Christmas Crafts for Kids
From LoveToKnow Crafts
Are you looking for Christmas crafts for kids? Crafts made by your children for Christmas will become treasured keepsakes you can pull out every year and remember when your child made them. Even when he or she is grown, you will have something tangible to remember those long-ago celebrations. Here are some ideas for crafts you can do with your kids.
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Christmas Crafts for Kids: Ornaments
Probably the most popular of the Christmas crafts for children are Christmas tree ornaments. Kids make them at school and at youth groups, and they become a fond memory for the parents whose tree they grace.
But it can also be fun to make ornaments with your kids, and there are many options for different kinds you can make quickly and easily:
- Picture frame ornaments: Buy an ornament made from a picture frame or make a small picture frame out of cardboard. Have your child decorate it with markers, paint, stickers, collage, whatever he or she wants. Slide that year’s school picture in the frame (be sure to label it somewhere so you know which year it is from) and hang it on the tree.
- Candy cane reindeer: A really quick craft is to make antlers out of brown pipe cleaners, twist them onto the cane (use a bit of glue to secure them to the top of the “head”) and glue eyes to the hook part so that it looks like a reindeer. These can be used as decorations around the house, but if you use glue on them you probably won’t want to eat them.
- Glass balls: Those ubiquitous clear glass balls are actually very versatile for making lots of different kinds of ornaments. See Christmas Crafts for more ideas, but consider putting something in the ball, decorating the outside with paint pens, markers, stickers, rubber stamps or decoupage, or just giving your child free reign in the craft supplies to decorate as he or she sees fit. This is a great project for the whole family or for a Christmas party full of children.
- Dough crafts: We probably all remember making Christmas ornaments out of dough that you cut out, color and bake and they make an almost-permanent ornament. It’s such a popular craft for schools there are instructions on this lesson plans site. Make the dough, roll it out, use cookie cutters to make your shapes (or cut free form), poke a hole in the top for the hook to go through, bake for a few minutes and decorate with food coloring, markers, paint, glitter or any combination. Allow to dry before hanging.
- Pony bead ornaments: Look for plastic beads (use plain round pony beads or “tri” beads that stack together) in red, green, white and clear colors. Use beading wire, string, or pipe cleaners to string your beads into the shape of a wreath (green with red at the top, or red, green and clear alternating) candy cane (red and white alternating) or, if you’re really talented, a snowflake or some other design of your choosing. Pipe cleaners or heavy-gauge wire will help your design keep its shape. You could also use these as napkin rings, wine glass tags or as an extra little something cute attached to your presents.
- Pine Cone Ornament: Pine cones make wonderful ornaments and they're so easy to make. Collect an assortment of pine cones, large to medium sized cones work best. Place them in a ziplock or air tight bag for a week or two, to cut off the air supply for any bugs that might be inhabiting the pine cones. When you're ready to decorate, there are so may options. Dab glue around the pine cone and roll in glitter, or paint the pine cone with metallic or sparkly paint. Older kids can spray the pine cone with gold or silver spray paint or even spray snow. Tie the stem of the pine cone with a ribbon, and it's ready to hang. These make great gifts from grandchildren.
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Other Christmas Crafts for kids
- Snowflakes: Fold a piece of white paper in half (or fold more times) and cut out pieces from around the edge and the inside. Unfold and use your snowflakes to decorate windows, as a table runner or wherever you like.
- Candle creations: Candles are a great way to decorate in winter, and kids can help by decorating plain glass votive candle holders in any of the ways described under glass balls above. Or make luminaries to decorate inside or out, using heavy paper bags (you can often find white, red or green ones at the after-Christmas sales). Just cut some shapes out of the bag (both sides), place a votive candle in its holder inside and light the candle.
- Wreaths: Have each child trace their hands and make a wreath out of handprint cutouts. Or cut the middle part out of a paper plate and have your child decorate the outside part of the plate and hang this “wreath” on their door. Or make gingerbread people cutouts and form a wreath or wall decoration from those (if you have a big wall in a play room, make a gingerbread man Advent calendar, and have the kids take down one cutout each day). Older kids can help you make more traditional wreaths out of holly or grapevine sprigs.
- Christmas “trees”: Make trees of felt to decorate walls, use as coasters on the coffee table or to sew (or Velcro) to a pillow. If you have babies and older kids, you can make one of those ever-popular trees made of baby food jars (see instructions here).
- Placemats: Buy vinyl placemats in various colors, or that match. Let kids decorate one (using fabric paints, stencils, etc.) for each person who will be attending Christmas dinner (or Christmas breakfast or lunch, if you don’t want to use the placemats at your big fancy dinner). Other relatives will love this “gift” from your kids.
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This page has been accessed 23,509 times. This page was last modified 06:16, 18 September 2006.
© 2006-2009 LoveToKnow Corp.
This page has been accessed 23,509 times. This page was last modified 06:16, 18 September 2006.
© 2006-2009 LoveToKnow Corp.
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