Fun ideas for holiday projects & presents

Here are some of the projects we made this year at our annual Holiday Skills Day. I included the materials, directions and some pictures. My examples are just the basics, you can customize and embellish any way you like.

Just remember, as with everything, this is about process not product. Let these crafts & projects be something your family can do together (it doesn't matter what size your family is).

Be prepared especially if you have a child with multiple impairments. Nothing stresses out a mom like unpreparedness and a child with a short attention span. Students of all abilites completed these projects.

Holiday Card ideas (these can be turned into garland, too!)

Mitten Card Directions
Materials:
· Mitten pattern
· Tactile paper/craft foam
· Pipe cleaners
· Card insert
· Blank card
· Glue
· Braille paper & Braille labels

Directions
1. Cut out mitten pattern (adult)
2. Put mitten on card
3. glue pipe cleaners onto base of mitten
4. put insert inside
5. Customize it!
*Instead of doing the yarn (as shown on the example picture), we glued 3 lines of pipe cleaners.

Christmas Tree Card
Materials:
· Wrapping paper
· Christmas tree pattern (tall triangle)
· Corrugated board paper/tactile paper
· Blank card
· Glue
· Braille paper & Braille labels

Directions:
1. Wrap wrapping paper around Christmas tree pattern to make the Christmas tree.
2. cut out small square of corrugated board (to make stump)
3. Glue corrugated board on blank paper, put Christmas tree on as well.
4. Attach any embellishments to customize
5. Place insert inside
*Christmas tree card example is with the magnet card example further down in this post...

Peace & Joy Braille Letter Cards
Materials:
· Wrapping paper
· Circle punch or pencil and scissors
· Blank card
· Print tag with Peace or Joy written out
· Glue
· Braille paper & Braille labels

Directions:
1. Cut out circles to make a Braille letter P or J
2. Place circles on card in the Braille cell
3. Place print tag with the work Peace or Joy on card front
4. Place insert inside card
5. Customize with any embellishments

I did the examples on regular Braille paper. We used blank cards when we made them at the activity day. I used a circle punch to make these. The students had no problem punching out their own circles. This is great for Braille readers!

I also made tags that said "Peace" & "Joy" and put them on the front of the cards.

Holiday Project Idea

Christmas Present Magnets
Materials:
· Foam board
· Magnetic paper/magnets
· Wrapping paper
· Ribbon
· Bow
· Glue

Directions:
1. Cut foam board into 4x7 rectangles
2. cut wrapping paper to 4x7 size
3. cut magnetic strip to place on the back
4. Place wrapping paper on foam board
5. cut ribbon to make a “wrapped present look”
6. put bow in top left corner
7. place magnet on back
8. Customize with any embellishment