Cute Christmas Gift 2 Yr. Old Can Make for Grandparents!!

My friend and her family do homemade gifts every year and she has come up with some really GREAT ideas that i would never think of. One of my faves was a "Butt-erfly". She put washable paint on her daughter's hind-end and got a large piece of construction paper. She sat her down on it and the painted imprint of her butt-cheeks made the wings of a butterfly. Then she drew the head, antennas and decorated the wings with other colors of paint. Then they framed it. It was SO adorable and her in-laws absolutely LOVED it. Have fun with this project and good luck!

For Grandparents day I had my daughter make foam handprints, which we cut out, and then she dictated favorite things each grandparent did for each finger.I wrote them in with sharpies. The grandparents were so shocked by her memories! Another inexpensive thing is to get wooden flat ornament shapes or plastic round ornament shapes...Cut tissue paper squares (not construction) Paint the ornament with "modge podge" (we prefer the one with glitter) that you can get at a craft store. Have the baby place the tissue and repaint it with more modge podge. It dries shiny, sparkling, and really colorful! Good luck.

I love all of the ideas you have received so far! I want to add that you could also make coupons. Construction paper, crayons...etc. Put things like sleepover, picnic in park, movie date...

Anything with handprints and foot prints is always cute. There is a very cute Reindeer craft that I did for a kindergarten class as a room mom. Using the fun foam sheets, you'll need at least two colors - brown and red, white ink pad, or any color or tempra paint, 2 googly eyes, small ribbon for bow. Have your daughter make two handprints on the red, then very roughly cut them out; with the brown foam, trace her foot with pencil and cut a simple outline. Paste the hands as antlers, the brown foot that becomes the face. Glue googly eyes, bow, color a nose or use a pom-pom, use a ribbon for hanging and maybe add a necklace w/ a bell. Then on the back, add this poem or another that you enjoy:

I miss you when we're not together
I'm growing up so fast
See how big I've gotten
Since you saw me last?
As I grow, I'll change a lot,
The years will fly right by.
You'll wonder how I grew so quick
When and where and why?
So look upon these handprint
That's hanging on your wall.
And memories will come back of me,
When I was very small.

I still have my daughters and take it out every year. Love those hand prints! Have fun.

My kids & I did a collage one year. We had a 12x12 page of scrapbooking paper. My kids used 2 different colors of paint (1 for each) and put handprints all over the paper to personalize the background. I then let them pick out a picture of themselves, which I placed on the page. I then googled poems (specified for the person, ie grandparent, aunt, sister, etc) and cut it out & placed that on the page also. Then anything that person likes. Another example with mine...My mom, their grandma, loves butterflies. So we found some pretty butterfly stickers & my kids scattered them throughout the page also. Then, at Michaels, I bought a 12x12 frame for it. Clearly, you personalize it how you'd like, but all of the grandparents loved this gift!
Hope this helps you a bit.
J.

One year I traced my little man's hand on thin green foam sheets that you can find in the craft aisle at Walmart or any craft store. I cut enough to make a Christmas wreath. Then, I hot glued a ribbon and couple of jingle bells onto the front. I used a longer piece of ribbon on the back for hanging on the wall or a door. We wrote the year and Merry Christmas on the back. That was four years ago and all of his grandparents still hang them every year. I stole the idea from an Oriental Trading Company catalog, I think.

Another thing we have done (cheap!!) was go to Michael's craft store and buy their unpainted thin wooden hanging Santas, snowmen, etc. that they have in their holiday aisle every year. I let my son paint them. Each body part is separate from the others (held together by wire) so it was easy for me to tell him to color one part green, one part red, etc...

There are so many ideas at the craft stores. Just go browse once they get their holiday stuff in.

Have fun!
A.

Hi, B.! A wonderful gift idea is a stepping stone. You can purchase the kits at craft stores like Michael's, I think around $20, but don't remember exactly. When my son was 8 months old, we made 2 for Father's Day - one for my husband, one for my dad - with his footprints and handprints in it. It's basically a sort of cement/concrete powder you mix with water and put into a mold (in the kit). You can do prints, and they come with letters you can use to stamp in words, and some have little mosaic tiles you can use to decorate too. They were a big hit!

Here's a link to some you can view:
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/search?pageNumber=1&am...

Good luck, and enjoy whatever project you make. I'm sure it will be treasured!

N.

For Grandparents day we we and bought kitchen aprons at walmart for $5 and I had fabric paints and I let the kids make a apron for each grandparent. They had a blast. We also do shirts with fabric paints. Or take some paintings or arts and crafts stuff and make your own little picture book. I let my kids help punch the holes in the paper and string the string through to hold together. For fathers day we took fabric cut to the size of a picture frame and I let them decorate it however they wanted and then after it dried we put them in the frames and there was a present. If you have paper big enough trace an outline of your child and have them docorate it.
B.

Hi, I always find cute crafts to do on
http://www.dltk-kids.com. Good luck!

J.

I took my kids to Crackpots in Orland. They painted a plate in lighter colors and then we did handprints in a darker color in the middle. Ask for help, though. They gave us great advice as far as getting a good handprint, because you really only get one shot.

You can also just pick something you think they would use--a mug, a serving platter, sugar & creamer. Then you can pick the colors in their kitchen. You can use the lighter color and paint the whole thing solid and then have your son paint on top of it with the darker colors.

Good luck!

I usually find tons of ideas at familyfun.com. I have made multiple things over the years. I bought some plain color potholders and used fabric paint and put their handprints on it. I've seen people write "one hot grandma" on it, although I passed on that. I also bought a kitchen rug for under her since and with fabric paint I put "Grandma's kitchen" on it and then we put their handprints all over it. We've made a flower pot vase at the paint your own pottery store, although you could just buy a pot at Michaels and put their handprints on it. Then, I traced their handprints on paper and glued it to popsicle sticks and made a boquet of flowers for in the pot. I made a sign that she hung in her kitchen that says, "Grandkids Welcome. Parents By Appointment." We put their pictures on it. I've also made burner covers by buying white ones and putting their handprints on them. Can you tell, my mom loves handprints. There are also many cute photo jewelry ideas, check out etsy.com for photo necklace. You can get a picture of the grandkids put on a necklace or bracelet or something. Also, I buy a ton of photo gifts from discountphotogifts.com. Very good quality and reasonably priced. The ideas are endless really. Just have fun with it.

How about a picture frame made of popsicle sticks and cardboard for the back, with your childs most recent picture put in. Otherwise I love the website craftbits.com my 3 yr old daughter loves making all the crafts i found on there. They also have all kinds of ideas for using recycled items. Check under their holiday or christmas section. My favorite gift is always one that is made by the child. Some of them require parents assistance with scissors or glue. Have fun.

There are kits you can buy that have plates or cups your child can decorate. I think these make nice grandparent gifts.

For fathers day we went to the picture people to take pictures with my dad and our twins. We got him a framed 3 picture portrait. He loves it ! Also took pics with grandma too. Good luck!

I'm not sure if he is too young or not but, when my daughter was 3, she made a wreath out of her handprints. I just traced one of her hands and cut many of them out of red and green foam and glued them to a round piece of cardboard with the middle cut out. Then, I just let her decorate it with stickers, all the grandparents loved it!!

Buy a plain door mat. Make footprints with brown paint. Turn the footprints into reindeer by drawing antlers, a nose and eyes. My nieces did this for my parents and it is adorable!

I don't think my little craft ideas are going to compare to all the others here. I love the one with the butt print butterfly!! I just have a couple of quick ones that I plan to do with my 3 yr. old this year and wanted to use them as gift tags for relatives. They are Christmas tree ornaments, but then on the back I will put "To" and "from" --

Wreath w/ photo: cut small circle out of cardboard or paper plate and crumple green tissue paper and glue on wreath with photo of child in the middle, use yarn for hanging, add little red candies or cut out red paper to form "berries" and glue a few on wreath.

Popsicle stick snowflake: take six popsickle sticks, glue in middle criss crossing to make "snowflake" and either glue on glitter or use glitter pen to write "I love grandma" on center stick. Tie yarn to one end of one stick and glue to secure for hanging on tree.

Get a glass bowl of some sort that will hold a candle....votives bigger. Have him glue ripped up tissue paper to it. Or decoupage leaves and flowers that you two pressed to it....Maybe roll one in glue and then a very fine glitter.

Google homemade Christmas gifts kids can make, or projects for kids and so on

You will find a ton of ideas. Go to Walmart and go through the craft section. You will be amazed at all the stuff that is appropriate for a 2 year old.

The wreath idea is good too. I got a piece of muslin on clearance at Walmart from the sewing department. I had all the grandkids put their hand prints on the muslin in a circle. I painted their hands with green acrylic paint found in the little 47 cent bottles using a foam brush. I had someone help me by taking each one to the bathroom to wash their hands in the tub when I would start with the next. Then we took our thumbs and painted them red and made imprints for the berries. I let them use a cut potatoe to make round circles for christmas balls. I went and traced them with glitter glue to make them very festive. I also used the glitter glue to put everyone's name beside one of their hand prints. I used stamps to stamp out of family name and the year. I outlined that with glitter glue. Then I used a glue gun to glue on a nice ribbon around the edges and pretty Christmas flowers in each corner.

I sewed the edges down to make a nice hem and then sewed a pocket in the top for a wooden rod I got at Walmart for 30 cents. I hot glued the ribbon to each end of the dowel so it could be hung on the wall. A nice big banner and the kids had a ball. There are 14 grandkids in our family so it is quite big this project. I will have to use a table runner I think for the updated version in a few years. I figure a white table runner with handprints and berries and balls down the center. Names in glitter glue and so forth.

You could also make Christmas hand towels or bath towels. Or go to Micheals or someplace like that and find Christmas ball kits.

Go on line and find a recipe for salt clay and let him make paper weights for them.

Go to Lowes.com and look under projects and find the coasters project. He can help you put the decoration between the plexiglass squares or you could have him draw or color little pictures to put in between the glass.

Lowes.com has lots of projects on that site.
Also try bhg.com (better homes and gardens)

You will be surprised at what you find and may start printing lots of ideas because you can't choose.

Another resource is FamilyFun magazine. They have tons of ideas for kids of all ages. You can save the magazine and use it for years to come. I love it.

Pine cone angels for their Christmas tree might be fun too. You help him spray paint pinecones. Put masks on and rubber gloves....I recommend the garage for this part. Then let him paint acorns in gold, silver or white. Have him glue little halos made from glitter pipe cleaners to the fat end. Then hot glue the acorn to the pointy end of the pinecone. Hot glue glitter pipe cleaners on each side and bend up toward the face to hold a golf tee that you let your son paint. Put the pointy end of the tee toward the acorn to look like the angel is blowing it. I'm sure you can find some directions on-line that explain it better than I did.

Good luck!!!

I am not sure where you live, but there is a great place in Geneva Commons called, "Color Me Mine." You pick a piece of pottery and let your kids paint it. They will keep the peice and put it in their kiln for you. You can pick it up about a week later. I always have my kids put their handprints on a plate, then let them pick something else for themselves. Grandparents love the handprints! My kids are 4 and 2, and they love doing it.

When my daughter was 1 we made decorated dish towels for Christmas... they were a reindeer made with her foot and two hands. Then we wrote in puffy paint Merry Christmas love your Deer Zoe (my daughters name)...... They turned out so cute and each Christmas they can pull it out and hang them in the kitchen.... they were messy but fun!!!!!!

For Mothers day last year I bought a picture frame and stickers and paint and my daughter decorated it and we put a picture of her in it. IT was a HIT my Grandpa even wanted one.

Just the other day we made my grandma for her bday a cookie jar I used glass etching cream to put the words I LOVE U on it and then my little one put her hand prints on it then we made cookies together and put them in the jar. It was a hit good luck

Photo T-shirts or sweatshirts are always a great idea. When my son was about a year and a half we took a picture of him sitting by some pumpkins and added the words "Grandma's Little Pumpkin". My mom wore it all the time!

B.
I see that you have gotten a lot of cute ideas in your responses. One thing I did that was soooo simple and inexpensive was to have my child fingerpaint on posterboard and after it dried, I framed a picture for my husband for his office at work. I put my son's name and the date on it. Also, I cute smaller pieces and bought photo frame magnets and put his "artwork" in the frame. His grandparents keep them on the fridge. He did it when he was around 2, and now he is 5 and they still have them on their fridge.

When I was a preschool teacher I had the kids make this orament present for their parents. We got a junk cd (like the ones that get sent in the mail) and I tied a string through the hole in the middle (for the hanger) then we covered them in construction paper on both sides and added a circle picture of the child and then the children got to decorate the outside of the circle with collage material. On the back we wrote Merry Christmas and the year. They turn out really cute and their is a lot of stuff the children can do. I hope this helps and have FUN!!!

B.,

Put your kids hands and one of the feet in washable paint.
Transfer to paper, so that the hands are antlers and the foot is the head.
Glue on a red pom-pom for the nose and some googly eyes.

You can also trace the hands and foot, cut out and glue to paper.

Frame it and you've got a gift!

You can also get plain wooden frames from a craft store and have the child decorate it.

Have fun creating!

S : )

Find a special poem about grandparents...get a frame with a nice thick matte and let him lose with some craft supplies like paints, crayones, sequins, etc. LEt him decorate the matte and then frame the poem.

Hand print kits are great and inexpensive and kids love to compare their hands as they grow up.

You can make all kinds of cute wreaths by tracing their hands or feet in various colors.

B.,
I don't know if your child is in day care or not but I came across this idea in a magazine I was reading.
Take 12 different art projects, scan them in and print them out, take it to Staples,Kinkos or somewhere and have them laminate and bind together to make a calendar. You could contact paper it the same way, too.
Good luck!
T.

I think anything with handprints on it is good. And maybe burn some movies or pics onto a DVD for a slide show effect. I did this last year and it was a big hit. I bough a little case to put it in with a note from him, and a picture on the front.