Storey Publishing LLC - Holiday Gifts Kids Can Make

More than 15 Festive Projects

Gifts from Nature

Bubble Printing

Tempera Nature Printing

Sun Prints

Pressed Flower Notepaper

Apple Print Holiday Gift Wrap

For the Birds

Christmas Tree Bird Feeder

Peanut Butter Log

Bamboo Birdcall

Festive Cooking

Stained-Glass Holiday Cookies

Painted Holiday Bread

Pumpkin Pie

Decorative Crafts

Make Your Own Pysanky

Salt Dough Jewelry

Crepe Paper Ornaments

Holiday-Shaped Clay Checkers

Colonial Crafts

Corn Husk Dolls

Orange Pomander

Holiday Gift Basket

Children love Christmas, and part of the joy and excitement of the season is in the making of decorations and gifts for family and friends. This bulletin is a collection of projects that will delight parents and children alike.

Whatever the talent level, this bulletin includes something for everyone. There are projects suited for the smallest of crafters, as well as creative challenges for those with more experience. All the instructions are simple and clear to assure success.

Many of the projects are made with items found in nature. The use of readily accessible materials makes the projects affordable, preserves the beauty around us, and gives the gifts a feeling of timelessness. Most important of all, parents and children will be creating something more precious than gifts. They will be making memories of holiday times spent together.

Use the Tempera Nature Printing or Bubble Printing methods to create cards, stationery, gift wrap, prints to frame, or decorative mats for photos. Collect leaves, grass, and delicate meadow flowers, and press them to make sun prints, stationery, cards, or a bookmark. Even toddlers can enjoy making their own stamped gift wrap (with a little help from their parents) by doing the Apple Print project.

adapted from Nature Printing with Herbs, Fruits and Flowers

The bubble pattern is found frequently in nature: in rushing water, honeycombs, seedpods, and the tiny world of cell structure.

What You Will Need

Mild liquid soap

Several colors of water-soluble bottled pen ink

Wide-top containers or jars

Drinking straws

Printing paper or plain-colored gift-wrapping paper

1. Set out a container for each ink color. Put one inch of liquid soap in each container. Add one tablespoon of ink and one straw to each container, and mix.

2. Blow through the straw until bubbles come up over the top of the container.

3. Remove the straw and lay a sheet of paper on top of the bubbles. On contact, the pattern will appear on the paper. Repeat the process with the other ink colors on the same sheet of paper to make a multicolored design.

4. Thin paper will buckle as it dries. To flatten, apply a warm iron to the dried bubble print. These designs make delightful pictures just as they are, or you can add nature prints of leaves and other natural objects.

adapted from Nature Printing with Herbs, Fruits and Flowers

Many of the printing supplies used by adults, such as oil-based inks, can be used by older children under the supervision of an adult. Young children should use only nontoxic supplies. While most water-based ink is nontoxic, there is a simpler method using tempera paint, which contains materials that are safe for children. It is inexpensive, and washable with soap and water.

Tempera paint alone produces poor prints. A combination of tempera, honey, and glycerin forms a workable mixture that coats objects evenly and doesnt dry while youre working with it.

What You Will Need

Liquid tempera (Crayola brand, or other good-quality paints)

Dabbers (see page 7 for how to make your own)

Small containers or cups for mixing tempera recipe

Glycerin (from a pharmacy)

Honey

Freezer wrap

Masking tape

Tweezers

Paper (typing, copier, or newsprint)

Flat leaves (you can flatten curved leaves in a telephone book with weight on top for about thirty minutes)

Tempera prints can be cut out and combined with other media and glued to a three-dimensional, free-standing frieze made of sturdy folded paper.

1. Begin by preparing the tempera paints. For each color, mix eight parts tempera with three parts honey and two parts glycerin.

2. Prepare the work space. If working outside, keep out of the wind and direct sunlight or the paint will dry too fast. Cover table-top or other flat surface with newspapers or a washable covering. Tear a sheet of freezer wrap to serve as a palette. Attach freezer-wrap corners to the tabletop with masking tape.

3. Place a few drops of tempera mixture on the freezer-wrap palette. Too much paint on leaves results in a poor print. Use the dabber to thinly spread the tempera on the palette. Make an area of paint larger than the leaf you will be printing.

4. Fold a piece of printing paper in half, open it again, and lay it next to the palette.

5. Place a leaf in the middle of the spread tempera and dab the leaf, pressing all around until its covered with a thin, even coat of paint. Pick up the leaf with the tweezers, turn it over, and repeat paint application on the other side.

6. Pick up the leaf carefully with tweezers and place it on one half of the printing paper. Dont move the leaf once it is on the paper. Fold the other half over the leaf and press on top with the help of your hand. If the leaf is larger than the heel of your hand, hold the paper down with one hand and press all around with the heel or fingers of the other hand, or use a gentle rubbing motion.

7. Open the folded sheet and carefully remove leaf with the tweezers. Notice that double printing doesnt produce a mirror image: Leaf veins are usually more prominent on the underside, showing more detail. If your prints are heavy, too much paint was used. If they appear pale and vague, use a little more paint.

8. Lay prints flat to dry.

A walking printing press is particularly fun for children and does not require any special supplies, just a smooth, solid floor or a sheet of plywood (make sure the plywood is bigger than your print), a felt blanket, a sheet of newspaper, and printmaking paper.

Lay half of the felt blanket on the plywood or solid floor, leaving the rest to double over the top layer. Then place a sheet of newspaper on the blanket to keep it clean. Large or unwieldy plants should be laid inked-side up on the newsprint, with the printmaking paper then positioned on top, while smaller or easy-to-handle inked plants can be laid inked-side down on top of the printmaking paper. Lay another sheet of newspaper over the plants and printmaking paper, and cover the entire bundle with the remaining part of the blanket.