Writing in the present
It's el cheapo Christmas in our household this year, so I'm making my boys some wordy presents, and it got me thinking — what other presents could I make with a few dollars, a laptop, and a printer? I'd love to get more suggestions in the comments. Recipe bookFor the Cat, I'm making a recipe book. I've got a large notebook with ruled lines and divider cards, which I'll use to divide the book into a few sections (snacks and salads, soups and stews, etc). I've used a photo of the Cat as the base for the cover, and I'm typing up his favourite recipes to stick in the first few pages of each section (spaghetti bolognaise, raw fish salad, chicken noodle soup, etc). I hope that as he gets more into cooking, he will add his own recipes in the blank pages. Alphabet bookFor the Rabbit, I'm making an alphabet book. I've got a folder with clear plastic sleeves, and for each letter of the alphabet, I'll do a cover page with the letter in upper and lower case. Then I thought I could find pictures of animals and other Rabbit-friendly things for each letter. I'll print out the pictures and stick them on bits of coloured card, which can slot into the appropriate sleeves. At this stage, the wee one will just pull out the pictures and look at them, but as he grows, he can start to learn which pictures go with which letters. Bird migration mapThis is not so wordy, but the Cat and I are working on a present for a little cousin. We'll get a map of the world and trace the migration paths of different birds on it. We thought we could put pictures of each bird at their winter and summer homes. Children's booksThe Cat likes to think big, and he's writing a chapter book to give to friends and family. I'm not sure how it will turn out, but so far there's bug collecting, animals, fancy equipment, and some very unusual names. Homemade calendarOne of our best Christmas presents was a calendar illustrated with bird paintings done by the Cat. We photographed the paintings and imported them into a calendar-making application. Although I have to say that it didn't work out all that cheap by the time we paid for the printing and binding. Scrappy poemThe Cat and I are making poems out of words and phrases cut from magazines. The first poem is a little... odd. Maybe we need to up the quality of our source material?