Do It Yourself Child Gifts
3
pages
English
Documents
2012
Le téléchargement nécessite un accès à la bibliothèque YouScribe Tout savoir sur nos offres
3
pages
English
Documents
2012
Le téléchargement nécessite un accès à la bibliothèque YouScribe Tout savoir sur nos offres
Publié par
Publié le
03 mai 2012
Nombre de lectures
119
Langue
English
Some
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Publié par
Publié le
03 mai 2012
Nombre de lectures
119
Licence :
Paternité, partage des conditions initiales à l'identique
Langue
English
Some DIY gifts by TheDoItYourselfMom.com
DIY Child's Drum
This toy is super easy to make, and what child wouldn't love a drum of their very own. I made one
for the boys before, when we were living with family, and the boys wanted to be just like their
Uncle Caleb. But the recycled pretzel container drum obviously didn't make the cut for items to
move half-way around the world, so I made a new drum for Aaron's third birthday, and he loved it.
First, find a cylindrical container, and clean it. This time, I used a cardboard container that formerly
contained 3 kg of ice cream. Next, cover it with paper, and decorate it. Then, find something to use
for drumsticks. This time, my husband cut two pieces of bamboo for drumsticks. Incidentally, the
thin bamboo stick was sturdy enough to break the brand new saw blade (that's China for you). In the
past, we have used other sticks, pencils, and chopsticks for drumsticks.
If your child wants to pretend to be in a marching band (like Uncle Caleb or Christopher Robin),
you can add a string to be worn around the neck, as long as you are there to make sure it is not a
strangulation hazard.
Now our boys are all ready for a hero party. Both boys love this simple and free (well except for the
saw blade) toy. Perhaps we'll have to get another "big old kind of ice cream" (as Aaron would say)
so that they can each have one.
DIY Thomas Board Game
My mom made tons of games for us when we were kids. A lot of them were educational, but some
were just for fun. For my son's third birthday I wanted to make him a special board game that he
would really enjoy. He loves Thomas the Tank Engine, so I decided to make a Thomas-themed
board game. After I decided on the theme, it was a pretty straight forward process.
First I found a piece of cardboard. I used part of the box from the new toilet seat, but any sturdy
cardboard will do. You could probably even buy new cardboard if you wanted to, but I have no idea
where I could but it here.
Then I had my husband print out a map of the Island of Sodor he downloaded from Wikipedia.
Because Nate is amazing and computer savy, he was able to make it large enough to fit on two
pages and added direction arrows, start here, and end of the line markings to the document before
printing. This made my job easier. I just added additional stops, basically black dots, for the trains
to stop at along the track. Then I glued the map to the cardboard and put some Thomas stickers we
had on for decoration. Next I laminated the whole thing, with tape because that is all we had at the
time.
I also had my husband print some engines from Thomas coloring pages we found online. Again
because my husband is so cool, he was able to shrink them down and adapt a Thomas engine to
match the rest before printing them out. I colored them, cut them out, and then laminated them onto
cardboard. Then I made little stands so the trains can stand up as they move along the track.
I wanted the game to help emphasize some of the good morals that are taught in the Thomas stories
so I made consequence cards to be used when a player lands on a stop that has a name written on
the map. Things like helping a friend shunt freight cars move you ahead, but being bossy or
boasting move you back a few stops. If you want to make your own game you can download the
free printable game cards here.
The rules are simple:
1. Roll the die
2. Move that number of stops
3. Stay there if it has no name
4. Or pick a card and follow the consequence if it has a name
5. The fist one to the end of the line wins
Or you can simply push the cars around the Island of Sodor and have fun reading the cards, which is
what Aaron's favorite thing to do with this game so far. I guess it is good to has gifts that you can
grow into.
I am really pleased with how the game turned out, and Aaron is too even if he plays the game
differently than intended. It is a gift Aaron loves and cost me basically nothing to make since we
had the cardboard and die already. It did take a little paper, ink, and tape, but the only real expense
was my time.
Paper City
For a little extra gift for Aaron's third birthday, I printed and cut out this neat paper city from Made
by Joel, who has a lot of simple ideas for making things for children. As a guy who makes things
for his son and daughters, he has some unique ideas I haven't seen before. This is kind of like paper
dolls, but for boys too. You could even pair this with new crayons, markers, or paints for a more
complete gift. You could also give an older child a pair of scissors and let them cut it out
themselves.
It would also be cool draw your own. You could make your own paper home, city, and family for
your children to play with. Maybe I could do this in time for Christmas.
At the very least, it is a neat rainy day activity that will keep a preschooler entertained for quite a
while. It also packs up small for a traveling activity.
The only problem with a paper city right now is that baby can destroy it like Godzilla. So for right
now, it is an activity for Aaron to do while Andrew naps. But that is good too because it is a nice
quiet activity.
DIY Watercolor Paints
Paint for art projects is another supply that I have put off buying here lest it end up in Andrew's
mouth. There are lots of different recipes for all sorts of paints out there. This basic recipe for
homemade watercolors can also be found at I Can Teach My Child and lots of other places on the
web. I have never tried to make watercolor paints before, but these turned out really well. And just
like the glue, I love that these are made with all edible ingredients, just in case. I used a couple of
trays that held yogurt cups for a paint tray, but you could use an egg carton, large bottle caps, small
cups, or other recycled pieces. Or if you were going to give these as a gift, you could even use a
store bought paint tray for really nice presentation.
Homemade Water Color Recipe
•
3 Tbsp baking soda
•
3 Tbsp corn starch
•
1½ tsp corn syrup (Homemade works great!)
•
3 Tbsp white vinegar
•
Food coloring
1. Put baking soda, corn starch, and corn syrup in a bowl. Add the vinegar. Kids will have fun
watching it bubble and fizz up.
2. Mix well.
3. Separate into try sections small containers.
4. Add food coloring for each color desired. The gel food coloring I used made really vivid
colors, but did take a while to mix in.
5. Let the paints dry overnight. (Or use now to make your own paint with water pages and let
those dry over night).
6. The next morning the paints will be thicker and in a more solid state, but they will still be
wet to the touch. They are now ready to use!
7. Have fun painting, and then cover and store for next time.
I used this recipe to make 12 small amounts of colors (6 for each of my 2 boys), but you can
obviously make less colors and have larger amounts.
Both of my boys had a lot of fun painting dinosaurs with these wonderful watercolors. Their
finished pictures look really cool.
