Kids love everything about Christmas except waiting for the day to get here. With them taking a break from
school, you’ll often hear cries of, “I don’t have anything to do.” You can keep them busy this holiday
season with Christmas crafts that are easy and fun for the little ones to make.
Christmas Place Mat Craft: Using recycled Christmas
cards, tear off the backs where the writing is. You’ll need about three regular sized Christmas cards to make each place
mat.
Have the kids glue the cards decoration
side up onto colored construction paper. When the glue dries, cover the craft front and back with clear contact paper, making
sure there are no open ends or gaps. Kids love setting their plates on their own special Christmas place mat.
Santa Ornament: This makes a great little gift for kids to make
and give their friends or teachers, too. Pick up large, clear plastic ornaments at the craft store. These ornaments will open
for you to put items inside.
Open the ornament
and fill it with peppermints. Secure it closed again. Using a medium sized wooden ball, glue on jiggly eyes. Once the eyes
are set, glue the wooden ball onto the top the plastic ornament.
Next, add cotton hair for the head, mustache and beard. Glue a red felt ‘hat’ on top of the
hair.
At the base of the ornament, glue a long
piece of black felt for Santa’s belt. Glue the front bottom of the ornament to a thin wooden heart that’s been
painted black. The curves in the heart will be Santa’s feet.
Christmas Countdown Chain: For this popular craft, you’ll need red and green construction
paper cut into thin, even strips. The kids can decorate the paper strips with Christmas writing and glitter glue.
Form the strips into connecting circles and glue each one closed. Once
the glue is dry, hang the circle within easy reach of the child. Each day that passes until Christmas, the kids get to tear
off one of the links of the chain.
Candy
Cane Reindeer: This craft is an oldie but a favorite among children. All you need are candy canes, jiggly eyes, pipe cleaners,
mini pom-poms, and glue. At the top of the candy cane, glue a pipe cleaner, twisting it into the shape of antlers. Glue jiggly
eyes on either side of the reindeer ‘head’ and add the pom-pom nose to the end of the candy cane.
Cookie Cutter Ornaments: To do this craft, you’ll need
an assortment of cookie cutters in various holiday shapes. The ones that work the best are snowmen, Santa, trees, and bell
shapes.
Place each cookie cutter on colored
construction paper. Trace around it. Cut it out. Have the kids decorate each cut out with glitter and mini pom-poms for Christmas
balls on the tree. For the snowmen, use mini black
pom-poms for their buttons. You can use jiggly eyes on the snowmen and Santa.
Once each ornament is finished, use a hole puncher to punch a hole at the top. Thread thin
ribbon through the hole and let the kids hang their special ornaments from the Christmas tree.