Families For Life | 12 Days of Christmas Crafts
Craft activities are a wonderful way to keep children entertained while honing fine motor skills. With the Christmas season coming up, there’s no better time to make the kids busy and helpful with the holiday decorating, while spending time together! This is also a great opportunity to use saved recyclable or scrap materials and turn them into something appropriate for the most wonderful time of the year.
Read on for 12 kid-friendly crafty ideas for the Christmas season!
Paper plate Christmas masks
What’s fun without pretending you are Santa or a jolly snowman? All you need are paper plates and some basic crafting supplies. Guide your child to cut out the inner circle of the paper plate. Then, decorate the left-over paper plate rim using craft paper, wool, pom-pom, buttons, or whatever you have at home!
Paper plate snowflakes
While you have the paper plates out, why not make the tried-and-true paper snowflakes to go along with the masks? They’d make a great activity for a group of kids too, so invite your kids’ friends or cousins over for a day of crafty fun!
Stick ornaments
Next time you roam the park or the playground, ask your kids to pick up their favourite-looking sticks. When you get home, give them a good clean before turning them into Christmas-themed decorations. Use festive-coloured thread, cloth scraps, pom-poms, and more to turn the sticks into stars, snowflakes, or Christmas trees. The possibilities are endless and decorating is just the beginning!
Christmas candy pots
Candy pots are great for kids to share Christmas sweets with friends or loved ones. They can also add some fun and character to dinner tables, or be used as quirky cups to serve drinks! If you have sauce containers from takeaways or mini pots from your plant parent phase, this is the best craft to use them for. Make sure any holes are sealed up before leaving it to the kids to decorate it however they like. Fill the pots with treats or drinks, and voilá!
Sock snowmen
Do you have socks missing their other half lying around? These sock snowmen fit perfectly on coffee tables and display sets, and would still make adorable decorations for bookshelves or bedrooms! Aside from socks, you’ll need rubber bands and uncooked rice to form the snowman. After that, it’s free reign for the kids to accessorise the snowmen.
Recycled Christmas baubles
Are your Christmas tree decorations looking dull or boring? Take advantage of your kids’ creativity to give baubles a new look. Let your kids paint them, decoupage them, glue things to them, dip them – the options are endless! The best part is that you can hang them up on the Christmas tree afterward and let your kids show off their amazing work!
Christmas tree advent calendar
Store-bought advent calendars are so last year. This year, add a personal touch to your advent calendar by making your own! Get your kids to craft and decorate some mini Christmas trees, and use them to store chocolates, toys, candy, and other advent calendar treats. Glue the trees onto a board to keep the treats hidden and create a snowscape to add to the festivities. When the season rolls around, your kids can pop the trees open and enjoy the treats you’ve prepared!
Toilet roll reindeer
Who wouldn’t enjoy a squad of reindeer to accompany the Christmas season? If you have toilet paper rolls lying around, with a little crafting magic, you can have a herd of cute toilet roll reindeer to decorate your shelves or even the Christmas tree. Let your kids paint, add googly eyes, create pipe cleaner antlers and a pom-pom nose and you got yourselves some adorable holiday deer!
Popsicle stick snowflakes
With just a few popsicle sticks, glue, and some paint or glitter, little ones can create unique snowflakes to hang on the tree or decorate windows, adding a touch of winter magic to your home.
Ugly sweater gift decor
Whether you’re on the ugly Christmas sweater train or not, you can’t deny that they make perfect accompaniments to holiday gifts, adding a touch of humour and holiday cheer to any present. Your kids will love getting to decorate little felt sweaters in ways that remind them of the gift’s recipient.
Paper gingerbread house
A longer-lasting alternative to a Christmas classic! While building the house might be more suited for the older ones, decorating it with candies, paper cut outs and designs will be a blast for the little ones. Everyone in the family can enjoy making this one-of-a-kind “gingerbread” house to add to the festivities!
12 Days of Christmas bookmarks
As an ode to the beloved Christmas carol, why not suggest the kids create a series of 12 unique bookmarks, each inspired by a verse from the song? From partridges to drummers, these make great gifts or stocking stuffers for fellow book lovers.
Crafting together is a wonderful way to slow down and enjoy the magic of the holiday season as a family. So, gather around the craft table, break out the supplies, and enjoy every moment of making the holiday season even more magical!