Easy Homemade Craft Gifts for Kids

If your kids run out of gift ideas, have them cut out some paper promises that the people they love can really use.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Paper Promises:

Step 1: Do your kids have a hard time thinking of what to give their parents for their birthday? What about Grandma for Christmas? What about trying a promise on paper?

Step 2: They can pledge to clean up their room, wash the dishes, or walk the dog -- then put it in writing. Your kids should cut the letters they'll need to spell out the task from old magazines. Then have your kids watch their recipient's eyes light up when they discover their "gift."

Keep reading to learn how to catch some rays in the comfort of your home.

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Help your children enjoy catching rays when they recycle old yogurt lids to make dazzling stained-glass sun catchers.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Catching Rays:

Step 1: Have your children practice drawing a simple geometric design on white paper. They should make thick, black lines around large, simple areas.

Step 2: Have them fill the areas with color. When they create a design they like, copy the black lines onto the yogurt lid. Then have them fill in the blank areas with colored markers.

Step 3: Kids should tape a loop of gold thread to the lip of the lid. Hang their sun catchers for everyone to enjoy.

Keep reading to learn how your kids can help soothe others with herbs for the bath.

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An herbal bath bag is easy for your kids to make, and they can use their healing herbs over and over again.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Healing Herbs:

Step 1: Have your children fill their bags with a mixture of dried herbs. (Some examples are listed below.) Then they should tie the top with a string or ribbon and make a loop at the top big enough to fit over a bathtub faucet.

Step 2: To use the bath bag, hang it from the faucet while hot water is running. (Make sure the bag hangs in the stream of running water.) They can also hang it in the shower. Let it dry completely before storing.

Now that everyone is soothed, keep reading to learn how to be a little silly and create a magnificent creature.

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Find out what it's like to be a mad scientist with this goofy cut-and-paste mixed-up creature.

What You'll Need:

How to Create a Mixed-Up Creature:

Step 1: Have your children thumb through magazines until they find an interesting head, two unusual hands, a couple of dazzling eyes, some really amazing teeth, and a wildly dressed body.

Step 2: Mix and match these body parts to create a fantasy creature sure to make everyone laugh.

Step 3: Glue the crazy creature to a piece of paper to show it off. Then ask your children to write a funny story or poem about their crazy creature!

Keep reading to learn how your kids can turn colored sand into a sand painting.

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Create beauty in a bottle when you turn colored sand into a sand painting.

What You'll Need:

How to Create Beauty in a Bottle:

Step 1: Start with a nice-looking bottle or jar that has a lid. Wide-mouthed jars are easier to work with than ones with narrow tops. Have your children fill it with layers of different-colored sand to make a design.

Step 2: Here are some ideas to try: Alternate thin layers and thick layers. Repeat color patterns. (For example, layer red, orange, yellow. Then repeat the pattern.) Or, tilt the bottle while you add sand. This will make wavy stripes.

Step 3: When the bottle is full, put the lid on. If you don't have colored sand, you can use different textures of sand (coarse and fine) or even sand and pebbles.

Keep reading to learn how your kids can remind everyone to show the world some love.

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Your kids can give the world a kiss, and they can remind others to do the same.

What You'll Need:

How to Give the World a Kiss:

Step 1: On cardboard, have your children trace around a plastic drinking cup to make circles and cut them out.

Step 2: Ask them to color each to look like a part of the world. Use a globe to help them remember what different parts of the world look like.

Step 3: Tape a wrapped chocolate Kiss in the center of each part of the world, and place them here and there around the house. This will be a really sweet reminder for people to love their world today.

Keep reading to learn how your children can make candles that look just like honeycombs.

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Help your children make attractive beeswax candles that have the color and texture of honeycombs.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Beeswax Candles:

Step 1: Purchase sheets of beeswax (which are usually made from molded paraffin) and candle wicks at a crafts store. A 4" x 6" sheet will make a small candle.

Step 2: Have your children measure out a length of wick a few inches longer than the width of the wax. Place the wick at one end of the wax. To hold the wick in place, roll the very end of the wax around the wick and press it tightly.

Step 3: Your kids can roll the rest of the sheet of beeswax around a wick. When completely rolled, press the outside edge against the candle to keep it from unrolling.

Keep reading to learn how your kids can write with a piece of the world.

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These special Earth pencils are a constant reminder of science -- and geography -- to your kid.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Earth Pencils:

Step 1: Have your children copy the outline of the continents onto the foam ball. They should use a globe to help them get the shapes right.

Step 2: Once they finish, the can outline the continents with a black, fine-tipped marker. Color them with different colors. Color the space around them blue to make seas and oceans.

Step 3: Your children can poke the end of a pencil into the bottom of their model world -- add a little glue to keep the world on. Now they'll have a nifty way to write pen pals all around the world.

Keep reading to learn how your kids can design their own special decoupage box.

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Your children can keep their prized possessions and treasures in a fly away decoupage box they made themselves.

What You'll Need:

Tools:

How to Make a Fly Away Decoupage Box:

Step 1: Cover your children's work surface with waxed paper. Squirt a small puddle of blue paint onto a paper plate. Have your children take the lid off the box and use the foam brush to paint the outside of the lid and box blue. Let paint dry.

Step 2: Cut the sponge into a 1-1/2 x 1-1/2-inch square. Squirt a small puddle of white paint onto a plate and an even smaller puddle of gray right next to it (touching).

Step 3: Dampen the sponge and squeeze out all the extra water. Dip the end of the sponge into both colors of paint. Dab most of the paint off on a blank spot of the plate.

Step 4: Using an up-down motion, have your children paint a few clouds onto the box. (To do this, place the top back on the box so the cloud can spill over to the sides of the box.) Let paint dry.

Step 5: Arrange stickers on box top and sides.

Step 6: Pour some decoupage finish onto a plate. Use sponge brush to spread a light coat over entire painted area of the box. When dry and clear, apply another coat of finish.

Still feeling connected to nature? Keep reading to learn how your kids can make flowers out of fallen pine cones.

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With a little creativity, your children can turn ordinary pine cones into pretty pine cone flowers.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Pine Cone Flowers:

Step 1: Have your children collect small pine cones outdoors. Brush off dirt or leaves. If the cones are closed, dry them in a warm oven for several hours until they open.

Step 2: Help your children to cut the pine cones in half. They can use a large blob of strong glue to glue the bottom halves of the pine cones to the piece of cardboard. Glue on twigs or dry grass to represent flower stems. Glue dried leaves on the twigs. Allow to dry completely before moving.

Step 3: Your kids can make smaller flowers by pulling the bracts from the cones and gluing them individually to the board in a flower shape. Use a large seed or a tiny alder cone for a center.

Step 4: Pine cone flowers look nice plain, but they can be dressed up with silver or gold paint or spray paint for holiday decorations. They could also dip the cones in glue, then roll in glitter before gluing to the board.

Keep reading to learn how your kids can spruce up old switch plates.

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If you're tired of seeing dull switch plates, your children can switch on some fun with these stylish switch plate covers.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Switch Plate Covers:

Step 1: Help your children cut a piece of plastic from a clean, washed bleach or juice bottle.

Step 2: Unscrew the face plate in your children's room so they can use it as a pattern. Have them place the face plate on the plastic, trace around it, and cut out the rectangle.

Step 3: Replace the face plate when your children are done tracing it. Mark and cut out the center rectangle to make room for the switch.

Step 4: Your children can decorate the plastic any way that suits their mood. They can add sequins or rhinestones if they're in a glamorous mood. Or they can draw tiger stripes if they're feeling wild. Maybe they could doodle hearts and flowers if they're feeling full of love. Or they could even make it galactic with stars and asteroids if they're an out- of-this-world kid.

Step 5: When they're done done decorating it, attach their new, improved switch plate over the old one (the old switch plate must be in place to keep everyone safe from electricity) with double-sided tape.

Keep reading to learn how to create fortunes found in inflated balloons.

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People of different cultures have their own methods for telling fortunes, so have your children create their own method with balloon fortunes.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Balloon Fortunes:

Step 1: Have your children punch circles out of brightly colored construction paper with a hole punch. Stuff as many circles or confetti pieces as they can into each deflated balloon using a funnel.

Step 2: They can write fortunes on small pieces of paper, and slip them into the balloons. Blow up the balloons (keep their heads down while blowing so they don't inhale any confetti) and hang the balloons high but within reach.

Step 3: During a party or other fun time, hand out pins and let everyone pop a balloon and read their fortune. (Warn people there will be popping balloons before starting this game -- some children are afraid of the sound.) And the flying confetti is fun too.

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ABOUT THE CRAFT DESIGNERS

Mixed-Up Creature by Lisa Lerner and Kersten Hamilton

Beauty in a Bottle by Lisa Lerner and Kersten Hamilton

Pine cone Flowers by Cindy Groom Harry and Staff