What is a nice crafty idea I can help my little one make for Grandparents Day?

Question

I would like my 4 year old to make a gift for her Grandparents' for Grandparent's Day. Any ideas? She loves to make stuff so this should be fun ;)

Answer 1

get a pack of Crayola Fabric crayons ( fabric store, craft store and some Office Depots ) and have your little one draw pictures on a plain sheets of paper. Transfer their artwork to several plain canvas tote bags and give them to Grandparents as reuseable grocery bags. To transfer place the picture face down on the fabric and iron according to the instructions on the crayon box. In indelible laundry marker,write on each tote below the picture something like " Save the Earth or I'm helping Grandma/Grandpa save the Earth. " They will get lots of attention when they use them and get to brag about the grandkids. Now how often does that oportunity come up?

Answer 2

When I was at school and in infants, we made a vase for our mothers and grandparents. What it was, was a clean food jar minus the lid(today they make a nice variety that are pretty) and we got a sheet of wrapping paper with interesting individual designs on it. The child cuts out the designs with child safe scissors and then glues them on the jar so as to cover the jar entirely. Using PVA wood glue. It is basically decoupage. Let it dry for an hour and coat it thickly with PVA glue and allow to dry for the rest of the day. To this day 30 years later I still think it is a top gift. And also a thrifty gift too. But the best things are home made, I think.

Answer 3

A decoupaged vase is always a hit!

You should be able to get a plain glass vase at your hobby shop, or a thrift shop, or last resort go to a florist. Then, decoupage it with colored tissue paper cut up into different size and shape strips. Use a starch base such as flour mixed with corn starch and water, then dunk the cut/torn strips of tissue paper and apply them to the outside of the vase. When it's all covered, let it dry thoroughly.

Once it's dry, you can either use paint on shellac or use some spray lacquer over the outside surface to make it permanent (I would let the grown up use the spray, but I believe you can get paint on shellac that's non-toxic). Let it dry a couple of days before giving it. It makes a beautiful vase that will last a long time and you can fill it with fresh cut flowers on the day you present the gift.

Answer 4

My mother-in-law loves gardening and is always trying to start a new plant, so I did this one with my two youngest children a few years ago for grandparents day. I bought two inexpensive 6" terra cotta pots and the saucers to go with them. Using acrylic paint, I let them each choose two colors for their pot. They base-coated the pots in the lighter color and then we lightly sponged the darker color over it with a sea sponge. We added a little gold to each too, just for some added glitz! Then I took a foam brush and applied the darker color on their hands and helped them put their hand prints on the pots. The top rim of the pot was painted with the solid darker color and I painted their name and age around it in gold. Then they painted the saucer in the same dark color, so it all coordinated. Once the paint was dry, I coated both the pots and saucers with polyurethane (the adult should do this step). The pots turned out beautiful and it's something she could use, although she never has put plants in them, instead she has them sitting in the middle of her dining room table!
If you don't want to do the polyurethane coating (as it can take up to a couple of weeks to completely cure), you can leave it uncoated and the acrylic paint does pretty well on it's own. Or you could use the exterior acrylic paints intended for outdoor use, they hold up really well without sealing. If you do polyurethane, you may want to place a piece of wax paper between the pot and saucer until it cures, so they don't stick together.

Answer 5

What a great question! My grandson loves to get artificial flowers at a discount store and a basket, cup , vase etc. Put some floral foam in the container and allow the child to make own flower arrangement. I cut the stems if necessary. He has made several of these. This summer he went a step further, he used his arrangement as a model and "drew" the arrangement with lots of spots of color. We then framed that picture. It looks a bit primitive, but is a treasure to us.

Answer 6

Small wall hanging out of colored gunny sack material with the child's handprints. Both hands are imprinted side by side. Use a skewer (with pointed end cut off) for the rod at top. Make 1" hem at top. Thread skewer through the hem. Hem is sewn with big stitchers with yarn same color (white) as the handprint: our wall hanging is blue and we've had it for about 24 yrs.

Or make greeting card.

Answer 7

go buy a glass dish like the kind you float roses in and some mulit colored tissue paper. tear the paper into pieces and paint the glass with elmers thined with water. place the tissue paper on and recoat with the glue insert a scented candle and a ribbon around the top of the globe. when lit it looks like stained glass . over lap the tissue here and there. cant do it wrong it's great fun and looks really nice.

Answer 8

This is something I did with my girlscout troop. I bought some big bath towels. Non toxic & washable paint in different colors. Poured the some paint on a plastic plate. Had the kids dip their feet and hands in it. Than touch the towel. The parents had a towel with their kids hand & feet prints. Very inexpensive & the kids had a blast making them.

Answer 9

Go to a hobby store and buy some non toxic clay...the kind that air dries. have your little one make a dish or paperweight or something of her choosing with the clay. It will make a very precious gift and will give your little one an opportunity to squish and pound to her heart's content.

Answer 10

My daughters and I made a vase and flowers from a toilet roll, lollipop sticks, foam, an egg carton and tissue paper. For the colours we used felt tip pen but paints can b used instead. It is really simple and easy to make. I did the prep work the nite before.

To make the flowers:
1. Trace the shape of a flower petal outline on the foam.
2. Cut the egg holder from the box.
3. Colour the egg holder and stick to the centre of the foam shape. Add scrunched up tissue paper if desired for inside of egg holder and outside of foam for touchy feely affect. (I used pritt stick for this less mess)
4. Colour lollipop stick and attach to foam shape.
5. Now you have your flower repeat for other ones.

To make vase:
1. Colour toilet roll holder.
2. Stick in flowers to the inside of vase. We used blue tac so we could rearrange them easily.
Note: My older daughter used tissue paper to cover the toilet roll holder for her vase and it was beautiful.