Can we have a best homemade gifts for kids thread?

[OTmama]

I am saving scraps from fleece blankets I am making (to donate) to make a bucket full of bean bags for my almost 4 year old.

[Proudmomoftwinsplusone]

You stole mine! I made bean bags for them when they were 2 years old and they still play with them at age 4 1/2. They also like to play with the fabric scraps, too.

[Mom2Lex&Cay]

Mine love homemade doll/barbie clothes, especially matching outfits for them and dolly. A bit time consuming, but they also adore dress up clothes! They are both pretty girly and love frilly stuff.

A bit OT, but my feeling is that every little girl should feel like a princess!

[frogguruami]

For my kids I am making wands from hot glue and paper from the dadcando website, a bag of rune stones from fimo clay, playdough and treasure stones (I have to find the instructions again. I saw the idea here!).

For friends kids I am making a fairy doll, little red riding hood caplet and basket with cakes (crochet), play meitei and a chain mail hood (crochet).

[michellemk]

sock puppets
decorated clothes
tie-dye t.shirts

[CrunchyParent]

Hmmm....things DD has really enjoyed/used a lot include:

*A photo book (those cheap 4x6 "brag books" that hold 20 or so photos) put in pictures of the extended fam with DD on every page along with a sentence or two about the person in the pic and she LOVED to pour over that thing
*An I-spy bag to keep her fingers busy
*Dress up items like fairy tutu, wings, flower/ribbon wand, crowns, etc.
*felted wool animals, balls, puppets, playscape, etc.
*a water bottle carrier from this awesome blog tute so that she can carry around her own Klean Kanteen
*bean bags
*Waldorf dolls of all shapes/sizes
*fairies, gnomes, peg people, etc to play with
*homemade play dough

I'm sure there's much more. I try to make many of DD's gifts.

[Igraine]

Originally Posted by frogguruami

For my kids I am making wands from hot glue and paper from the dadcando website...

Thank you for this suggestion!!

We made these for some friends and they turned out beautiful.

My dh taught our friends' 8 y/o daughter how to make them. Now my dh is so excited about working with a new medium.

He is an artist and has a tough time finding artistic outlets when the weather is cold and dreary. He has a new project that is inexpensive and beautiful.

I made bracelets(w/ shells, stones, amber, rose quartz) for friends and they turned out really nice as well. It was very fun and just right for our budget this year.

Cranberry scones were also a nice gift.

[um_hanna]

great ideas

[leafylady]

It's late now for the holidays, but I've had the best luck with anything dress-up/costume related. Kids love big scraps of sparkly cloth, like the Waldorf playsilks, but they don't have to be silk or pastel.

Also, wooden thread spools (without thread) are a great addition to a wood building block kit.

[jillmamma]

I made doll clothes for DD and a doll blanket. For the blanket, I took a 30" silk scarf blank that I got from Dharma and put flannel on the back, then folded the flannel over and put a fancy stitch. I got the idea from the Magic Cabin catalog where they have baby blankets that are flannel on one side and silk on the other. She loves it and uses it to put her babies down for "night night".

[Girlymomwithsons]

Originally Posted by leafylady

Also, wooden thread spools (without thread) are a great addition to a wood building block kit.

They also make great trains. I have been saving my empty spools for a while. The smaller ones are the perfect size for the Thomas train track, and they go MUCH faster than the actual trains do!