*Also published on FamiliesofMultiples.com
Christmas time is a great time of year for all and a wonderful, almost magical, time for children. Spread some joy in your house by spending some time with the kids creating these great Holiday crafts. They'll love the time you spend with them, and it can be a lot of fun. A happy byproduct of your Holiday crafts? Most double as decorations or Christmas ornaments that, if taken care of, can be pulled out year after year.
Finger Print Ornament
This craft doubles as a keepsake that can be revisited yearly whenever you decorate your tree. Paint your kid's finger white and have them press it onto an ornament. Once dry, add the snowman accessories, like the hat and buttons. So that the memory is retained forever, have your child sign and date the ornament as well. Want a whole family of snowmen? Use your child's whole handprint and decorate accordingly!
Christmas Light Rudolph
To turn an ordinary Christmas light into a reindeer craft, glue googly eyes onto the light and a red pompom on as its nose. Use a brown pipe cleaner to wrap around the top of the light as the reindeer's antlers. You can experiment with other characters as well. Add a paper hat and draw on a carrot nose for a snowman. A red and white hat, and a white beard becomes Santa Claus. You can create the entire North Pole!
Felt Wreath
One of our easiest holiday crafts. Cut out red and green wreath shapes from felt, keeping the green wreath slightly smaller. Paste the green wreath centered onto the red one. Finally, add buttons, pom poms, or other small pieces around the green wreath as decorations (We've even see some people use breakfast cereal like Cheerios. Finally, add a string to the top of your wreath to convert the work of art it into an ornament.
Popsicle Stick Snowman
Paint a Popsicle stick white and then allow it to dry. Then, decorate the stick with pieces of felt as the snowman's hat and scarf. Add buttons as the buttons on the snowman's chest. Finally, draw on a face and carrot nose. This is another activity where you can use your imagination and create other seasonal characters. Maybe create the cast from your child's favorite Holiday movie, and have them put on a play!
Sew a Stocking
Draw a stocking on a sheet of paper, and then have your child cut it out. It can be colored in, but you can also help with your child's dexterity by having them thread yarn around the stocking. Simply punch holes around the perimeter of the cut-out about 2 inches apart. Then give your child a piece of string or yarn that is long enough to thread through the holes. Have them glue cotton balls on the sock to add a fun texture!
Flower Pot Reindeer
Using a small terracotta flower pot, glue eyes and a red pompom nose on as its face. Then, glue a brown pipe cleaner onto the top as your reindeer's antlers. The color of the pot works out great for reindeer because it's brown. Feeling adventurous? Paint the flower pot white first, and turn it into a snowman. You can also get crazy and create Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and all of the workshop elves at the North Pole.
Hand Print Snowmen
Have your child press their painted-white hand onto a piece of construction paper. Once dry, decorate each finger as a separate snowman. You can make it an entire snowperson family! (If your family has more than 5 people, you may have to use two hands...lol) Draw in snowflakes around your snowmen and add a few pine trees in the background to make it look like they're all standing in a winter wonderland.
Paper Plate Santa
Cut a large triangle out of red construction paper as the base of this craft. Cut a paper plate in half and color in only the inner part of the plate as Santa's face. Add eyes and a red nose and mustache. The outside part of the plate will act as the beard. Then add a brim to the hat using a piece of white construction paper cut into a rectangle shape. Finally add the ball for the top of the hat by cutting a circle shape out of white paper.
Puzzle Piece Christmas Tree
This is a great craft if you have any puzzles with missing pieces you've been meaning to throw away. Paint puzzle pieces green and glue to a triangle shape of cardboard, also painted green. Leave a brown, unpainted puzzle piece at the bottom of your creation as the trunk of the tree. Add different color beads as the trees decorations. Finally, like many crafts in this list, add a loop of yarn to turn your craft into an ornament.
Candy Advent Calendar
Whether you have an advent calendar you've purchased somewhere or one you've handmade like the one in this image, your children will enjoy counting down the days 'til Christmas. Some you open a door each day to see a figurine, picture, or treat behind the door. This homemade one? You glue 25 pieces of candy to a large poster board and, each day you take off a piece of candy and eat it! Make sure to use wrapped candy.
Hand Print Reindeer
This is one of those classic holiday crafts. Paint your child's hand with brown fingerpaint, and have them stamp their hand onto a piece of construction paper. Use the same color paint to branch off from the fingers, creating "antlers". If you don't have a small paint brush, you can also use a brown marker to do this part. Once dry, decorate the reindeer with eyes and a nose, making sure to use a red one for Rudolph.
Pinky Print Snowman
Paint one of your kid's pinkies white and the other black. Then, have them dot away at a piece of construction paper to form a snowman made out of only dots. Make sure to give them some paint to dip into as their pinkies run out of paint. It's preschool pointillism! Details like an orange carrot nose or a red scarf can be drawn in after the paint dries with marker, or if you have red and orange paint, have them "dot" away!
Character Ornaments
Creating a homemade ornaments based on your kid's favorite characters (like the TMNT ornaments in this picture) will be something your kids will cherish them for years to come. Each time they put them on the tree they will get a glimpse into the past and of the different things they liked over the years. They will also get a kick out of how their art skills have changed (hopefully for the better) as they've gotten older.
Paper Plate Wreaths
This is one of our favorite holiday crafts. Simply cut a hole out of the center of a paper plate and color the rest in with green crayon. To make things really easy, you can buy festive green plastic plates at the store for the holidays, and use a couple of those. Now glue buttons, pom poms, or other small do-dads around your wreath as decorations. Finally, add a construction paper (or even real one) to the bottom and hang!
Cotton Ball Santa
Use a white paper plate to make Santa's face, adding construction paper eyes and a big red nose. Then cut out a hat shape from red construction paper and glue to the top of the plate. Finally, glue cotton balls onto the face as the beard. The more cotton balls, the fuller (and softer) Santa's beard is! Add more cotton balls to the bottom edge of the hat as the brim, and a final one at the tip of the hat for the full Santa effect.
Reindeer Hats
This is one of those holiday crafts that never gets old. With brown construction paper, trace your children's hands and cut them out. Staple/Tape them to a red loop of construction paper, sized to your children's heads. You've just made an instant reindeer hat! If you make a bunch of these beforehand that haven't been sized, you can write names on the front, and present them as people arrive for a holiday party!
Hand Print Wreaths
Paint your kid's hands green this time and have them stamp white construction paper over and over, making sure that the handprints don't overlap. Cut out about 8 hands and glue them together in a circle. Add a bow at the bottom, and hang the craft up as the most special wreath you'll ever have. This is one of those holiday crafts that you can do year after year to see how your child is growing. (At least their hand is.)
Lollipop Christmas Tree
Paint a Styrofoam cone green, or some craft stores will already have them pre-made this color for flower decorators. The next step is to shove lollipops in all around the cone to act as your tree's branches. It's a really easy craft, and, when the holidays are over, your kids have a treat waiting on them! This would also make a fun advent calendar idea, with 24 lollipops in the tree, and your child getting one each day.
These Holiday crafts should keep you busy through the season, spending time with your kids, having fun, and getting into the spirit of Christmas. Let us know how it goes by sending in some pictures of your creations.
For more fun the rest of the year, be sure to check out our other craft ideas.