Activity Work Bench

There have been some pretty neat activity boards posted on Pinterest with lots of little things for little fingers.  Combine those with a tool bench and VOILA!  Alex's Activity Work Bench!
Made by Papa for my son's 2nd Birthday - what a huge hit with him and all his birthday party buddies :-)

my son doing some fixing on his work bench :-)

Items on here include:

Light switch

toggle switches

little latched doors

padlock with keys attached by chain

pulley

items that move!

Then there are holes drilled along the front to screw things into it.  The work bench came with a toolbox and it provides ALOT of entertianment for many ages!

Valentine Craft or Cards - Potato Heart Prints

Slice off a bit of your potato. Carve (Carefully!) a heart. Print away! Great for making WRAPPING PAPER, or VALENTINE's DAY CARDS or for just having FUN!

Toddler Valentine's Gifts and Cards - and Recycling Puzzle Pieces!

These ideas could be used for any loving holiday:

Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthdays or Valentine's Day!

Glue random puzzle pieces to a picture frame - Can be painted or left as is.

Glue a few pieces to front of a card and write "I love you to Pieces!"

Draw a heart shape on paper and cut out. Let toddler glue the puzzle pieces inside the shape. Paint red. Glue onto front of card.

Glue puzzle pieces to a small flower pot or container.

Easy Gift for Toddler to Make: Bookmarks

I had my daughter make one of these for my birthday (:0)) and have made a few more for the hard to buy for family members (who also are avid readers)

Foam
Foam Stickers
Markers
Glitter Glue
Yarn or Ribbon
Beads

Cut foam into rectangles. Punch hole in top. Decorate with stickers, markers, glitter glue. Tie ribbon or yarn through hole. Thread with beads if desired.


Can also use previous years Christmas Cards (or Birthday Cards) or Child's Artwork cut out and taped onto cardstock. Punch hole in top and thread ribbon or yarn through.

Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Baby

Hmm, what to get for my 7m old little boys stocking...
Here are some of the ideas Ive come up with.

Rattle

Socks

Bib

Stacking Cups

Board or Cloth Book(s)

Baby Cookie

Sippy Cup

Tube of FP Little People

Balls

Mega Blok accessories

Blocks

Teething Toy

Spoon & / or Fork

Plate or Bowl (with special design or personalized)

Button Snowman Magnet or Pin - A Gift a Toddler can Make!

2 white Buttons (large)
Black foam
Ribbon or Yarn (small piece)
Orange foam or paper (small piece)
Magnet

(I like to reuse buttons for crafts and usually save good magnets if they fall off or before I toss the craft that was on it)

Glue the two buttons onto the magnet with the first buttons holes horizontal (looking like eyes) and the second buttons holes verticle (looking like the snowman's buttons)

Cut a small hat shape from black foam and glue onto head of snowman.

Glue small piece of ribbon or yarn around neck of snowman. Plus another small piece as a hat band.

Glue small sliver of orange foam or paper for the snowman nose.

Use a marker or small dab of black paint to dot a mouth.

*If wanted as a pin, substitute the magnet for a pin backing.*


This would be a great gift to give a teacher, Grandma, etc.!

In a Pinch - Wrapping Paper alternatives

Tablecloth (great for a really LARGE present!)

Beach Towel

Kitchen Towel

Kids Artwork

Fabric

Bath Towel


These could be for any type of present or fun with a theme!
(ie. kitchen towel for baking themed gift)

Recycling and Upcycling Children's Artwork

Great gifts & ideas for any occasion

(and keeps the clutter to a minimum!)

Mail to various relatives (especially those without children)

Cut & fold into envelope shape. Affix address with a label. What a funky piece of mail to receive!

Make a calendar from your home printer

Take a picture of artwork and using website (like Walmart or other similar one) upload to use on:
mug, mouse pad, calendar, greeting cards, notepads, tote bags, and anything else they will put a photo on

Cut up artwork into strips or squares and let child glue onto paper for a newly designed piece of artwork - or put onto a greeting card!

Cut into squares, punch a hole in corner for a gift tage

Mat and frame the artwork

Wrapping paper

Cut up into strips for bookmarks: laminate or glue onto cardstock. Punch hole in top and thread yarn through.

Create greeting cards

Laminate for use as a placemat

Transfer or trace onto fabric then embroider and make tea towels, napkins, quilts, sachets, and small pillows

Cut into puzzle pieces and let child put it together again

Decoupage it onto any wooden, metal or glass items (wood tray, a box, a frame, a set of drawers, metal can, cardboard can (like from hot chocolate), glass votive holders, glass canisters, etc.

Cut into squares to make a memory matching game

Glue to wooden shape or cardstock and place magnet on back

Cut into strips to make a linked chain garland.

Print on fabric to use for: pillows, quilt squares, sachets, appliques, pot holders, fabric coasters, tea towels, tote bags, and aprons

Cover a blank book or journal

Use artwork (or photo of it) in place of the photo on a photo keychain

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Taking pictures of the artwork is a great way for storing them without taking up the space they normally would!

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Christmas Gifts for a Toddler to Make

Ive started to give some thought as to what my toddler can make for her relatives for Christmas. These ideas could also be used for Birthdays too of course.

Christmas Ornaments
recipe for salt dough: http://123mytoddlerandme.blogspot.com/2009/08/salt-dough-recipe.html

Picture Frames (either standing or magnet variety) Unfinished wooden frame that can be painted.

Bingo dabbers would make a funky polka dot design. Or perhaps decoupage with tissue paper, construction paper, magazine or catalogue pictures, old Christmas Cards, or even photographs.

Tote Bag - Canvas Bag and Fabric Crayons.

Haven't used these before but apparently the child draws on the bag (or shirt) with the crayons, then you iron the design with a piece of wax paper on top. Follow the directions on the crayon box since the directions may vary according to the brand.

Hot Trivet - Ceramic Tiles that are painted by the child and then clear coated with varnish. Glue felt on bottom to prevent scratched tabletops.

Vase - Clear Vase that is decoupaged (glue & paint brush - she'll love it!) with tissue paper.

I have many styles of clear vases that I find boring (I prefer coloured vases because I don't like seeing the stems) and will give away once decorated as presents. I'll make sure I get one for Christmas too! :-)

Candle Holder - same idea as vase - decoupage tissue paper onto candle holder. My 2yr old made this for her Grandma's birthday:

Magnets - Using wooden shapes, let child paint or colour. Stick a magnet on back. Another option: cut a tree shape from green felt. Let child help glue to cardboard or cardstock. Let child glue on small buttons or beads for the tree decorations. Glue a magnet to the back.

Gift Wrap Ideas

Candy Style (using a toilet paper roll or oatmeal can and covering in tissue paper with paper bunched at ends) **It would be fun if the present was several smaller items to give the child several presents wrapped candy-style.

Wine Bag - doesn't have to contain wine, could hold a cool toy!

Plastic Container w/ lid - Presenting the toy in a box (could cover in stickers for decoration) gives the child a storage bin for toys as well!

Basket - Put the toy inside and then wrap all in cellophane or beach towel or blanket or neat Pillowcase - whatever!

Beach Towel - Wrap gift in towel and then tie with ribbon

Trashcan - (What?!) Put the gift in a new & neat trashcan - especially if it's a funky colour or cartoon themed can

Rainy Day Activity Box

Last weekend I was needing a unique birthday gift for a little 4yr old that loves crafts. I grew up with a Rainy Day Activity Box that always seemed so special & exciting when I actually got to use it. Ive started one for my daughter but it was fun putting one together for an older child.

My first stop was at the dollar store where I got the box (the big christmas cookie tins are also great and they do double duty for playing with magnets), puzzle, craft items, and some small figurines.

Key is to only bring this out when it's absolutely needed! It'll lose its appeal if it can always be used.

Here are the items I put in it and a few others that I think would be neat to have.

1. Jigsaw Puzzle


2. Mini colouring books


3. Sticker Book


4. Unique Craft Items & list of ideas for them **since I picked up a package of multi-coloured large popsicle sticks as one of my craft items, I googled project ideas for them. I pasted the pictures on a small page and added it into the box


5. Items to decorate (ie. wooden box, plaque, claypot, etc.)


6. Print outs from Internet: Bingo Game, Matching or Memory Game, Mazes **there is such an abundance of free printables on the internet**


7. Recipes for play activity items like playdough & goop *see separate post for recipes*


8. Small cars or figurines


9. List of activity ideas (ie. Finger painting, charades, sink of bubbles, instructions for creating a candy necklace etc.)


10. Balloons


11. Magnifying Glass


12. Pretty much anything that the child enjoys but rarely gets to play with. For my daughter, the added interest is if it doesn't look like it's something she's allowed to play with.

Here's my daughters currently - it'll change & expand as she grows:

The tin was left from christmas cookies, I need to find her some more magnets. Ive got a couple wooden items for her to colour and then give as gifts. There's fingerpuppets, stickers, playdoh, pipecleans, popsicles sticks and ideas of what to use them for. I also have some blank white labels that I figure she could colour and make her own stickers.

Please leave comments with other ideas!