Creative gifts for a toddler to make?

[Comtessa]

 I'd like to have DD (2.5 yo) make a small something for DH to put under the tree, but I'm stumped for creative ideas.  We don't do much in the way of gifts for the holiday, and I definitely don't have a lot of time/money/energy to put in, so it shouldn't be anything big or complicated.  

Anyone having their toddlers make gifts this season?  What are they doing?  

BTW, we've already made our own wrapping paper with potato-stamps and food coloring, and it was a bit of a disaster (though the paper really is cute), so we're perhaps not ready for anything else in the "painting" vein until she's a bit older!!! 

[Nicole730]

Last year my son was 2.5 and I bought inexpensive frames with a mattes for a 4x6 photo at Michael's.  I had him paint the matte with water colors and then he picked out which picture of himself he wanted to put in there.  We did it for the grandparents and aunts and uncles.  He loves seeing what he made hanging on Granny's wall.  And it was so simple.

[crunchy_mommy]

I'm really lazy this year, so I took DS to the dollar store (because I didn't want him to pick something out that was too expensive) and gave him a dollar & had him pick something out. He actually made a good choice, which surprised me, but I knew DH would be happy with anything that DS himself chose.

Last year, we made a hand print & he painted a bit around it, and then we put it in a cheap frame. I was originally trying to make a hand print butterfly but I ended up having to let go of my vision & just let DS do whatever. It's still on our hutch & looks pretty cool. Restricting the color palate to 2-3 colors can make it look nicer & less chaotic.... you can just use crayons or markers to decorate it even (and trace her hand instead of making a print), if you don't want to deal with paint...

Another idea -- glue pieces of colored tissue paper onto an ornament.

Or, she can glue the tissue paper onto wax paper, then you can make a frame for it with black paper cut out into a design, and it will be a suncatcher. Here's an ex. if you can't visualize it... http://www.pacon.com/projects/SunCatchers.php

Another fun suncatcher idea -- put a cookie cutter on a piece of wax paper, and have her fill the cookie cutter with glue about a centimeter thick... you can also color the glue with food coloring... then sprinkle some glitter or beads into the glue & let it dry for a few days. Ex: http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-glue-catchers.html

[hildare]

Originally Posted by Nicole730 

Last year my son was 2.5 and I bought inexpensive frames with a mattes for a 4x6 photo at Michael's.  I had him paint the matte with water colors and then he picked out which picture of himself he wanted to put in there.  We did it for the grandparents and aunts and uncles.  He loves seeing what he made hanging on Granny's wall.  And it was so simple.

that's exactly what we are in the process of doing!  plus i am going to let her pick clothes and a pose with accessories for the photos.  we'll see how that works.  our frames are done and she's really proud though.

[Nicole730]

Originally Posted by hildare 

that's exactly what we are in the process of doing!  plus i am going to let her pick clothes and a pose with accessories for the photos.  we'll see how that works.  our frames are done and she's really proud though.

Ooh, like the setting up the photo idea.  Last year he hated getting his picture taken, so that wouldn't have worked.  I actually love the painting a picture frame/matte idea so much that I was at a loss as to what to do for this year.  I'm also in my first trimester right now, so feeling the blah from that too.  I ended up saying oh well and we're just giving the grandparents wall calendars from Shutterfly.
 

[ihugtrees]

We are making these for the grandparents, great grandparents, and her dad (who is in Japan.) We even are going to make extras for our own window. http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/2011/10/window-art.html I got our picture frames at the dollar store, then went to Joanns...they are having pretty crazy sales on Christmas items right now, and while I was there I was getting sooo many ideas, but I decided to stick with this project. So, we got the rest of the supplies at Joanns, and with a coupon I ended up spending like $23, including little paper Christmas bags and tissue paper to wrap them in. So at most $30 total, for gifts for six families including ours :)

We are also making salt dough ornaments with her hand print, and a little foam ornament kit we got from Dollar General (little snow men with googly eyes and pom poms! 8 of them for $1.)

[Vegan Princess]

Love Play at Home Mom blog!

We're doing salt dough hand prints to give out. My mom wanted a painting - so I got a small canvas for $5 and had her paint it today. Also, my friend had the great idea of beeswax candles. You order kits with sheets of beeswax and wicks and the kids roll them up. I meant to do that but didn't get around to ordering the kit and couldn't find it at my craft store. 

Cindy