Recommended Age: 4 and ½ to 6 years
Purpose: To give the child a practical life skill which they will use in everyday scenarios (birthdays, Christmas etc)
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, the adult must present this exercise to the child for the first time, then the child may work independently
Prerequisites
- The child must have a good level of control using scissors
- The child is able to use judgement to measure and compare sizes (when determining how much wrapping paper to use)
- The child must have a good degree of fine motor control and coordination
Materials
- Small box
- Sticky tape
- A roll of wrapping paper
- Scissors
Preparation
- Locate an appropriately sized box to use (a small gift box of no more than 15 x 15 cm (these can be found in 2-dollar shops or other party supply stores), you may like to secure the lid of the box closed with sticky tape so that it doesn’t come off when the box is being turned during wrapping
Steps
- Invite the child, letting them know that you are going to show them how to wrap a present
- Let the child know they will need sticky tape and scissors and they may bring them to their table
- Show the child how to place the box face down on top of the gift wrap, leaving the paper attached to roll
- Use the scissors to cut along one side, letting the child know that the sheet needs to be wide enough to cover both sides of the box
- While standing on the same side of the table as the roll, show the child how to pull the paper tautly up and over the far end of the box
- Adhere with sticky tape, and crease paper along the box’s edge with your thumb and forefinger
- Unroll paper and bring it to meet the already wrapped end, cut paper from roll, leaving an inch of overhang
- Fold that inch under and crease along the fold, adhere using sticky tape
- Show the child how to push the sides of the paper inward, creating four 45-degree-angle flaps, then crease along flaps
- Fold down top flap, crease sharply along the top of box, then crease again where paper meets the bottom edge of box
- Cut paper along that bottom crease, adhere to the box
- Fold under any excess paper on the bottom flap so that it lines up perfectly with the top of box
- Apply sticky tape to the bottom flap, then fold it over the top flap and adhere
- Repeat as above for the other end
- Invite the child to now unwrap the box and have a turn, staying with the child to supervise and provide assistance
Variations
- Tying a ribbon onto the box