Title – Gift Bags With A Meaning

By – Dr. Kathleen Wild

Primary Subject – Art

Grade Level – 1-3

Introduction:

This is a special lesson in giving to someone else. After kids create wonderful Christmas, Valentine’s, Mother’s Day or other holiday presents, they will need an equally special gift bag for their special person. One look at this bag will tell the recipient of the love that went into creating it and the present inside. In return, the student will feel good about themselves, because they made a handmade gift and even the bag it comes in!

Materials:

1. lunch-sized bags, either brown or white
   
2. plastic cookie cutters
   
3. poster paints or stencil paints
   
4. two cookie sheets or more
   
5. newspaper sheets
   
6. scissors
   
7. glue
   
8. plain white paper or construction paper.
   
9. glitter
   
10. green, red, white, gold ribbon
    
11. green, red, white, gold yarn

Directions:

1. Spread newspaper out on the student’s desks or tables.

2. Place the cookie sheets in the middle of the table and pour out the paint colors. For Christmas, you will want to use red, green, yellow, and white for a Christmas theme.

3. Distribute the cookie cutters to each student.

4. Now place a lunch bag in front of each of the student’s cookie sheet.

5. Have the student dip the cookie cutter into the paint and press the cookie cutter on the lunch bag.

6. Now the student can be creative and use as many different cookie cutters as he or she chooses and keep printing.

7. Another idea is to fold white paper in half and then cut half the paper. Using only half of the paper, fold the paper in half again and cut through the paper creating a snowflake. Then glue the snowflake on the bag.

8. Now the student can make little drops of glue on the snowflake and sprinkle glitter on the snowflake. The iridescent white glitter, gold, and silver glitter are beautiful on the snowflakes.

9. Students can also put drops of glue on the shapes printed on the bag and then sprinkle glitter there as well.

10. Let the bags dry for about 10 to 15 minutes.

11. Now punch one hole through the top of the bag on the left side and another hole spaced to the right. Punch through the double part of the bag. You will end up with four holes total.

12. Run the ribbon or the yarn through the holes to create handles. You may also choose to use tweed rope for an older look for the gift bag.

13. Help each of the students now, to make a small or medium size bow to glue at the top of their bag.

14. This is a wonderful project for a great gift bag. Now you as the teacher can come up with a homemade Christmas ornament or some thing special for your students to make for a Christmas present to go into the bag.

Suggestions:

• The students can make up coupons for chores that they will do for their parents as a Christmas present.
• You could also bake cookies and place them into the bag. Fruit, tea bags, candy are also good ideas.
• Students can make
  
  Bath Salt Gifts
  
  .
• You may choose to make a Christmas ornament and place it into the bag – the ideas are endless.
• You can also incorporate the gift bags for different occasions like Valentines Day, birthdays, etc.
• Have fun and be creative.

E-Mail

Dr. Kathleen Wild

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