Craft Books Kids Can Use to Make Gifts for Others

I am a huge fan of handmade gifts, and I encourage my kids to make gifts wherever they can. Today I thought I would highlight some great craft books kids can use to make gifts for others. We own some of them, and others we borrow from the library. This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I was introduced to Forest Fairy Crafts because the author came to a camp my three older kids were in this summer! She helped Johnny make the owl above. The book is full of simple dolls kids can make, as well as felt projects like the stuffie Johnny made.

Sew Together Grow Together is a book full of simple sewing projects written by my Aussie blog friend Trixi. Emma is currently working on the baby in this book; I am partial to her owl pattern. You can purchase a physical copy of the book if you prefer; for books with patterns I like PDF files so I can print out the patterns instead of tracing!

Nine-year-old Emma often makes an animal from Mini Pom-Pom Pets to include with birthday gifts for friends. The mice are particularly popular! You can see some of her creations in this post, and more in this post about the follow-up kit she saved up for.

This Klutz Make Clay Charms book kit is on nine-year-old Emma’s wishlist! Have you tried it? Given how much my kids enjoy polymer clay, I could see it getting a lot of use!

Craft-a-Day is not technically a children’s craft book, but the projects are simple enough that tweens should be able to do many of them on their own. The link is to the 2016 edition, but we reviewed an earlier version of this book back in 2012 and still enjoy making crafts from it on a regular basis.

I often get books likes these out of the library and bring them home for my kids to leaf through. It is pretty amazing how much creativity can come out of looking through a book with inspiring images! Of course, you don’t need a book to make a handmade gift. This Pinterest board is full of great ideas:

Follow MaryAnne at Mama Smiles ‘s board For kids to make for others on Pinterest.Handmade gifts can be very meaningful! My personal favorite kid-made gift from our house remains this little dog Emma made for her friend A in kindergarten, and I know that my sister K took this heart that Emma colored for her to college! Do you have a book you recommend for us to look through? A project on your blog?

You may have noticed that today’s post is missing the Afterschool linky. I’m trying to simplify, but if you love it please let me know as I am trying to decide whether to simply take a break during the busy holiday season or move away from it entirely.