You don't need special materials to make special decorations.  We used cereal boxes as the basis for these numbers (decorations for Dad's birthday!)

You'll need: Cereal boxes or other colorful cardboard from the recycling bin; washable tempera paint, brushes, glitter glue, sequins and other decorative materials you like.

Cut numbers or letters from the cardboard.  Then let your little artists get creative.  The colorful designs from the cardboard will show through the paint and complement your kids' work.

Take the opportunity to use all of thos promotional magnets you receive from realtors, pizza places, and landscapers.  We cut cardstock and glued it over the face of the magnet with a glue stick (depending on how glossy the magnet is, a glue stick might not be strong enough.  You could also try double stick tape or craft glue.)  Then we used markers, stickers, and fun colored paper to decorate them.  Use them to hang up your kids art, and you'll have a great refrgerator gallery.  My kids had a lot of fun.

Using a decoupage technique on an old jar makes a great candle holder.  This is a great project for gift-giving occasions like mother's day, father's day and the winter holidays.  You'll need a clean glass jar (baby food jar, or any size up to a spaghetti sauce jar), tissue paper (whatever colors you like), glue and a paint brush.

Mix about 3 parts glue and 1 part water in a container.  Tear tissue paper into small pieces (about 2" diameter or so is easy to work with).  Let kids use the brush to coat the outside of the jar with the glue mixture, then apply pieces of tissue paper, overlapping the edges, in any pattern they want.  (This project is a good way to re-use tissue paper from gifts because it does not matter at all if the tissue is wrinkled.)  Make sure all the edges are glued down well.  You can brush over them with the glue, and it really doesn't matter how messy this gets.  Bigger globs of glue will just take longer to dry.

Once they've covered the outside of the jar with paper, and your kids are happy with the design, brush another coat of glue over the whole surface.  This will seal all the edges and give it a shiny finish when it dries.  When dry, put a votive candle inside and watch how the light flickers through the jar as if it's stained glass.  (You can also buy flameless candles at your local craft store.)  Tie a pretty ribbon or piece of raffia around the neck of the jar, and you have a nice decoration or gift.

Options: Kids can also add more designs to your piece if they want to.  One way of using this idea is to cover the jar with all orange tissue paper, using the method described above.  Then cut triangles and a smile from black paper and glue them on to create a jack-o-lantern face.  A great window display for Halloween! For a winter holiday decoration, try first gluing red circles (use a hole punch) and maybe some pine needles onto the jar.  Use white tissue paper to cover over it, and you'll end up with a piece that looks frosted.  Another option is to use this for a vase or treat jar instead of a candle holder.

Here's how we combined two kinds of clutter that we seemed to be accumulating at my house...a sticker book made from recycled junk mail envelopes. 

Some of those credit card offers and other mass mailings have envelopes with interesting windows.  We put them together to organize the kids stickers.

You'll need:  Several envelopes, card stock or cardboard for the cover and back cover, ribbon, a hole punch, decorative pieces for the cover.

Gather the envelopes together in a stack. It's fine if they are different sizes as long as you like how they will look as pages of a book.  Cut a front and back cover piece that is big enough to enclose all the envelopes. Punch two holes along one edge of the stack (you'll need to punch each envelope separately, but you can line up the hole punch with the first one you punched.)  String a ribbon through the holes and tie it in front to bind all the pages together.

Now you can organize your stickers (or other odds & ends, keepsakes, etc.) within the envelopes.  Decorate each envelope page as you like (we plan to decorate these with stickers, actually.)  Decorate the cover as you like as well.  We also used a brass brad on the cover and affixed a thin ribbon to the back cover to create a closure.

Let your kids get creative with their books...they might want to keep notes or drawings in here, keepsakes from a vacation, pictures they've clipped from magazines, favorite words, etc.

There are endless possibilities with handmade books.  Check out book arts web sites for more ideas.

My daughter told me she was having trouble coming up with ideas for drawings.  So we created this Idea Box to help her.  We think up ideas and write them on small slips of paper and put them in this recycled tissue box.  Then, whenever she needs an idea, she reaches in and pulls on out.  Simple, yet inspiring.

You'll need:  An empty tissue box (or feel free to try another kind of container), colorful paper, white paper, a glue stick, scissors, a pen.

Cover the tissue box with colorful paper. Affix it with the glue stick.

Cut small pieces of paper for the ideas.  Write away.  We came up with things like "Lunch", "Beach", "Something that squeaks", "Something warm", "Something tall." 

Options:  You can use plain paper to cover the tissue box, then let your child decorate it with drawings, writing or stickers.  Or, try a collage approach.  It doesn't really matter how you cover it as long as you have fun and come up with an Ideas Box that your child will be excited about.

Also see our blog entry "5 Uses for a Tissue Box".

Kids just love hats.  And here's a fun hat project that is so simple and inexpensive, but sure to brighten up your party or playdate.

You'll need:  construction paper (12"x18"), stapler, glue sticks, pencil (for curling paper).  Optional: crayons, markers, and other embellishments.

For each child, cut 2 strips of paper about 12" x 3".  Staple them together to make a long strip.  This will be their crown.  Let them decorate this strip with crayons, markers, or cut-out shapes and glue sticks.  When they're happy with the decorations, wrap the strip around their head to measure for size, then staple the ends together to make a crown they can wear.

Next, cut several strips of paper 18" long by about 1" wide.  To curl the paper strip, hold one end of the strip on the edge of the pencil.  Roll the pencil, holding the paper securely against it.  When you've rolled the whole strip of paper wround the pencil, let go, and you have a curl.  Talk to the kids about what else they can do with a paper strip.  Show them an accordion fold (fold one direction, then the other direction, like stairs).  Ask them to think about how they can attach these pieces to their crown.  Maybe leave them long like hair?  Maybe cutting them shorter to stand up more.  Let them decide what kind of party hat they'd like.  This might lead to requests for more paper strips, different kinds of folds.  You might think this is just a silly hat project, but this is also a great sculpture lesson--you're giving your kids experience with making something three dimensional, letting them make decisions about how these pieces take shape and how they can combine them together to make forms and movement.

Here's some easy winter fun...coffee filter snowflakes.  I have a zillion coffee filters that have been waiting for some artful fun.  Maybe you do too?  As long as your child is skilled enough with scissors to cut small shapes and lines, this is sure to captivate them.  And you can use them for window decorations or cards too.

You need:  basket coffee filters (round when you flatten them), scissors.

Fold the filter in half to make a semi-circle, then fold it again, and again and again, until you have a thin triangle.  Cut triangles into the folded edges, cut into the open edges too. Unfold, and see what kind of pattern you have.

Encourage your child to experiment with different kinds of cuts, then open them up to see what happens when it unfolds.  Ask them to think about different patterns, different shapes and sizes.

Options:  If your child is too little to manages triangles and circles, you can have them cut small lines.  They'll still get some satisfaction from seeing what happens when they unfold the filter (and it still looks pretty much like a snowflake).  Or try scrapbooking scissors with jagged or zig-zag edges.

I saw my daughter's friend nearly cry tears of joy at the sight of this necklace.  I'm convinced that gifts for little girls don't need to cost a lot--they just need to be sparkly and come from the heart.

You'll need: glue-on jewels from the craft store, scrap cardboard (from a cereal box or other box that has color on one side works well), tacky glue, ribbon or string.

Cut the shape for your pendant from the scrap cardboard.  Oval, heart-shaped,...whatever your princess prefers.  Glue jewels all over the colored side of the cardboard. Encourage your child to think about patterns of colors, or how they'd like the jewels to be arranged. 

When dry, glue the ribbon or string to the back of the cardboard, and knot on the ends to make the necklace.

Options:  If giving this as a gift, present it in a small cardboard box, or perhaps a small tin.  Let your child decorate this too, for a very personal and crafty gift.

Kids love bags, and now they can design their own using no-cost materials.  Make great purses, crayon carriers, toy carriers, gift bags that are personalized and, best of all, recycled.

You'll need:  a cereal box, cracker box, or any such box; scissors, a glue stick, paper (construction paper or whatever you like), a hole-punch, and ribbon or yarn.

Cut the top flaps off the box.  Now you or your child can cover the entire box with paper.  You decide how exacting you'd like to be about this step. Kids will enjoy taking a collage approach to covering the box, but if you are more interested in a tidy look, you can cut the paper to fit, and help the kids attach it.  Either way, let the kids cover the box with a glue stick before you apply the paper.  Fold the paper over the top edge of the box at the opening and glue around the inside rim for a finished look.

Now punch two holes near the top of each long side.  Tie the ribbon or yarn through the holes to make handles for your gift bag.

Now kids can can decorate with crayons, stamps or whatever else they can imagine. 

Options: Try a patchwork approach, using squares of scrap wrapping paper.  Or cover the box with felt, and glue on buttons or sequins to decorate.  If you are using this as a gift bag, write your sentiment right on the box itself.

Do you have some terracotta flower pots in the garage?  These pots are just asking to be painted by your little one. Even if you don't have old ones laying around, you can buy them for a dollar or two and turn them into wonderful keepsakes or great gifts.    No need to go to a fancy paint-your-own-pottery studio to capture your child's flair on pottery.

For this project you need brushes and acrylic paint (available in craft stores.  Please note that you can't really use washable point for this one if you want it to last.  So make sure you protect your work space and use a smock!)  You'll also need clear acrylic sealant (you should find this in the same aisle as the paint).

Seal it first:  Before your kids are ready to paint, you'll need to brush the acrylic sealant all over the inside of the pot to waterproof it.  This is because terracotta is porous, and without sealing it, the dampness from your plant would seep through and ruin the painted surface.  You don't have to seal the outside of the pot at this point. If you're using a saucer you can seal the top part where the pot sits.

Once the sealant is dry, you can let your kids paint.  What they do is really up to them and you.  They can just use a few colors and a brush.  Or try sponges, stamps, or other tools for painting.  You might even add some sequins with glue, or maybe some stickers.

Seal it last:  You do not have to do this, but if you want to give the paint a little more endurance and a glossier finish, you can brush sealant over the painted surface after it has all dried.  This will just prevent chipping of the paint.

Options:  Put a pack of forget-me-not seeds or some other special flower and give it as a thoughtful gift.  Or put a package of candy or coffee in it for a nice teacher-gift with a personal touch.  I'm currently using a pot my daughter painted as a pen holder in my office. And an extra saucer (from a pot that was unfortunately broken) is great for holding my rings when I take them off by the sink.  Painting pottery with kids has endless possibilities, and when you do it this way, it's very affordable.