The best, most memorable gifts are often the most humble. Although lavish displays can please kids and be rewarding for some parents, families can only benefit from fostering an appreciation of all gifts, all givers, and the time and thought someone takes to prepare something special. Remember, to a young child, a large television box made into a boat can be just as much fun as an expensive remote-controlled boat. One five-year-old who asked Santa for real bricks and a trowel was thrilled to receive them and spent many contented hours stacking and re-stacking his treasure. So consider creating simple gift-giving traditions in your child’s early years that set the tone for holidays present and future. Refocus on the most important parts of your own holiday traditions — the true meaning of the holiday, the celebration, the symbols and rituals, the fantasy and surprise, or the gathering of family and friends. Simple Christmas Gifts Ideas embedded in these warm traditions are sure to become the fondest memories.
What follows are directions for creating simple gifts for two to six-year olds. All require giving a little of yourself in preparing them, but remember that the time and care you spend become a part of the gift you give to your child. After assembling a gift, wrap it up in a fancy way, and it is sure to please your little one!
1. A BELOVED VOICE
Record you or someone else your child loves reading a book, storytelling, making jokes, recalling memories, or singing. Include a photo of the person who made the recording. If a new story is read, wrap up the book with the recording for a special book/tape gift.
2. SOMETHING FANCIED
Give something of yours that your child has always fancied: a scarf, a necklace, a special tie, goofy socks, etc.
3. SOMETHING TREASURED
Wrap up a keepsake from your childhood that can be stored in a special place or on a wall or shelf in your older child’s room for viewing pleasure and safekeeping: one of your favorite childhood books, or a wall hanging, poster, knick-knack, or anything that you treasured. Tell your child the story behind the keepsake, or write it down.
4. TIME WITH YOU
Create a coupon for a special time for just you and your child. Chose something you think they would love and include a picture of it: sledding, walking on the beach, a visit to the ice cream store, a free concert, etc. Consider adding a trinket or object that symbolizes the time: a toy sled or a seashell. More simple gifts to give a young child ahead–keep-a-going!
5. AN INDOOR SANDBOX AKA THE SCOOP, SHOVEL, AND POUR KIT
Fill a large plastic storage box (28 gallons or larger) with: birdseed, sand, rice, packing peanuts, or dried beans. Add: colorful ladles, scoops, cups, funnels, spoons, shovels, pails, pitchers, plastic measuring cups, measuring spoons, pots and pans, pie tins, animals, cars, or anything with which to scoop, shovel, pour, and play in the “sandbox.”
6. JUNGLE MASK KIT AND BOOK
Purchase IN THE JUNGLE by Benedicte Guettier, a great new board book in which a hole is cut out of the book so that when you open each page, there is a place to put a child’s face to become a fuzzy bear, a crocodile, and more jungle animals. Next, gather the materials to make your own jungle faces: tag board (as big as you want, but at least 1 ft x 1 ft), scissors, markers, crayons, glue, feathers, ribbon, and anything else that can be used to decorate a mask. After your child opens the gift and you read the book together, show him or her how to make a jungle face by folding the tag board in half, cutting a half circle on one side, and opening it up to draw and decorate a jungle animal of your own. Think of other books and ways to make a project based on them–the sky’s the limit!
7. AN EXPLORER KIT
Buy a colorful plastic bucket and fill it with tools for exploring the great outdoors: magnifying glass, tweezers, specimen jars, bags, etc. Add some inexpensive rubber boots in your child’s size for exploring in the rain and mud too. Consider adding an “explorer hat,” which could be an old or new hat of any kind, to complete this adventuresome kit.
8. BATHTIME FUN
Collect bathtime items and toys and put them in a mesh bag: fun soaps, shaving cream, and a shaver without a blade for pretending in the tub, goggles or a diving mask to wash hair tear-free, a doll with hair to shampoo, bubbles to blow, boats, sponges, and of course, a rubber ducky or two.
9. PLAY DOUGH KIT
Make your own superior play dough with the easy recipe below, then locate some tools that your child can use to mold, olympus li-40b battery, cut, shape, and play with the dough: a small rolling pin (you an make one by cutting a 1″ diameter dowel to a length of about 7″ and sanding the edges), colorful plastic (not sharp) cookie cutters, a wooden mallet, a dull pie-fluting tool, straws, plastic hair rollers, garlic press, etc.
SUPERIOR PLAY DOUGH RECIPE
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups boiling water
2 tablespoons oil
Food coloring
Directions:
? Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar.
? Add food coloring to boiling water and mix with oil.
? Combine the flour mixture and the water mixture.
? Knead the dough until it cools.
? Store in a covered airtight container or zip-lock bag.
10. MAKE BELIEVE PLAY BOX
Collect old clothes and accessories from friends, relatives, garage sales, or your own closets, and put them in a large storage box: purses, briefcases, hats, ties, scarves, jewelry, clothes, shoes, boots, billfolds, etc. Or consider collecting props around a certain theme. For example, if your child is interested in the post office, collect what he or she needs to play pretend post office: a mail bag (any type of cloth bag that you can put over your shoulder will do), paper, envelopes, play stamps, play money, a box with which to create a mailbox, etc.
11. SPIN PAINTING
Buy an inexpensive salad spinner or find a used one. Add some paper plates and a few bottles of tempera paint. After your child opens the gift, show him or her how to make a spin painting by putting a paper plate on the bottom of the spinner, adding a few tablespoons of different colors of paint, and giving it all a good spin.
12. TILE PRINTS
Buy a few 12″ X 12″ squares of 1″ X 1″ or 2″ X 2″ plain white ceramic tile squares from any flooring or home improvement store. Leave them joined by the backing material that holds them together. Add a child’s paintbrush, a few bottles of tempera paint, and a pad of paper. After your child opens the tile print gift package, show him/her how to create tile prints. First, place paints in a muffin tin or on any palette, and ask your child to paint each small tile square, mixing colors as he or she paints. Next, press a blank piece of paper on top of the tiles, and peel it back carefully to uncover repeated prints in a pattern of squares, each with different colors and designs. Wash the tiles and use them over and over. This works great with fabric paint to create tile prints on cloth placemats, potholders, T-shirts and more.
13. ART GALLERY
To begin an “art gallery,” locate a bulletin board, some inexpensive frames, or a blank scrap or memory book. Add one or two pieces of your child’s artwork and then wrap the “gallery” for a special gift that shows that you notice and value his or her art.
14. ART STUDIO
Create your own art studio for a budding artist by first filling a portfolio (that can be used for storing artwork later) with different types of paper: white and colored paper, construction paper, grocery bags, used manila envelopes or folders, newsprint, tag board, or any other “canvas” that a child can fill. Next, add a box filled with paintbrushes, a muffin tin for a pallet, tempera paints, water colors, crayons, markers, glue, chalk, or other non-toxic materials for drawing and painting. The portfolio and artist’s box together make a gift worthy of the next Michelangelo.
15. GLUE ART
Collect supplies to make a wealth of collages. Locate a storage box and fill with: Treasures for gluing: cotton balls, feathers, buttons, sequins, beads, scraps of fabric, paper, lace, wallpaper, ribbons, pictures from magazines, or anything that young hands can easily glue. Backgrounds to glue onto: paper plates, old cardboard, wood scraps, boxes, or anything on which you can glue items. Glues: school glue, Bluetooth MINI PCI-E Card, colored or glittered glue, glue sticks, or paste–non-toxic, of course.
16. PONGS AND TONGS
Buy a bunch of colorful Ping-Pong balls, and a pair of salad tongs that little hands can manage. After your child opens the Pongs and Tongs game, show him or her how to play by putting the balls in a bowl of water and then picking them up with the tongs. It’s a little like bobbing for apples.
17. TREASURE HUNTS!
Set this up to lead to a holiday gift, then use it over and over again throughout the year. On index cards, draw freehand, glue pictures from a magazine, or print computer-generated pictures of things in your home. Make about a half a dozen for youngest players and a dozen for kids ages five or older. Draw on each clue a directional arrow to indicate on top of, under, beside, etc. Wrap up the first card to give to your child as the first clue. Hide the second clue near the item pictured on the first card. Hide the third clue near the item pictured on the second card, and so on, until all the clues are hidden. Make sure to hide a treasure (a gift, a coin, small toy, food treat, etc.) near the final item. Send your child on the hunt with the first clue! You may need to help a young or first-time hunter “read” the clues and follow the directions, but soon, she or he will become an expert.
18. COLOR AND SHAPES GO FISHIN’ GAME
To create a game where you child will “fish” for colors and shapes, first cut paper of various colors into different shapes. Consider laminating them, or pressing them between two pieces of clear contact paper. Glue paper clips to one side of each piece. Make a fishing pole by tying a string to a stick, and attaching a magnet to the end of the string.
19. OBSTACLE COURSE
Wrap up the materials for an obstacle course, or go ahead and set it up as a surprise. To make a course, create a path of things to give your child a chance to run and jump off some steam: a hula-hoop on the floor to jump into, colored masking tape in zigzag lines on the floor to walk along, hurdles made from blocks to jump over, felt squares and one or two squares of bubble wrap taped to the floor for stepping stones, large boxes lined up in a series on their sides to crawl through, etc. Mix all of this with pillows and cushions from your home to jump over for a grand course!
20. TUBES AND BALLS
Collect colorful scarves, a wrapping paper or other long, cardboard tube with diameter of about 3 or four inches, and lightweight balls (Ping-Pong, foam, whiffle) and toy cars that are small enough to fit inside the tube, but big enough to not be a choking hazard. Cover the tube with colorful contact paper. To play Tubes and Balls, tie the tube at an angle to your stairway banister or the side of a clothesbasket with the scarves, and then have your child put the balls and cars in the top of the tube and watch them come out the other end. This is a real pleaser for the youngest kids.
21. BLOCKS
Make homemade blocks from: sponges, diaper wipe boxes, cereal boxes, milk cartons with the tops folded flat, grocery bags filled with crushed newspaper and taped shut, tissue boxes, scraps of wood with the edges and surfaces sanded smooth. Cover with contact paper or decorate them as you like.
Help kids take their focus off of the “getting” by helping them learn about the joy of giving. Even very young children enjoy creating, SONY np-fm50 battery, selecting, wrapping, and giving gifts. By helping kids focus on their own giving, you’ll be teaching them to be generous and thoughtful, and they will experience the rewards of seeing someone they love light up when opening their gift. Also, when adults open a special gift from a child with expressions of pleasure, they model showing how important these simple gifts are to them. Whether working on something handmade or selecting a small gift, encourage your child to think about the recipient of the gift, and what they would like. When making gifts with your child, let go of perfection and have fun with the process of creating something and being together. Consider wrapping a gift in a piece of your child’s artwork to give the gift an extra-special touch.
Here are some ideas to help kids catch the spirit of giving while having fun with you at the same time!
22. IF I LIKE IT, THEY’LL LIKE IT TOO
Start by considering your child: What does he or she enjoy doing right now? Pick an activity related to your child and help him or her create a gift. For example, a two-year-old who likes to sing could record a song or two for a parent or grandparent who would love such a gift. A four-year-old who is experimenting with language may be quite a jokester at this point in time; she or he could dictate a joke book to you. A three-year-old who loves to climb and jump could give a handmade invitation to a mini-Olympics he or she plans to hold on a future date. Kids who love to perform for others could create a show of skits, songs, and dances, and give the gift of an invitation to this special performance.
23. SIMPLE SHOPPING
Take your child to shop for small gifts for just a few Camcorder Batteries of his or her favorite people at a store or section of a store that specializes in inexpensive items that fall within your budget. One key to success is shopping in a place where any choice your child makes is affordable, and another is giving up your preconceived notion of what gifts are right for the recipients. Offer a few suggestions about what each person likes just to get the process going. Then let your child make the selections, and once sure of his or her choices, go with them. It may be a flashlight for a teacher and a tennis ball for a grandparent, but they will be gifts that are truly from your child’s heart.
24. ORIGINAL AND PRICELESS STORIES, POEMS, AND WORKS OF ART
Suggest to your child that writing a story or poem for one of their favorite people would make a great gift. You may need to help think of an idea or get your child started, but then write down your child’s words exactly as your child dictates, being careful not to embellish or “fix” them. Consider having siblings work together on a piece–one could tell the story or poem, and one could draw a picture to go with it. Then frame the work, or create a book by arranging the work into a folder or scrapbook.
25. THE GIFT OF TIME AND CARING
Have your child join you to take on small parts in helping an elderly person you know prepare for the holidays by putting up decorations, baking cookies, addressing cards, dell laptop battery, reading cards, etc. Or consider sharing money, gifts, or time with someone in need that you don’t know personally through the many giving agencies in your own community, and include your child in the process as part of your holiday tradition.
