An old tire painted green, with googly eyes and a seat on top. Two wooden dice that say “scared” and “elephant”. A clear ornament full of red ribbon, cut to the exact height of a child in 2022. The Christmas gifts for kids that parents keep saving on Pinterest are rarely the toys from the store flyer, and a good half of them are not for kids at all: they are made by kids, for the grown-ups who love them.
Parents saved every one of the 30 pins below, and they split into three groups. First, things to give children: homemade games and toys, plus two lists for parents who want fewer toys under the tree. Then three class Christmas gifts for kids to hand out at school. Last, and longest, Christmas gifts made by kids, for parents and grandparents. Six of them are short videos; press play and they run right here.
Christmas gift ideas for kids
1. A tire rocker
Cut an old car tire in half, paint it bright green, fix a flat board across the top as a seat, and add two huge googly eyes and a row of painted teeth. “So simple, yet will provide hours of entertainment!” its saver wrote. Sand every cut edge, and make sure no steel wire from the tire is sticking out.
2. Acting dice
Two wooden blocks, one yellow and one blue. One has a feeling on each side, like scared or shy; the other has an animal, like an elephant or a dog. Roll both and act out a scared elephant. Its description calls it a rainy-day game, and it works at any age when the child can read two words.
3. A tic-tac-toe travel bag
Four strips of floral fabric make the grid on a plain cotton drawstring bag, and big buttons in two colors are the pieces. When the game is over, the buttons go inside the bag. It weighs nothing, so it lives in the car or in a handbag for restaurant waits.
4. Counting stars
Ten blue paper plates with a yellow star and a number on each, spread across the floor, and one yellow bean bag. The child throws the bag and counts up or down from the number it lands on. Paper plates, a sheet of yellow paper and a homemade bean bag are the whole game, which makes it one of the cheapest DIY Christmas gifts for kids on this page.
5. Snowman snowball shooters
Paper cups with snowman faces, and a balloon with its top cut off stretched over the open end of each, knot on the outside. Drop a cotton-ball “snowball” into the cup, pull the knot back and let go. It is billed as a fun indoor holiday game for kids, so set a rule about faces before the first shot.
6. Cloud dough
Soft balls of dough in pastel blue, orange, pink and green; on the cover of the video, the pink one still shows the fingers that squeezed it. Pack each color in its own jar with a label, and the gift is ready for under the tree.
7. Crayons in a mint tin
Inside an empty mint tin: a few crayons in the bottom and a stack of small paper cut to fit the lid, held in with a strip of pink gingham. The description gives the reason: it fits in a purse without breaking the crayons. Of all the small Christmas gifts for kids here, this one is best for a waiting room.
8. A punch box
Cut rows of windows into the front of a big cardboard box, each covered with tissue paper and framed in a bright color. Behind every window is a small present, and the child punches through the paper to get it. The one in the picture was made for a birthday, with “¡Feliz cumpleaños!” under the title, but twelve windows work just as well as a countdown to Christmas.
9. A DIY Lego table
The cover of the video shows a white rolling craft cart, its top covered with Lego baseplates in rainbow colors, and clear bins of bricks in the shelves below. It is the biggest project here, and the only one that needs a weekend and a real budget. In return, the Lego stops living on the floor.
10. We don’t need more toys
Twenty non-toy Christmas gifts for kids, on one printable list: a museum membership, a zoo or aquarium pass, movie night gift cards, a mini golf outing, an ice skating session, a kids’ cooking class, art or music lessons, a train or trolley ride, a camping trip. Pick one and wrap something small that goes with it, like a pair of skating socks with the skating ticket.
11. The four-gift Christmas rule
One notebook page, four boxes: something they want, something they need, something they wear, something they read. There is a line for each child’s initial under every heading. It keeps the pile of Christmas presents for kids from growing every year, and siblings get the same number of presents.
12. A Christmas Eve box
The kids open this one on Christmas Eve. According to the description, it holds hot chocolate, pajamas, a book, a movie and popcorn for the movie. Of all the kids Christmas gifts here, it is the only one opened a day early.
Class Christmas gifts for kids
13. Snowman soup
Into a clear bag go a packet of hot chocolate, a candy cane, mini marshmallows and a few Hershey’s Kisses. The card on top has the poem: “When the weather outside is frightful, Snowman Soup can be delightful!” The candy cane is the spoon. Make one for every child in the class on a Sunday evening.
14. A play dough snowman kit
Each bag holds a small tub of Play-Doh and a few small pieces to dress a snowman. A printed topper says “Make your own play dough snowman”. Of the class gifts here, this one has no sugar in it at all.
15. Candy bar compliments
Twelve printable cards, each for a different candy and each with its own compliment: Twix, “you are witty and always have Twix up your sleeve”; Jolly Rancher, “you are always jolly and have a positive attitude”; Skittles, “you are full of colorful and creative ideas”. Match the candy to the classmate.
Christmas gifts made by kids
16. A salt dough handprint
The recipe is in the description: one cup of salt, one cup of flour and half a cup of warm water, baked for three hours at 200 degrees (the description doesn’t say Fahrenheit or Celsius) or microwaved for three minutes. Press the child’s hand into a circle of dough and poke a hole for the ribbon before it goes in the oven.
17. Mistle toes
Two baby footprints in green paint, a red ribbon painted above them, and “Mistle toes” written underneath. It takes one sheet of card per grandparent and one patient moment from a wriggling baby.
18. Handprint snowman ornaments
Paint a child’s palm and fingers white and wrap the hand around a blue glass ornament. Every finger becomes a snowman; add hats, eyes and carrot noses with a fine marker once it dries. The red one in the second photo is still sitting in a white-painted hand.
19. A fingerprint lights ornament
On a white ornament, a black wire drawn with a marker and colored fingerprints as the bulbs. “DIY fingerprint Christmas lights ornament,” says the video. Put the child’s name and the year at the top, because these get hung every December for decades.
20. Dot ornaments
Circles of white card covered in dots of every color, with a strip of silver glitter paper on top as the cap and a red ribbon loop. Dot markers or fingertips dipped in paint are all a toddler needs here. Fill a whole tree with them, or give one to each grandparent.
21. A beaded wreath
Beads, a pipe cleaner and a ribbon: that is the full supply list. Thread red, white and green beads onto the pipe cleaner, bend it into a circle and tie a bow on top. Small hands learn to thread on this one, so start with big beads.
22. A pipe cleaner tree
One green pipe cleaner folded back and forth into the branches of a tree, beads threaded onto every branch, a little star on top and a loop of twine. The video shows a white version too.
23. Paper angels
Fold a sheet of rainbow paper like a fan, pinch it in the middle, glue a wooden bead on top as the head and hang it from a loop of string. That is the whole angel. The video shows one in white paper as well, for a quieter tree.
24. A craft stick sleigh
Glue craft sticks side by side, paint them red, and add two more sticks across as runners. Then the fun part: cut out a photo of the child lying belly-down, arms out, and glue it on top as if they are sledding. A silver snowflake covers the seam.
25. Photo ornaments with Santa hats
Round frames with a photo of each child in a Santa hat, fingerprint lights painted around the edge, a little paper Santa hat with “2022” on it and a ribbon on top. Make one every year and the tree turns into a growth chart.
26. The Grinch’s hand
On a white canvas, paint the Grinch’s green hand reaching down from a red Santa sleeve, and hang a clear ornament with the child’s photo from his fingers. The four canvases in the picture are one for each child.
27. A ribbon keepsake ornament
Measure the child with a red ribbon, cut it, and stuff the ribbon into a clear ornament. The tag explains: “This ribbon is very special indeed because if you take it out and measure it you will remember how little I was in 2022.” Grandparents can line them up year after year.
28. Custom toddler artwork
Stick a shape cut from tape or contact paper on a blank canvas, let the toddler paint over everything, and peel the shape off once it dries. Here it is a white bunny in a pink swirl, but for Christmas, cut a tree or a star.
29. A thumbprint garden frame
Around a black-and-white photo of two little boys, with a heart cut in the mat, thumbprint tulips bloom in every color. The caption says @cameronpremo made it with the boys while the poster was at a wedding, and “he even cut out the mat himself”. Christmas gifts for parents from kids rarely get a better story than that.
30. Photo tiles with lights
Print a black-and-white photo of each child in front of a brick wall, arms stretched out, then transfer it onto a tile and draw a string of Christmas lights around them with colored fingerprints for bulbs. It looks like they are holding the lights. Homemade Christmas gifts for kids to make do not get much simpler than a fingerprint, and this one turns it into something a grandparent will put on a shelf.
