Kids’ Art Calendar: Gifts That Kids Can Make

Mmmh now HERE is a blast from the past and makes for a GREAT gift for kids to make for loved ones. My mother scanned in an old present I had made her in 1981: it was an “art calendar” for the following year (1982). So I would have been 5-6yrs old (i.e. Red Ted’s age) when I did this. What I love about this calendar is a) that my mother still has it all these years later (over 30 years! crikey!) AND that I can actually remember doing some of these pictures. They were instantly familiar to me. And though my early childhood memory is poor, clearly this stuck out as an activity I enjoyed making. I am now inspired to recreate all the techniques used with my children!

I believe (!) that we did all of these these pictures throughout the year and that the teacher kept hold of them and helped us put it all together at Christmas time. We probably did 3-4 pictures in one go then.

If you would like to make one like this… you just need to download and print off one of the many free calendars available online.. such as here or here. Make sure you print off in a size that suits you – either A5 to fit across the bottom of an A4 sheet of paper, or A4 and to fit on A3 etc.

Then get arty with the children, or go through the “stash” from school or nursery. Try and make the pictures relevant/ seasonal where you can. Here is more on mine:

January – three kings picture.

Drawing on paper and then cut out and stuck on plain blue paper to highlight. Added details: gold string and shiny paper hole punched for details.

February

Winter Snowman Scene – the children draw a simple scene in pencil first. Then go over it with WHITE crayon. Finally, use blue water colour to go over the top.

March

Pattern Making with Circles – how I LOVED this activity as a child. I did this over and over again through my whole childhood. Draw circles overlapping (use a compass or a glass as a stencil) and then colour them in. Loved!

April

Easter Egg – on paper and paint. Then cut out and stuck on a play background. I am guessing the teacher helped us get the “curvature” right on the lines, to give it that curved effect.

May

Ladiy birds.  I think (!) this was red paper on green paper + a black pen. Clearly some cutting practice going on here as lots of red circles cut out to make the ladybirds.

June

Paint on paper (I believe) and explosion of colour to represent spring flowers? I have a feeling that this was painting in conjunction to reading  Frederick.

July

A seaside scene – maybe an early Summer holiday? Pencil, crayon and watercolour resist again. Lovely.

August

Fruit – felt tips – guessing that this was to represent all the fruit growing in the Summer season.

September

Ship and train – felt tip pen. Not sure what this has to do with September, but I like it!

October

Fireworks – pencil, crayons and watercolour (again). I am sure this should have been a November picture for the British Guy Fawkes Night!

November

Dragons? Felt tip on Paper.. ahem, again, no idea what this picture is about! Ha.

Christmas

Finally – we have some Christmas stars, cut and folded from special paper foil that is popular for crafting in Germany. Now,  I SO have to make these with the kids.

Oh.. and then add a front cover:

I hope you liked ahem, my 5year old’s calendar. It certainly was a blast from the past, but I think that a Kids’ Art Calendar is a wonderful Gift That Kids Can Make. And as this calendar shows, is certainly something that will be treasured over the years to come!