Does anybody have any suggestions on gifts the kids can make for their parents for Christmas? I think I have an idea for their moms, but what about dads? Dads don't always appreciate the same things moms do. I'm asking now because if I don't have an idea, I have to order some sort of craft project for them to do on-line.
We just do ornaments. It isn't for a specific parent, just the whole family really. I like to do ones with the student's school picture on it. There are lots of ideas you can find on the internet.
We make votive candle holders. Take a baby food jar and have the kids paint Elmer's glue all over the outside of it. Then have the kids roll or sprinkle salt all over it. Tie a pretty ribbon on it, plop in a tea light candle and when it is lit it is very pretty. Easy and inexpensive and cute.
When I taught Kindergarten we made the handprint calendars at http://www.littlegiraffes.com/handprintcalendar.html They were time-consuming, but soooo cute!!!
Sara, the picture ornament thing was what I was gonna use for the moms. Thanks, though! Emma, I love that idea! Does the salt just make it look all sparkly?
I saw this last year too and I started doing them with my students only to find out the kindergarten classroom was doing them too so I had to stop.
I've been taking candid shots of my students from the first day--although some have been staged to look normal and I plan on having the students make a one-page scrapbook page. I have older children age 8-11.
handprint snowman ornament We did the hand print snowman ornament that you can find on this page: http://www.littlegiraffes.com/christmas.html It turned out so well and the parents LOVE it.
We make three the week before Christmas break- -We paint candles and decorate them with different embellishments. -We also paint wooden plaques and put photos on there. -Last, we make swirl ornaments, where paint goes inside. -This year, I may also add what Mrs. Newingham does with the "Cookies in the Jar". Generally, they take about 3-4 days in all, and we do all of them the last week of school before Christmas. They have a good time decorating and enjoying one another's company.
When I taught kindergarten I loved the littlegiraffes website, she is sooo creative, our whole team used lots of her ideas....Now I'm in 5th grade, I need a different idea! I like the candle holders with salt.... In the past I have also made a penguin ornament out of a lightbulb and baby sock. We painted lightbulbs black and white like a penguin. On the fat side of the lightbulb we glued a piece of foam board cut in the shape of a heart for the feet. On the top of the lightbulb (the part that gets screwed into the socket) we hot glued a baby sock for the hat and put a string through it. Then we painted eyes. They were so cute. I might do those this year!
The penguin ornament sounds cute. Do you have a problem with breaking light bulbs? My class is so active, I am afraid of broken bulbs everywhere!
www.crayola.com My friend whenever I need an idea. I can often modify or substitue based on what they recomend if a project looks too involved or a bit expensive.
We paint ornaments as well. Each child makes 2 - one is a larger, clear glass one that they use acrylic paints on. I also have some powdered snow on hand in case they want to put some inside. I spray them with a clear gloss coating when the paint is dry. Then we do the swirled ornaments. They choose the colors, I put it in, then they swirl. I learned my lesson the first year - I think some parents STILL have wet paint inside after 3 years - they put way too much in. The kids love the results and have lots of fun giving each other ideas of what to paint.
Another idea my son has done is make wreaths out of wire coat hangers and plastic sandwich bags. I know it sounds really weird, but they are gorgeous! You bend out the hanger so it is a roundish shape. Then take the baggies (non-zip lock) and simply tie them around one at a time. I think she used 3 boxes of bags per wreath. Then add ribbons, ornaments, foamies, whatever. I was very skeptical, but they make a beautiful gift. PM me if you are interested and I can take a photo to send. One problem is these are relatively time consuming to construct.
Our daughter made - I don't remember which grade - a "spare change holder/key holder" out of a terra cotta saucer. The kids wrote a cute note inside the saucer, decorated it with findings or painted it. My husband still uses it every day to put his keys and spare change. This would be have to be the cheapest gift ever - I think the saucers sell for about 15 cents each.
My partner teacher does this. They do take time to make, but they look great when done. I htink she usually pops in a video or lets them listen to festive music while they work. It seems to keep them on task.
You can photocopy a picture on a piece of transparency paper, cut it into circles slightly smaller in diameter as a clear round ornament. Then cut them out, roll them up, and insert them into the top of the clear round ornament. They unroll and look like they are floating inside.
That sounds really cool! Is there anything special you have to do to get the pics on the transparencies to be in color?
We are fortunate to have a color laser printer at our school which is what I used. If you don't have access to that you could probably create your pages in Word and take it to a printer to have it done.
the past few years i have made a class cookbook. i send a note home asking for a favorite family recipe for a math project and promise that it will be returned if it is special. the kids then retype it in word, put in fancy fonts, etc and name it a fun exciting name that includes their first name as well. i take each of their pictures in a santa hat in front of a tree in the hall (ive not ever had a student who doesnt partake in christmas festivities, if i did i would adjust). the picture decorates the bottom of their page. they print out the recipes, i paste the pictures at the bottom, photocopy 20 copies (black and white for the interior). I buy a pack of holiday border pape (christmas lights, snowflakes). the class then brainstorms a name for the cookbook and i design the cover-- the cover also includes a class photo of all of us in front of the tree (in color). our school has binding machine and supplies so i then bind them and thats that! this year i may actually skip the binding and just laminate the cover and back cover and tie with pretty christmas ribbon. the parents really have loved them and its something that they can keep to really remember 5th grade.
Calalily18, the recipe book sounds like a cute and useful gift. Do you have any problems getting parents to send in recipes?
IF a parent didnt send in the recipe, you could probably just ask the kid what their favorite food is and find a generic recipe on the internet. Not as special, but they wouldnt be excluded.
i have had that happen with just 1 student each year. and that is exactly what ive done- asked what their favorite food is and printed out a recipe. the parents think that it is for a math fractions activity-- and then are surprised to find out what it really is. the kids like the secret and surprising their families.
We're making trivets for Christmas this year. Get plain white tiles, and decoupage them with tissue paper/watered down glue. Then put a photo of their child on top, and decoupage again. I wanted to do the votive holders, so we're doing those for Mother's Day... but we're decoupaging them with tissue paper and glue... but I think I'll add some glitter to the glue to make tem sparkle
I posted this elsewhere, but it applies here even MORE so....pardon the repeat!.... There is a darling DVD called THE ART OF KNITTING 4 KIDS where kids learn to knit and can make a scarf or washcloth for gifts! So cute and easy-to-learn knit-along instructions with stories and animation to inspire them. VERY effective. GREAT for teaching the whole classroom.
i like the fact that the gift isn't for anyone specific. there are so many kids now that don't have their dad around...or who live with their grandparents or other guardian. i think it's really important to keep that in mind. my biological father wasn't around when i was going through school and i always hated it when we did activities like making something for our dad or talking about our dad. i've had a stepdad since i was two years old, but it still wasn't my dad. i remember feeling really uneasy and wanting to crawl in a hole when these topics came up. so, i think it's a great idea to leave it open ended when doing "family" activities.
