The holidays are fast approaching, which means it’s time to find fun and exciting things to do with
your children during the long cold winter days.
While many parents choose to find activities and crafts that
aren’t “messy,” it’s a well-known fact that for most kids this statement applies: “The messier;
the better!”
Well, how much messier can you
get then breaking out the paints? Below are several fun holiday crafts your kids will love doing that all involve painting!
Holiday Place Mats:
Make your dining room
table a little different this holiday season by letting your children decorate their own placemats. Of course, you can still
break out the nice ones for Christmas dinner, but your children will love seeing their art work on the dining room table every
day until then!
For this craft all you’ll
need is an assortment of fabric paint and cheap vinyl place mats. Give each one of your children their own place mat and let
them use the fabric paints to design their own holiday masterpiece on it.
If you have small children, you will need to supervise this activity, but older children can be left
alone. You will need to explain to your children that they need to make sure and not get the paint too thick or else it will
be hard for their plate, bowl, or glass to sit on top of it during meals.
Another great modification to this craft is to let your kids use old Christmas cards, wrapping paper,
store catalogs, and newspaper ads to create a collage for their placemat. You can have them tape or glue the various papers
to the placemat and then complete the project by covering the placemat with clear contact paper.
Holiday Wooden Ornaments:
A great painting craft
for young to middle school aged kids is making Christmas tree ornaments for friends and family. Most crafting stores sell
plain pre-cut wooden ornaments that you can purchase for a reasonable price. While most of these ornaments are plain, there
are some that have lines to show your kids where to paint.
Other than getting the ornaments, you just need to remember to get various colors of paints – and of course
paint brushes. Your children will enjoy working at the table together painting different holiday ornaments to hand out as
holiday gifts.
Holiday Glass Ornaments,
Vases and Stemware:
This is much like the previous craft, but it involves glass so it’s a craft that
is suited best for older children and teens. You can find clear glass ornaments, vases, and stemware at department stores
like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target, and even the local dollar or 99 cent stores. What you will need is glue, paints, and fine
glitter. Your kids will enjoy painting holiday designs on their glass items.
For decorative items that will not actually be used for eating or drinking, once they are
finished with the paint and it has dried, your children can go back and put small amounts of glue here and there (real thin
layers) and sprinkle the fine glitter on top for extra detail.
Glass ornaments, vases, and stemware are perfect items for older children to make for gifts because not only are
they classy, but they’re homemade which makes them much more personalized, one-of-a-kind, and valuable.
