Christmas Gifts Kids Can Make

Every year my daughter’s school does a holiday market where the kids (I think it’s either first or second grade that does it) make the things they sell and the proceeds go toward holiday gifts and food for those in need.

The projects are always a little different each year but there are a few standards, and I think that event is a great reminder that kids can make cute holiday gifts with a little help from adults. So let’s look at some ideas for Christmas gifts kids can make.

One classic they always make, which I talked about in the National Sock Day post, is sock snowmen. These are so easy to make and super cute and we have a couple of them from the year my daughter made them that still come out every year.

They also often do birdseed ornaments, like these from Take Them Outside. Theses are easy to make using cookie cutters to make different shapes. This version is made with gelatin, which seems to be super common, but you could also try the classic peanut butter and birdseed mix if you’re not dealing with nut allergies.

Another easy make you can do with cookie cutters or silicone molds of different shapes is bath bombs. Red Ted Art has a good recipe that doesn’t use citric acid, which is nice because you probably can’t buy citric acid at your local grocery store. If you do have access to citric acid, a recipe like this one from A Beautiful Mess should work for you.

I’m sure I’ve shared melty bead bowls before, and this is one that probably isn’t great for a classroom because you need an oven, but the result is so cool and if you’re making gifts at home it’s no problem. And who doesn’t have too many Perler beads! Get the instructions for this one from Meaningful Mama.

Another classic craft that requires an oven (though I think you could do this in a toaster oven) is Shrinky Dinks. Learn how to turn kids’ drawings into keychains with this idea from Messy Little Monster.

There are so many fun bookmarks that kids can make, but I love these watercolor look bookmarks from Happy Hooligans. They’re a fun upcycling project and give kids a chance to be artistic and a little surprised if they’ve never worked with Sharpies and rubbing alcohol before.

Another one I remember them doing at school is hot chocolate spoons, which you can find a tutorial for at In the Kitch. They’re so cute and you can make them with different toppings to make a whole array of fun hot chocolate options.

Check out the kids craft section on Craftbits.com

And of course there’s air dry clay crafts, and everyone loves handprint and fingerprint crafts, too.

Do you have a go-to Christmas gift for kids to make? I’d love to hear about it!

When my daughter was younger I would spend a lot of time trying to come up with activities she could do in the car on long road trips and things to entertain her when we were waiting at restaurants and things that didn’t involve screens.

But it turns out there are a lot of great activities you can do with just a piece of paper and a pen.

What Do We Do All Day has a great collection of pen and paper games, including some that can be done with just one person, though they’re all more fun if you have at least two.

There are some classics on here like hangman and dots and boxes, but there are also quite a few I hadn’t heard of before.

I don’t want to spoil the whole list for you because you should definitely click over there and look around, but I will share about the one that you see pictured above.

This game is called Bridges, and you start by making the big random shape and the dividing it into a bunch of sections (the post says 30-50 sections is ideal but I think this one is smaller than that).

Each player gets their own color marker and you take turns drawing bridges from one space to another, crossing a third. Once there’s a bridge, no other bridges can start, end or cross in those spaces. Keep going until no more bridges can be built, and the person who makes the last bridge wins.

Check out the post over at What We Do All Day for more great ideas for no or almost-no prep games you can play with your kids or that kids can play together. I’d love to know if you have a favorite paper and pen game, whether it’s on this list or a different one.

[Photo: What We Do All Day]

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