One of the challenging things to teach children is to give gifts they believe the recipient will want to receive, not necessarily what they would want to receive.  And a tricky thing about being a child is that your resources and abilities are both pretty limited.

Of course as moms, we appreciate whatever gifts our children give us!  It is, after all, the thought that counts.  But I wanted to round up some options for things kids can make with minimal help/oversight, that Mom can actually use.  (Some are better than others for very young children.)

• Make dragonflies out of clothespins and attach magnets to the backs.  Mom can use this to hang artwork, photos, recipes, etc. on the refrigerator, or on a file cabinet to hold a document to be transcribed.  (Caterpillars are another possible variation.)
• Nearly every mom likes chocolate, right?  Cut a strip of blank paper to size and allow children to decorate it before wrapping it around a candy bar.
• Let the kids stamp blank cards to make a set of notecards for Mom.  The cut end of a celery bunch makes a lovely rose.
• Envelope seals and/or return address labels.  Purchase dot stickers or blank return address labels.  If doing return address labels, pre-print the address, but leaf a blank space to one side.  Then let the kids decorate them.
• Buy unfinished wooden napkin rings and let the kids paint them.
• Speaking of painting, personalize something.  Buy a generic hand mirror, whisk broom, hairbrush, etc. and paint it to make it unique.
• Let them glue pretty buttons (or other beautiful or interesting small objects) to earring posts or necklace bails.  (If your earrings don’t include them, be sure to buy backs!)
• Bigger kids can braid strips from old t-shirts to create fabric necklaces.  (Skip the tie-dye and just start with colored shirts.  The beads are optional, too.)
• This necklace is also an accessible project for older children.
• This bracelet is a pretty messy project, but grade-school children (all but the youngest) can probably manage it.
• This faux stained glass is an even messier project.  You probably don’t want children making it without close oversight.  However, the actual creation is something they should be able to handle, making their projects their own.
• Create clay medallions.  Roll out a slab of clay, place a flower on top, gently roll over it with a rolling pin to make an impression, then carefully remove it before allowing the clay to dry/harden.  If desired, paint the dry medallion, using a different color inside the impression than for the rest of the medallion. (This is another picture for which I cannot find an origin.  If you know where to find the original source,  please let me know.)