Giving children’s gift’s can often be confusing. Although the light up, noisy toys are fun to give, they are often quickly forgotten. A box filled to the brim with craft supplies is a gift that keeps on giving. It allows toddlers hours of imaginative, creative, and stimulating fun!
This is my absolute favorite gift that we have ever given our children. You cannot go wrong by giving a child the gift of using their creativity. I also enjoy giving this as a gift to our family and friend’s children. We first gave this to our kids last Christmas. They were 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 at the time. Because I stay at home with the kids, we are always looking for things that we can do to stay busy that are fun and educational. This gift kept the kids entertained all year long and has given them so many hours of joy. I get asked by the kids at least twice a week if we can do a “project” and I gladly go get the craft box! I love to see them create and be artistic. This box full of crafts allows us to have, on hand, all sorts of materials that help us create almost every kid’s project that I have shared with you on ASpottedPony. This is a great idea for all ages of children, toddler to teenagers! Depending on their ages you can change out the supplies to fit their skill levels and interests.
The idea is simple. Get a big sturdy box and pack it full of art and craft supplies. You will be surprised at how inexpensive of a gift this can be, especially for the amount of use it will get. For my kids, I wanted to create a craft box that was fun and colorful that was appropriate for a boy and a girl. I purchased 2 colors of wrapping paper to make our craft box exciting for them. I began with a big and sturdy cardboard box. I wrapped it inside and out using both of the wrapping papers. I then saved cans, and containers that I could use to store their supplies in. I wanted to be able to pull all of the supplies out of the box and set them out so that the kids could easily see what was available to them. Using open storage containers allows them to find what they are looking for and grab what they need on their own. A few of the supplies like buttons and googly eyes got put into containers that could be closed to avoid the dumping out tiny pieces. I made tags for each container to help me keep all the supplies organized.
I decorated each of the containers using the wrapping paper and then attached the tags using twine. Scrapbook paper would work great to decorate the containers with too. I also got some inexpensive folders to store paper, stickers, and felt in. It is a great way to save small scraps of paper and felt for another day. I found some plastic cups at the dollar store that are perfect for storing markers, crayons, paints, and pipe cleaners. They came in a package of 4 and are a perfect for visible storage. Some other of the storage containers are:
- Baby wipes containers
- Drink Mix Containers
- Jars
- Plastic Food Containers (sour cream, cream cheese, and other tubs)
- Plastic Cups
- Folders
- Cans (From canned food)
- Lunch-able Containers
- All containers were washed well and then decorated using wrapping paper and the supply tags
We bought a great variety of supplies to add to the box. The dollar store has almost all of these items and is a great place to go for inexpensive craft and art supplies. Our craft box includes:
- Crayons
- Markers
- Colored Pencils
- Construction Paper
- Stickers
- Foam Paper Sheets
- A Variety Of Colored Felt Sheets
- Pipe Cleaners
- Straws
- Buttons
- Googly Eyes
- Feathers
- Yarn
- Clothes Pins
- Brown and White Paper Bags
- Foam Sticker Variety
- Popsicle Sticks
- Glitter
- Kids Scissors
- Glue Sticks
- Elmer’s Glue
- Foam Glue
- Sponges
- Curling Ribbon
- Balloons
- Acrylic Paint
- Water Color Paint
- Hole Punch
- Assorted Pom Poms
- Bingo Markers
After a year of having a craft box in our home I am pleasantly surprised at how much they used and enjoyed this gift. The best part is that when you have all of these supplies on hand, it is so simple to help you children create and use their imaginations on a regular basis. We often get this box out to make gifts and cards for family and friends, and are never at a loss for something to do. Any book that we read, or interest that the kids have can easily have a project to go with it using this craft box. They next time you need to give a gift that a child will really use, consider a craft box for the little artist in your life.