Arts and crafts are instrumental in the development of children. Holiday crafts are fun. They grab kids’ attention while teaching them valuable life skills. Regular crafting improves children’s motor skills, encourages bonding, boosts creativity, and helps children gain confidence.
If you haven’t introduced your children to arts and crafts already, the holiday season is the perfect time to start. Crafts stimulate children’s young minds while getting them in the holiday spirit.
So break out the glitter, red and green construction paper, and festive, sparkly pom-poms. For lasting memories and the best crafting experiences, keep holiday craft projects for kids simple, fun, and lighthearted. Use crafting as a bonding moment. Celebrate the season with these playful, kid-friendly craft ideas below.
Make Unique Ornaments
Christmas ornaments or baubles date back thousands of years. People all over the world decorated the first trees with fruits and nuts until Hans Greiner began making glass baubles in 1609.
Celebrate tradition and add a personal touch to your Christmas tree this year with unique, handmade ornaments. These ornaments not only add a one-of-a-kind touch to your holiday decorations but also create lasting memories for years to come. Get started with these Christmas crafts and ornaments even young children can make.
One idea is festive, pine cone ornaments. The possibilities for this craft run the gamut. Challenge your child to get creative. Purchase fake snow, paints, glitter, small, colorful pom-poms, string, and ribbon, and see what they can come up with. If your child needs more direction, Better Homes and Gardens recommends making whimsical, holiday elf pine cone ornaments. Use a pine cone as the elf’s body. Attach a largen, wooden bead for the elf’s head. Use ribbon or pipe cleaners to make the elves scarves and felt and mini pom-poms to put together small, festive elf hats. Use felt-tip markers or paint pens to draw the elf’s face on the wooden bead.
Whatever way you choose to go, use the project as a learning opportunity. Ask children to identify the color of paints and glitter and ask children to count pom-poms. Make it fun and a seamless part of the crafting process.
Another idea is to purchase clear glass balls and explore the possibilities. Crafts boost children’s creativity. One of the best ways to encourage young children to use their creativity and critical thinking skills is to purchase clear glass ornaments and ask children to fill them. Purchase glitter, tinsel, fake snow, ribbon, artificial Christmas tree sprigs, festive beads, and even flowers to put inside. For truly unique ornaments, head out to your local flower shop and purchase a variety of flowers and/or dried flowers. Place dried flowers inside the clear glass or clear plastic ornaments. Add fake snow or a pine tree sprig to make it extra festive.
You can also craft unique ornaments using festive ribbon and some cookie cutters. For another fun and simple homemade ornament idea, purchase a variety of plastic holiday cookie cutters in fun, festive shapes.
Holiday craft projects for kids do not have to be complicated. In fact, it is better if they are simple. Add an extra something to your tree and make your kids smile with fun, one-of-a-kind Christmas tree ornaments.
Unique Gifts for Grandparents
An important part of elder care is maintaining strong relationships and spending special occasions, like holidays and birthdays, with family. Why not use holiday crafts as an opportunity to make your children and your aging parents happy?
Use holiday craft projects for kids to make fun, homemade gifts for grandma and grandpa — or any other elder relative or aging family friend. Here are a few easy, do-it-yourself ideas.
One DIY project is making easy, color swirl Sharpie art coasters. Start with white ceramic tiles and Sharpies. To make it even more fun, purchase Sharpies in fun colors, like their Color Burst, Electro Pop, or Caribbean Colors sets. These sets include neon, pastel, and metallic colors. Have kids draw on the tile. This is a color swirl project, so encourage kids to color big chunks of the coaster and abstract shapes rather than a particular design. From there, gently drop a few drops of Isopropyl alcohol onto the colored coasters. Watch the colors swirl, blend, and marble together. Once these are dry, adults can add a coat of clear finish spray to make sure the design sets.
Another DIY project is creating eye-catching, tinted mason jars. Paint the inside of mason jars with a combination of Mod Podge and food coloring. Swirl the jars to marble the colors together. Set the jars upsidedown and let them mostly dry. With the jars still upsidedown, have an adult put the jars in the oven at a low temperature, like 175 degrees Fahrenheit, and warm them up just a bit, no longer than 10 minutes. Then turn them over and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes. The jars will come out smooth and polished with the colors perfectly fused together.
Once complete, it is time to add the finishing touches to your gifts. Use custom stamps to make festive, personalized gift tags. Choose a message, like “Handmade With Love,” “Merry Christmas With Love,” or “Made With Love,” stamp gift tags, and ask children to sign them.
Holiday craft projects for kids can easily be fun and multi-functional. Use crafting time to bond, get creative, and make gifts for aging relatives and grandparents.
Designate a Wall For Holiday Painting
Holiday craft projects for kids can be as involved or as simple as you like. If you are all about the holidays, why not really get into it this year? Celebrate the season and encourage kids to practice their painting skills with fun, holiday murals.
This can be as contained or free form as you like. Start with stencils and create simple, solid shapes that children can fill in with interior house paint. Use painter’s tape to create solid, cookie-cutter-esque outlines, like outlines of Christmas trees, stars, Santa, reindeer, and snowflakes. Use red, green, blue, silver, and gold paints to fill them in.
If your child is an artist, encourage him or her to paint whatever they like. Lay down a tarp, cover furniture, and use painter’s tape around the trim. Open up the blinds to give your child natural lighting while they paint.
If your children’s mural isn’t picture-perfect — or if it simply doesn’t make sense year-round — don’t fret! Painting over a mural is relatively simple. Purchase your desired paint and use a roller to apply two to three coats over the mural until you can no longer see it. Use a paintbrush for the small spaces near doorknobs and trim.
Creations For Parents To Enjoy
Holiday craft projects for kids are a great way for children to show their parents how much they love them. This Christmas, get together with kids to craft unique gifts for their parents. For gifts that wow, consider creating a timeless gift. For parents, any keepsake crafts are generally a win. Think crafts that use children’s handprints and cast toddlers’ or young children’s handprints into stone, paint, or any other medium for years to come. Cast children’s handprints in salt dough and paint it, or have children dip their hand in paint and carefully place it onto fabric or paper to frame later. There are even several printable, handprint poems available online for kids to dress their project up.
Another timeless gift starts with exploring parents’ interests. The best holiday crafts for kids are truly personal ones. Ask kids to make a list of their parents’ likes and hobbies, and use that list to brainstorm craft ideas. For example, if a child’s parent likes to go hunting, help them make camo socks and shirts for them to wear while hunting. Use camo fabric to create a sign for the parent’s bedroom. Cut the fabric out into your desired shape, like a deer, or the parent’s name or a word, like “Family.”
Creating recycled art magnets is another fun project to tackle. Use a large, circle hole punch (or cut out circles by hand using safety scissors) to cut circles out of children’s drawings. Layout flat, glass marbles. Apply clear glue to the flat end of the marble, and then apply one of the cutout circles. Adults, finish up the project by letting these dry, then use strong glue to adhere magnets to the back of the glass marbles.
Handmake Holiday Jewelry
Holiday craft projects for kids do not have to revolve around glitter, paints, and construction paper. Think outside of the box. Try crafting one-of-a-kind projects, like holiday jewelry.
Team up with kids to make reindeer bell necklaces, wreath bracelets, holiday-themed hair accessories, Christmas button earrings, and more.
When possible, keep kids’ projects simple. Go to the craft or jewelry store and purchase green and red beads, miniature bells, and red ribbon for Christmas wreath bracelets. Use peppermint candy beads and sparkly white beads to create a Christmas peppermint bead bracelet, or help children string bunches of red and green beads or red and green buttons onto earring hooks for festive, holiday-themed earrings.
Make Something For Your Pet
This Christmas season, do not forget about one of the most important members of the family — your family’s pet dog or pet cat. It is entirely possible for holiday craft projects for kids to be cat or dog friendly.
To keep your dog happy this season, help kids make homemade dog treats, craft DIY sock-and-ball toys, or homemade sock catnip toys. For dog treats, first find a healthy dog treat recipe online — with a little bit of research and digging, your homemade treats can be markedly healthier than the treats you find in the store. Have kids help you stir in the ingredients, and, once the dough is complete, use holiday-themed cookie-cutters to make the perfect Christmas dog treats.
A sock-and-ball dog toy is deceptively simple to craft on your own. “All you need is a sock and a tennis ball. Place the tennis ball inside the sock and tie a knot,” One Green Planets writes. For a variation, use an old T-shirt. Wrap the ball inside and braid the ends.
For a simple, sock catnip toy, cut old socks in half. Use clean socks and, for extra colorful toys, ones with fun patterns. Fill the sock with catnip, tie the sock, fluff out the ends to look like a fish’s tail, and add a smile and button or googly eye to make the sock into a fun fish for your furry friend.
Designate A Craft For A New Family Member
Are you, a loved one, or a close family friend expecting? Remember, holiday craft projects for kids can be meaningful and poignant, too. Help your child connect to the new baby by encouraging them to make a fun, festive gift for him or her.
For these projects, use a little bit of common sense. Leave potentially sensitive items, like nursery bedding, to mom and dad. Many parents do not want extra items in the crib.
Make simple, baby burp cloths. Have kids help you pick out festive and/or fun fabric patterns and cut squares out of the fabric. Use some socks, stuffing, and buttons to make a fun sock animal for the new baby, like a sock monkey or raccoon. This project requires some sewing, so young children will need your help with this one.
Make Decorations For A Family Gathering
Put those kids to work. Holiday craft projects for kids can be useful, too. Have kids help you make festive decorations for your family’s next get-together.
Whether this gathering will be in your home or at a private hall with a dance floor rental, kids can easily help out either way. Create paper streamers using red and green construction paper, cut out paper snowflakes, or string together popcorn for fun decor and a timeless, age-old tradition.
The holidays are right around the corner. Get your children in the spirit by tackling fun and accessible holiday craft projects for kids. Use crafting time as an opportunity to make ornaments, gifts for friends and family, family keepsakes, and festive decor. The bonus? Children will pick up new skills while crafting, skills like problem-solving, counting, recognizing colors and shapes, and more.
