November 6, 2018

Make a DIY Crayon Holder | Handmade Gift Inspiration

Inside: Perfect for a homemade gift for a child or toddler; how to make a DIY Crayon Holder; customize it with paint, stencils or stickers.

Welcome back to the Handmade Gift Inspiration portion of this year’s Christmas series! My aim this year is to give you some ideas for homemade DIY gifts for the holidays that aren’t necessarily ‘holiday themed’ and this DIY Crayon Holder fits the bill perfectly.

In case you missed it, make sure you check out yesterday’s DIY Tablet Stand tutorial and the inspiration for a holiday miniature fairy garden! If you’re looking for another gift idea suitable for a little person, you should also check out my toddler busy board.

Supplies for a DIY Crayon Holder

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Tools for a DIY Crayon Holder

In-Depth Step-by-Step for a DIY Crayon Holder

Step One: Cut your Wood to Size

In my case, I wanted my crayon holder to be fairly small and compact. I eyeballed it and decided to build it to fit 12 crayons. Six inches was ideal for this size, but you could easily double the size and cut your wood to 12″ to add more crayons, it’s totally up to you.

I used my mitre saw to cut each of my 1×2, 1×3 and 1×4 to 6″ long.

Step Two: Sand and Paint

My daughter loves blue and she has a bit of a theme of blues and aquas in her room, so I stuck with a tone on tone blue for the wood pieces. I think this is your chance to make this your own and go to town with colour. Do stripes, a rainbow, you could stain it to keep the wood grain. Whatever you like! Make sure you sand the boards down well before painting.

Step Three: Glue and Drill the holes

Using my heavy duty glue gun, I secured my wood into a step formation. Then again, I eyeballed where I thought the crayons should go and used a 1/2 inch drill bit to create holes large enough to put the crayons in. It’s super important that you drill deep enough – essentially through the 1×2 and 1×3 or the crayons won’t stand up straight.

I started out with a 1/4″bit and quickly realized that wouldn’t be large enough – 1/2″ is the way to go for sure. I ended up having to touch up the paint a bit afterwards, but no big deal.

The other thing I did was add a few finishing nails into the top two levels to give it some extra hold. This is entirely optional, but I like to make sure anything that is going to be handled by kids won’t fall apart – ya know?

Step Four: Finish!

The drilled holes will be a bit jagged, so you’ll want to roll up a piece of sand paper and smooth them out before putting your crayons inside.

I got the cutest little zoo animal stickers at Michael’s and they fit perfectly around the edges of my crayon holder! I love how it has a circus feel and emphasizes the kid-friendly nature of this project.