DIY Grandparent Gift: Homemade Book Activity

With Christmas soon approaching, the boys and I have been busy making homemade gifts for different family members. I thought it would be especially nice to combine J's love for doing crafts with his love for reading and spelling into a homemade gift for my parents, aka Grandpa and Grandpa Sue.

Yes, my poor mother is affectionately referred to as Grandpa Sue. When J was a toddler, he really struggled with the word grandma, so it often sounded like grandpa instead. Needless to say, the name has since stuck and my mom loves that she has a name unlike any other grandma. And K calls her nothing but Grandpa Sue, which is kind of cute. I am a bit of a sucker when it comes to homemade gifts, especially ones that will bring tears to loved ones' eyes or perhaps even make them chuckle a little. So J and I worked together to create this homemade book for Grandpa and Grandpa Sue. We called it, "Why I Love My Grandparents." He may have skipped a couple of words in the title, but I think it's adorable regardless. To make the book, J selected four different colors of cardstock. He then used our paper trimmer to carefully measure and cut the cardstock, with very little assistance from me I might add, so that it was a 6" x 6" square. We did eight pages in total. J then practiced his fine motor skills by using a hole puncher to punch two holes into each page. I had to mark the spots with a pencil for him first. J then decorated the pages further by using various paper punches from my craft desk. Again, pushing the paper punches was great fine motor practice.

At the top of each page, I wrote the statement, "I love my grandparents because..." Then J would think up a statement to complete the sentence. Then after carefully selecting the perfect gel pen, J wrote out his statements.

Here is an example of one of the completed pages. It says, "I love my grandparents because their van has cool buttons." Oh, to be four again!

The last page in the book was slightly different. It features a very clearly written "me" and an adorable pint sized self-portrait. J did an amazing job on this page! It's easily one of my favorite pages in the entire book.

To finish the book off, J added some stamps to a few pages and the cover and then we tied some ribbons to bind the book together. I also wrote a translation on the back of each page because J's printing can get a little messy and inconsistent sometimes. This book could be customized in a variety of ways by adding stickers, photos, more intricate details, personalized drawings, etc. And it can certainly be tailored to a wide range of ages. Older kids could write the entire book out themselves, while young preschoolers and toddlers who can't write yet could dictate their answers for mom and dad to write out instead. I sure hope Grandpa and Grandpa Sue love it!