a thin layer of glue.

Refrigerator Magnets
You can buy sheets of magnet or you can buy strips of magnet at craft stores. On sheets of magnets, you can put photos of your children or pictures they've drawn right on it. Magnet strips can be stuck on almost anything to make a gift. The possibilities are endless here!

1. You can glue pompoms together to make pompom animals. Use googly eyes, felt scraps, and pipe cleaners to complete the animal. Stick magnet strip on the back and you have a magnet animal.

2. Use a clothes pin. Add small pom-poms to create a caterpillar or make felt wings to create a butterfly. Add magnet strip to the back and you have a clip magnet.

3. Cut a seasonal shape out of craft foam. Decorate as you like. Add magnet strip to back

4. Make a magnet picture frame. Use craft foam and cut a hole the size of the picture you wish to use. Glue this onto a larger piece of foam (we used a butterfly shape) and decorate.

Here are a few odds and ends projects that you can make as gifts.

Odds and Ends Box: Take a box from spaghetti. Cut off the bottom 2 inches. Glue popsicle sticks (cut to size if necessary) to cover the box and paint. You can then decorate with glitter glue or foam shapes.

Change Dish: Make a change dish by sculpting a pinch pot out of self hardening clay or Sculpy Dough. Paint it however you like.

Candle Jars: Buy a candle in a jar. Make sure that the jar has little or no texture on it. Peel the label off and then use window markers to decorate the glass of the candle jar.

Potpourri bags: Use a colorful square of material. Add potpourri to the center of the material. Bring up all edges and tie with ribbon. You can then decorate if you wish.

Car trash container: Use an empty cereal box. Paint the box and decorate it. Use a hole puncher to punch holes on the top of both of the short sides. Tie a string through both holds so it makes a loop to hang the box by. Put either a plastic gallon sized plastic food bag (not zipper type) inside and fold over top so trash can go in the bag and not ruin the box. Trash container can be used over and over this way.

Be creative with your children and you can think of many more ideas. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles all love to receive gifts from children that are useful as well as hand-made!