How to Make Cheap and Easy Gifts for Kids

Make bean bags that children will love. Make squares or circles or trace large cookie cutters. Sew two pieces together wrong-side out and turn them right-side out to fill. Fill these with any kind of dried beans and stitch them closed by hand. You can decorate the bean bags with leftover sewing bric a brac or craft supplies like yarn, ribbon or embroidery thread. Kids can play toss in the bucket games, bowling games on a floor by using empty soda bottles or cans for the pins. Personalize these for super gifts.

Use an old binder for a custom-designed scrap book. Spray adhesive glue and cover the book with fabric, then decorate it with buttons or letters cut from scrap fabric. Use construction paper or card stock and let kids past, glue, color and whatever their hearts desire to create their very own books. Teenage girls really love these, as well as young girls and boys. These can be done beautifully for birthday or Christmas presents.

Create a children's dress-up box. Ask your family for old dresses, shoes, purses, jewelry and hats. Let the kids play with friends in their special digs. An old cardboard box gives the kids a dressing room to hide behind so they can change and have fashion shows. This creates a wonderful rainy afternoon adventure.

Make the kids a store. If you have a basement or a corner, you can make them a store. Save small containers and fill boxes with styrofoam, fill jars with small pebbles and so on. Get a few large boxes to serve as counters, add some old play money and pennies and they're all set. You can also make a school by using boxes for desks, some old books, paper, pens and crayons.

Make a scientist's lab for young children. Save old alarm clocks, watches, gears, nuts and bolts and put these into small recycled boxes and plastic containers. Add a few child-friendly tools, some paper and pencils for ideas and let them loose. Kids can come up with all kinds of things with just a box full of odds and ends.

Sew large floor pillows using cut up old clothing for stuffing. Make these big enough for kids to lay on. You can also make sock puppets, drawstring bags from old jeans, aprons with lots of pockets from any heavy fabric, and indoor tents out of old sheets or blankets and a few chairs.

Give your kids the gift of time. There's nothing more special to your children than knowing you are willing to make things and play with them. Be their audience for fashion shows or inventions and they will enjoy their time with you as much as the games themselves. For more ideas, go to the Artists Helping Children website, listed below.