’Tis the season to get crafting! This Christmas, create wonderful holiday memories with your children by crafting alongside them with our collection of fun Christmas crafts for kids, which range from cute card ideas to adorable ornaments.
Holiday crafts contribute to the wonder of the holidays and help make memories your family will treasure. You can make each of these clever Christmas crafts with just a few supplies and add some homemade flair to your holiday celebrations.
Christmas Crafting Party: Set aside a couple hours this holiday season to spend some quality time making Christmas crafts together. Your party can be as simple or as complicated as you want. Just pour some cider, put on your favorite holiday tunes, and enjoy each other’s company. The most important thing is spending time together doing a peaceful, creative activity.
1. DIY nativity ornament
Looking for a cute handmade ornament to make with your kids? This DIY nativity ornament by Heathered Nest is a great choice because it’s simple and inexpensive to make.
Nothing is more special than all the adorable handmade ornaments kids make every year. It’s fun to decorate the tree every year with the prized collection of kid-made ornaments, and each ornament helps reinforce happy holiday memories. Kids will always remember the process of making the ornament, and putting them up on the tree only gets more special as the years go by.
Supplies: This nativity ornament craft uses common supplies you may have overlooked while you were in the kitchen baking holiday treats! So while you’re in the kitchen, grab some cinnamon sticks and peanuts to use for this craft. You’ll also need googly eyes, hot glue, felt, and twine to complete the project.
Parent help: While this craft is simple, it requires the use of hot glue so be sure to supervise your kiddos while they work on making these Nativity ornaments. If your kids are very small, you will have to assemble most of the craft for them, but allow them to choose the color of felt, as well as indicating the placement of the googly eyes.
Nativity package tie-on: If you’re looking for a way to jazz up your holiday gifts, make a few extra DIY nativity ornaments and use them as a tie-on for your wrapped Christmas gifts.
2. No-sew sock penguin Christmas ornament
Looking for an ahhh-dorable Christmas craft to make with your kids? This no-sew sock penguin Christmas ornament by Up On Tippy Toes is the perfect project to make with grade school or middle school kids. A pair of socks transformed into an adorable Christmas penguin? Sign us up!
Not only is this craft the cutest, it’s also completely no-sew, which makes it the perfect project to make with kids. Adults will need to provide guidance and man the glue gun. Try to make a penguin on your own first so you can understand how to help kids assemble them.
Because they use small socks, these pint-sized penguins are the perfect size for ornaments. Make one for every person in your family, and don’t forget to add the year to the ornament for posterity. If you’re feeling extra creative, add details to the penguins that indicate each family member’s interests or appearance.
Supplies: Check your laundry room’s lonely sock bin for spare socks to use for this project or take a quick trip to the dollar store to stock up on socks and a few other supplies you need to create these penguin ornaments.
Penguin gifts: Looking for a good kid-made gift to give teachers, grandparents, or other family friends? Make a few extra penguins while you are crafting and tuck them into a gift bag as a cute present for the special people in your life.
Penguin party: This penguin craft is the perfect activity for a kids’ Christmas party. Just add a hot chocolate bar, some Christmas cookies, and of course, a perfect holiday playlist to add a festive atmosphere.
3. DIY reindeer finger puppets
Christmas is a magical time of year, no matter your age. And whatever the age, there’s a perfect Christmas craft for your kiddo. If you have small children, help them enjoy the magic of pretend with these sweet DIY reindeer finger puppets by I Heart Crafty Things.
This finger puppet craft is simple and quick, and it’s a great project for preschoolers or grade schoolers to make. Younger kids will need adult help to cut the pieces of the puppet, but they can dot glue and add googly eyes all by themselves. Older kids will be able to handle making the whole craft from start to finish.
Kids will have fun assembling the puppets, but the real fun starts when they get to play with them! Help kids create a small puppet theater out of a shoe box and some scrap fabric to really spark their creativity. Children can perform a finger puppet play for the family or record their own scenes on video.
Supplies: Find the supplies you need for this craft at your local craft store. You will need card stock, glue, red rhinestones, googly eyes, and small clothespins.
4. DIY elf fingerprint craft
One of the best ways to celebrate Christmas with kids (and capture a moment in time) is to make keepsake Christmas crafts featuring your child’s adorable little fingerprints. Learn how to transform fingerprints into a cute little elf with Crafty Morning’s DIY fingerprint elf craft.
Fingerprints are the perfect tool for creating memorable Christmas crafts because they are unique to your child at their exact age. When you make fingerprint crafts, they are easy candidates for keepsakes that you can tuck into your child’s memory box or keep in your Christmas decoration box to bring out year after year. Your child will continue to grow, but their fingerprints will stay small and remind you of all the wonderful Christmas memories you’ve had together over the years.
Supplies: You just need a couple colors of acrylic paint, a permanent marker, and some paper to make these cute little elves. If you like, add glitter, stickers, rhinestones, or any other embellishment you like.
Painting tips: Stir a drop of dish soap into each color of paint to make the paint easier to wash off hands, clothes, or your work surface. Keep a wet dish rag or paper towel near your work area so you can clean messy hands immediately after making the fingerprint art.
Fingerprint elf ornament: After your paint dries, laminate the elves and then cut them out. Punch a hole in the top and add a string to create an instant ornament. You can also take several fingerprint elves and tie them to a piece of ribbon to create a cute garland decoration.
Fingerprint elf Christmas card: Alternately, make Christmas cards featuring the fingerprint elves you made. Either scan the elf art and incorporate it into a Christmas card design that you can print on your printer (or send away to print professionally), or make many fingerprint elves and glue them to Christmas-colored notecards.
Fingerprint elf gift tags: Use the fingerprint elves to make gift tags to tie onto holiday gifts for friends, family, or teachers.
5. Paper Christmas lights garland
The only thing better than a fresh strand of Christmas lights hanging in the window is this handmade paper Christmas light garland, as shared by Stubbornly Crafty. Create a beautiful strand of folded paper lights to drape across your mantle or hang from your favorite window.
This paper craft is simple and clever, and it’s the perfect choice for tweens and teens who want to get crafty during the holidays. Younger children can also make this craft, but adults will need to prepare the paper strips for them before they begin and supervise use of the hot glue gun.
Supplies: Head straight to the paper crafting aisle of your local craft supplies story to pick up the necessary materials for this craft. You’ll need multiple colors of card stock, a paper trimmer, paper scorer, hole punch, ribbon, and glue.
Paper Christmas light ornament: Instead of making an entire garland, use single paper light bulbs as ornaments. Tie a piece of twine to each bulb to make many individual ornaments, perfect for decorating a Christmas tree, or tie an individual paper light bulb to a gift to use as a gift tag.
Crafting with kids is one of the most precious ways to spend the holidays. Sit down and craft with them to create truly special memories they will carry with them always. Each of these Christmas crafts for kids is an inspiring way to celebrate the holidays, get creative, and spend quality time together. Make time for holiday crafting with family.