Good morning everyone!  I hope you are staying warm in all of this cold, wet weather we have been having.  It was nice to wake up to the first dusting of snow yesterday where I live, but this freezing rain is another story.  I am sure by now you have at least started getting ready for Christmas if not anxiously awaiting it’s arrival.  I have to be honest, I haven’t been as ahead of the game as I usually am this year.  Not only did I just finish Christmas shopping 2 days ago (when I’m normally done by Black Friday) but I also just finished putting the outside lights up and decorating our home 3 days ago and am still doing my Christmas baking.

I think this happens to us all sometimes – life gets in the way of our best laid plans.  Someone gets sick, an unexpected event pops up, or bad weather derails us from what we had set out to do.  That is one reason that I thought that it might be the perfect time to put this post out there for all of the families so that you have some kid’s activities ready for when the unexpected hits.  This list of  kid’s craft ideas for Christmas will keep your little ones occupied for hours while you try to get everything done that’s left before Christmas.

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Kid’s Christmas Craft Ideas

1. Reindeer Ornament- This is a fun and easy craft idea for even your youngest kids.  Take a clear ornament ball and fill it with brown paper shred, pom poms, or even paint.  Glue googly eyes to the outside of the ornament and add a brown (or maybe a red?) pom pom for his nose.  Finally, twist brown pipe cleaners onto the top ring in the shape of antlers.  Now you have your reindeer ornament ready to hang on the tree.
2. Christmas Tree Ornament- This is another one that your kids will enjoy making.  Cut a Christmas tree shape out of cardboard.  Use a dab of glue to secure the green yard and wrap the cardboard tree with yarn until it is covered (tip: you can use glue in a couple of places as you wrap to keep it secured onto the cardboard better).  Before securing the end of your yarn to the tree, tie a loop to be used to hang the ornament onto your tree.  Use colored pom poms, jewels, or even ornament balls cut out of construction paper to glue it onto your Christmas tree.
3. Clothespin Snowman- I don’t know about you, but we always had wooden clothespins around our house when I was growing up!  We might not need them as much these days to hang our clothes out to dry, but they still come in handy for crafts.  Paint a wooden clothespin white and allow to dry completely.  Use a black marker to make two eyes and a mouth for a face and add a couple of buttons on the front of him.  For his nose, you can either glue on an orange pom pom or use an orange marker.  Use a piece of colorful  yarn to tie a scarf around his neck and use a drop of glue to secure it.
4. Christmas Penguin- This one is so fun and turns out adorable!  Follow this link to craftymorning.com for the detailed instructions and shapes to cut for each piece.  Use black construction paper to cut out his body and wings and white construction paper to cut out his belly. Then take orange construction paper and cut out his beak and feet.  Use metal brads to attach his wings to his body so they are movable.  Next, glue his feet and beak onto his body and add two googly eyes to finish his face.  Finish your Christmas penguin off by cutting a Santa hat out of red and white construction paper and gluing it onto him and he’s ready for Christmas!
5. Popsicle Stick Sled- I made one of these in grammar school and I’m pretty sure it is still hung on my parents’ tree every year because it’s so durable and cute!  Glue 4-5 popsicle sticks side by side for the base of the sled.  Then glue a mini popsicle stick or half of a regular popsicle stick to the top for the steering plank.  We wrote our family name on the front of the sled with markers when we made them in school but you can also decorate your sled with markers or colorful stickers if you’d rather. Finally, glue a red or green pipe cleaner to onto the back of the steering plank to hang the ornament.
6. Christmas Paper Plates- There are so many of these craft ideas that you can make!  I’m going to list out a few for you because the ideas that I found were just too many and send you back over to craftymom.com again for her list of ideas with pictures: grinch paper plate, Christmas tree paper plate, Santa paper plate mask, reindeer paper plate mask, wreath paper plate, snowman paper plate, angel paper plate – the list is endless!
7. Popsicle Stick Star- This one is fun and looks so pretty when it’s finished!  Glue 5 popsicle sticks in the shape of a star.  Decorate your star with paint, tinsel, jewels, sequins, markers, ribbon, or even glitter to make it shine.  Finally, glue a loop of colorful ribbon or a pipecleaner onto the top point of the star to hang on the tree.
8. Popsicle Stick Snowflake- Don’t feel like you have to stop at the star, you can also make popsicle snowflakes.  Glue 4 popsicle sticks into the shape of a snowflake.  Decorate your snowflake with paint, tinsel, jewels, sequins, markers, or glitter to make it one of a kind.  Finally, glue a loop of colorful ribbon or a pipecleaner onto the top of the snowflake to hang on the tree.  Remember, each snowflake is unique and doesn’t look like any others so make your snowflakes stand out!
9. Hand Print Christmas Wreath- This one the kids will definitely have fun making.  Trace your child’s handprint onto green construction paper or cardstock and cut out enough to make the size of wreath that you want to hang.  (Tip: you can also use paper plates and paint them green if you are out of construction paper or cardstock)  Glue them together into a circle.  Use markers, paint, pom poms, construction paper or cardstock to decorate your wreath with ornaments.  Use a hole punch at the top of the wreath and tie a piece of yard or pipecleaner to hang your wreath.  Don’t forget to add your bow – make a bow out of ribbon or cut one out of construction paper or cardstock and glue it onto your wreath before you hang it on your door.
10. North Pole Craft- This fun craft let’s your child run with their imagination!  Using construction paper or cardstock, cut out all of the pieces that your child wants to include in their North Pole scene:  trees, house, snowy mountains, lake, sleigh, anything they can think of.  Paint your background onto a large piece of construction paper or poster board.  Glue your pieces onto your background to create your scene.  You can add glitter, cotton balls for snow, real pine needles, anything to enhance your North Pole and make it magical!
11. Reindeer Pine Cone Ornament- Another great ornament idea letting your child help to decorate the Christmas tree!  Glue googly eyes and a brown or red pom pom onto the pine cone for the reindeer’s face.  Next, glue brown pipecleaners shaped as antlers onto the top of the pine cone.  Finally, glue a loop of ribbon or pipecleaner onto the top of the pine cone to allow you to hang it on the tree and you’re done!
12. Melted Snowman- This one is just too cute not to make!  You can use either a real marshmallow or a styrofoam one for this craft.  Use a black marker to put his eyes and mouth onto the marshmallow and an orange marker to make his nose.  Cut white felt to make the melted snowman body (tip: picture an egg frying).  Glue the marshmallow onto the melted body off-center.  You can add any extras onto the melted body to add to your snowman:  use the black marker to make buttons on the body, make a hat out of black felt or a scarf out of red felt or yarn, or even twigs to look like arms.  Make your snowman one of a kind!
13. Stained Glass Window Ornaments- This one will enhance any room you decide to hang them in!  Use a paper plate or construction paper to cut out a circle or your ornament shape the same size as the ornament that you want to make to use as a template.  Cut out small squares or triangles from different colors of tissue paper.  Using your template, arrange the pieces of tissue paper into the circle to fill in the ornament.  Remove the template and glue the pieces of tissue paper into the shape.  Trim the edges to make them match your template.  To display, you can either tape them onto your windowpanes or glue a loop of pipecleaner or ribbon to the top of your ornaments and hang in the window.  Don’t forget you can make your templates any shapes that you want, not just circles!
14. Cinnamon Stick Tree- This is one of the easiest ideas and it will make your house look and smell like Christmas!  Taking cinnamon sticks, cut them to the proper lengths to make a Christmas tree shape and glue them together.  Glue a loop of ribbon or pipecleaner to the top of your Christmas tree and hang.
15. Clothespin Christmas Wreath- The kids will have a blast making this craft!  Paint wooden clothespins green and let dry completely.  Once the clothespins are dry, decorate them:  use pom poms, jewels, sequins, tinsel, markers, or glitter.  Cut out your wreath to the desired size from a piece of cardboard (tip: it is easier to keep the width of the wreath itself the same as the clothespins so most of the wreath will be made up of the clothespins).  Paint your cardboard green and let dry completely.  Clip your clothespins all around the wreath.  Glue your bow onto the wreath.  Finally, glue a loop of ribbon or pipecleaner to the top of your wreath and hang on your door!
16. Polar Bear on Ice- This one is so cute!  Take a paper plate and cut out circles for the polar bear’s body and face as well as four paws.  Using paint or markers, color a piece of white construction paper or cardstock to look like ice for your background and let dry completely.  Glue the body of your polar bear onto the center of the background.  Glue the face of your polar bear centered on its body and the paws at the bottom of the body.  Draw toes on the paws and a nose, mouth and ears on the face.  Add googly eyes onto the polar bear’s face and you have your polar bear on ice!
17. Paper Roll Snowman- This one is a great way to reuse those toilet paper or paper towel rolls!  Paint the paper roll white and let dry completely.  Place googly eyes for your snowman’s face and use either a marker, pom poms or construction paper to make the nose and mouth.  Make a scarf and buttons using pieces of felt, yarn, pom poms, or colorful buttons and glue onto your snowman. Take a piece of colorful felt and cut into a rectangle that will fit around the top of the paper roll and glue it along the top as his hat and let dry completely.  Then use a small rubber band to secure the top into a point.
18. Fingerprint Christmas Pictures- This is another one where there are a ton of ideas you can do!  Use different colors of paint and your child’s finger to make some of these beautiful Christmas art that can be hung to decorate your home:  a string of Christmas lights, elves, a wreath, snowmen, candy canes, Christmas tree, gingerbread men, and anything else their imaginations can come up with!

I hope you enjoyed this list of kid’s activities for Christmas crafts to make!  I’d love to see some pictures of your finished products and hear about any new ideas you have so please comment below.  And don’t forget to share so everyone can have beautiful Christmas crafts in their home this year!