21 Christmas crafts for kids to get them in the holiday spirit
There’s nothing quite like crafting for getting into the holiday spirit – it’s a fun Christmas tradition, especially when you get your kids involved!
Christmas crafts for kids ensure hours of family fun, laughter, and creativity – and, not to mention, some pretty awesome DIY Christmas decorations to hang around your house. Remember to always supervise younger children with scissors, paint and glue.
Paper plate angel
Hark, the paper plate angels sing! For this Christmas decoration idea, paint a paper plate blue and cut it into three pieces to form the dress and wings.
Attach yellow construction paper to the plastic spoon as hair and glue together. It’s just about the easiest Christmas craft for kids you can find.
Christmas cards
There’s no Christmas craft for kids quite as special as a handmade holiday card. Help your kids spruce up their card-making game this year by using construction paper and buttons to create fun paper card cut-outs in the shapes of Christmas trees, reindeer, wreaths, ornaments and more.
Not sure your crew is up to the task? Try one of these free printable cards instead.
Orange peel garland
After peeling (and eating) an orange, lay out the skin and use Christmas-themed cookie cutters to cut out shapes.
From there, thread a string or twine to form the garland. Oranges aren’t the only fruit fit for Christmas – did you know that it’s a Chinese tradition to eat an apple on Christmas?
Pasta Christmas trees
Help your kids spray paint uncooked pasta shapes in green and silver and hot glue the pasta together to form tree shapes.
Don’t forget the bowtie noodle on top!
Pinecone Christmas trees
A Christmas craft for kids that’s both eco-friendly and adorable? Sign us up! Have your kids scavenge pinecones in the backyard.
Then, use hot glue to attach the pinecones to corks to act as the stump. Dip in green paint to complete.
Pasta wreath
Kids will love this fun twist on the classic Christmas wreath idea. Use craft glue to adhere bowtie pasta to a foam wreath form or paper plate.
Spray paint to apply colour and for an extra special holiday surprise, attach red bows and roses.
Chimney Santa Claus
This Christmas craft for kids transforms recycled toilet paper rolls into chimneys with red construction paper and a black marker. Use the same tools to create Santa’s hat and feet.
Swirly paper snowman
Help your child cut white paper into a spiral to form the snowman’s swirly body. From there, draw eyes, a mouth, and a carrot nose at the top.
Don’t forget to cut out a construction paper hat to complete the craft.
Circle snowmen
What’s round, white, and absolutely adorable? This Christmas craft for kids! All your kid will need is coloured construction paper, scissors and glue, making it absolutely kid-friendly.
And talk about creative – your child can craft and decorate these little bundles of snowy joy as they see fit.
Paper snowflakes
We’d be remiss if we didn’t include the most classic of all Christmas crafts for kids – the paper snowflake.
No matter how simple this craft is, the magic of unfurling the paper to see the incredible patterns created will always be a Christmas miracle.
Tissue paper Christmas tree
Cut green pieces of tissue paper into squares and have your child crumple and glue them together to form the shape of a Christmas tree.
For an extra special touch, cut up a white cotton pad and use it as snow.
Toilet paper toys
What do Frosty, Santa, and a Christmas tree all have in common? They’re made out of toilet paper rolls!
For this craft, all your child will need is glue, construction paper, and paint.
Snowmen greeting cards
All your child will need for this Christmas craft are white buttons, blue cardstock, a white pen, and some creativity.
Have your child glue three buttons in a row to create the shape of the snowman. Draw stick arms, hair, snow and more using the white pen.
Christmas tree snow globes
What’s the only thing better than a holiday-themed snow globe? A DIY holiday-themed snow globe, of course! To create the Christmas tree, paint a pine cone green and decorate it with sequins and glitter and attach to the bottom of a Mason jar lid.
Then, fill the Mason jar with glitter and add glycerine (that secret snow globe ingredient!). Screw on the lid, flip over, and watch the holiday magic commence.
Toilet paper roll Christmas tree calendar
To make this fun, upcycled Christmas craft, first, tape recycled toilet paper rolls in a pyramid shape. Then, cover in green construction paper.
Finally, decorate each of the rolls with numbers 1 to 25 to finish the advent calendar.
Santa puppets
First, cut out a triangle using red construction paper and glue to a Popsicle stick.
Then glue half a cupcake wrapper to make Santa’s beard, a white circle to form his head, and add a small white circle on top to complete his hat.
Going green wrapping paper
To take your child’s Christmas crafting to a whole new level…have them custom DIY wrapping paper!
Cut a Christmas tree stamp out of a sponge then stamp green paint onto a repurposed brown bag to create a pattern.
Wooden stick holiday characters
To make the paddlepop stick snowman, glue together six wooden sticks with one lying diagonally.
Paint the top half and diagonal stick black for the hat, and the bottom half white. Draw on eyes, a carrot nose, and a smile.
Santa Claus lollipop package
This is an adorable way for kids to give their friends treats on Christmas. First, fold red cardstock into a freestanding triangle shape. Decorate one side with Santa’s face, made out of construction paper and pieces of a doily.
Slide a lollipop face down into the triangle and staple on either side to secure. Bonus: have your child add in one of these funny Christmas quotes to complete the present.
Angel garland
Use patterned paper for a fun twist on this classic kids’ Christmas craft.
Christmas masks
Decorate your masks this year for the ultimate holiday cheer. Glue on pom-poms and cotton fluff for a bona fide Santa’s beard.
Image credits: Getty Images
This article originally appeared in Reader's Digest.