Good "DIY" projects for 11-year old

November 13, 2014 9:29 AM

This year for Christmas, my daughter has decided everyone has to do a "DIY" gift for everyone else. So I'm looking for input on some good ideas for my 11-year old son.

The challenge with this is that his "reach exceeds his grasp" a bit - so he gets frustrated when he makes things that aren't as high-quality as he'd like, but he's still 11, so he's not exactly a master craftsman.

I'm looking for any and all ideas of things he can make - no real boundaries at this point, as he'll pick and choose based on his preference.

posted by dotgirl to Grab Bag (27 answers total)

Candles?
posted by 256 at 9:32 AM on November 13, 2014

My 11 year old son recently made up his own board game, and it is actually pretty good and playable. It's just sketched out on a piece of cardboard and some scraps of paper used for cards, but wouldn't take much work to make it giftworthy.
posted by saffry at 9:38 AM on November 13, 2014

I loved making soap when I was about that age. You can get all the supplies at Michael's or similar.

Around that same time I painted a sign for my dad to hang in his garden. I also made some really ugly pottery things for my mom, but if imperfect products will frustrate him, that's probably not ideal.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 9:38 AM on November 13, 2014

Beading projects are pretty straight-forward and come out nice. Or how about rubber stamped stationary or thank you card sets? Framed family pictures (one can decorate the frames with glued-on items)? I saw a business card holder made of lego recently, that was pretty cool. Baked items?
posted by cabbagesnkings at 9:42 AM on November 13, 2014

Does he like Minecraft? Maybe he could make a fun landscape for everyone?
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:44 AM on November 13, 2014

Food-mixes-in-jars can be a great thing. The "instructions" for actually making them usually amount to little more complicated work than "purchase ingredients, dump into jar, print out the baking instructions and paste them onto a card, wrap and give." You can gild the lily by layering things in the jar first, even. Mostly you'll find cookie mixes, but there are also DIY dip mixes, soup mixes, drink mixes....

There are many guides to producing food-mixes-in-jars out there.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:49 AM on November 13, 2014 [4 favorites]

Ooh! My mom used to give her friends Amish Friendship Bread at the holidays (both a small loaf and a sample of the starter in case they wanted to make their own). It's not difficult to make, so I think most 11 year olds could do it with supervision.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 9:58 AM on November 13, 2014

Do his talents skew more towards drawing or painting? I've seen blank puzzles at various craft stores.
posted by missriss89 at 10:00 AM on November 13, 2014

Paracord bracelets/keychains are good because if you mess up, you can just undo them and try again. (Using a clipboard and binder clips to hold the cord down can help a lot.)

Something else where if you mess up, you can just start over: The green Knifty Knitter is hat sized.
posted by gnomeloaf at 10:05 AM on November 13, 2014

Candy? If you mix peanut butter and cream cheese and icing sugar in proportions that taste good to you, and then dip it in melted chocolate and leave it to harden, it's quite good, and even little kids can do it. You can make different shapes with the peanut butter mix, you can use white and milk and dark chocolate to vary the look, you can decorate with sprinkles, etc. Rock candy is less tasty but also easy. Buttermints are pretty simple if you have a stand mixer, and can be made in pretty much any flavour.
posted by kmennie at 10:06 AM on November 13, 2014

My son made rolled beeswax candles at that age, and even very young children can do it. It's a simple craft that turns out very well. You should be able to get rolled beeswax sheets in many colours as well as the wick, but even the natural colours look very nice. There are videos all over the web.
posted by angiep at 10:17 AM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

ooh, piggybacking on angiep's idea - ice candles! That link is much more comprehensive, but gives a thorough idea of the basic concept - before you pour the melted wax into the candle mold, dump some crushed ice in first. The wax pours in amongst the ice, and the ice melts away and leaves these lacey holes in your candle. Sand Candles are another idea.

those are both profoundly "hippie" in terms of crafting, but they're also easy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:32 AM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Duct tape wallets would be cool and there are a lot of other ideas for things kids can make on the brand's website, Duck Tape Crafts. And FYI, here is the explanation for the two different spellings.
posted by maxg94 at 10:33 AM on November 13, 2014

I visited the Chihuly glass museum over the weekend and now I want to try some of the faux Chihuly DIY melty plastic cups. Less melting makes them look like a candy dish, more melting and they can become elements of a mobile or stand-alone art pieces. Aren't they cool?
posted by rekrap at 10:40 AM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Bookbinding can be fairly simple or more complex, but even the simple methods produce a lovely result, not at all beyond the abilities of the average 11 year old.
posted by fancyoats at 10:41 AM on November 13, 2014

Marble magnets were all the rage in like 2006, but he's 11, so he won't remember that. They're easy and fun and can be personalized with images from people's favorite hobbies, TV shows, or whatever.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:45 AM on November 13, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure who comprises "everyone else" - but depending on the size of your family/group, he could do a scrapbook telling your story through his eyes. He writes the text and chooses the pictures. It could be high tech or low tech. The dotgirl Family History!
posted by rainbaby at 10:49 AM on November 13, 2014

There are a lot of cool and simple projects that can be done with polymer clay. It's great because if you mess up, you can always smush it all back up and start over, and then once it's perfect, you bake it.

When I was around that age, I was really into making jewelry--this page has some basic projects that would make nice gifts.
posted by iximox at 11:39 AM on November 13, 2014

He could use Lumi to make sun-prints on t-shirts or other fabric things. The results are great!
posted by Room 641-A at 11:58 AM on November 13, 2014

I 'll second food mixes in jars, as that was my plan to get my preschooler more involved with gift-giving.
posted by tchemgrrl at 12:11 PM on November 13, 2014

Get him a Raspberry Pi. That is a very small computer that can be used for a variety of projects. I think 11 is the perfect age and in fact, the Raspberry Pi was designed to teach kids computers. There has also been a huge uptake by hobbyists who use the board to control various bits of homemade electronics. The range of intriguing projects is stunning. If your son likes games, there are game emulators that would let him play the old classics.
posted by PickeringPete at 1:43 PM on November 13, 2014

Do you enjoy making music? How about a bongo cajon kit? The quality of the materials is very good, and everything is pre-cut. The sound quality of the resulting product is quite passable. You and your 11 year-old could do a custom paint job and assemble this in a weekend.
posted by gox3r at 2:11 PM on November 13, 2014

There are some cool projects in this book: The Dangerous Book for Boys. My boys loved it. Some involving lots of parental input, some not.
posted by brownrd at 2:18 PM on November 13, 2014

I went through a phase making melt-and-pour soap and it was quite fun, and a kid could totally do it. You can customize with colors and fragrances. You can get started soap supplies at Michael's, or go nuts online at Brambleberry. Lots of tutorials and ideas on their related site, Soap Queen.

I found really cute silicone ice molds at Dollar Tree and made holiday-themed ones. The Christmas trees were so cute! I filled the whole molds with green, let them harden, then cut off the bottoms, put the trees back in and made the trunks brown. Put them in a little cello bag with ribbon, and people loved them.
posted by radioamy at 2:22 PM on November 13, 2014

Can you use knives at 11? How about one of those "fake books to hide stuff" where you cut out the middle of the pages of the book to create a secret hiding place?
posted by trialex at 3:43 PM on November 13, 2014

Instructables.com is a great website for DIY ideas and instructions. If you poke around there you may find some good ideas.
posted by nalyd at 4:33 PM on November 13, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks to everyone who responded! My son looked at all of the answers, and has decided that he wants to go with "recipes in a jar".

Extra good news is that these give me ideas for my DIY gifts. So thank you all again!
posted by dotgirl at 1:38 PM on November 15, 2014