5 Fun Christmas Craft Ideas

Christmastime is here, and what a fun time of year for crafts!  Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Gingerbread Puppets:
Supplies Needed: glue, cinnamon, popsicle sticks, tape, brown crayons
Have children color a template of a gingerbread boy or gingerbread girl with a brown crayon.  Next, spread glue over the boy or girl.  Sprinkle cinnamon on the template.  Tape a popsicle stick to the back to make a puppet.
2. Applesauce Ornaments:Supplies Needed: 1 cup cinnamon, ¾ cups applesauce, 2 tablespoons Elmer’s glue , straw, ribbon, beads or other embellishments
Combine ingredients together and form into dough. (You may need to dust hands with cinnamon to keep the dough from sticking to your hands). Spread dough onto wax paper and use cookie cutters to form your ornaments.  We used an angel cookie cutter when we made ours, but you can use whatever you like.  After cutting out the shapes, place on baking sheet lined with wax paper.  Using a straw, cut a hole in the top to allow you to tie a ribbon through for hanging.  Allow to air dry over night or you can bake in a 250 degree oven.  I like to air dry so that the ornaments dry more slowly and don’t crack.  After completely drying (for at least a day if air drying), you can decorate your ornament.  We glued beads onto some of ours and wings on others.  Tie a ribbon through the hole at the top.  We made these as gifts and attached a small card to the ribbon with the year and who it was from on it.  My son had so much fun making these for his friends and grandparents!

3. Handprint Wreath:
Supplies Needed: green paint, red paint, white or ivory colored paper or thin cloth, paint brush, paper plate
*You can decide what size paper you need depending on how big you want your wreath to be.  This will also determine how many handprints you will use.
Once you have decided what size you want your wreath to be, draw a circle on your paper or cloth.  Pour green paint onto a paper plate.  Using the paintbrush, paint your child’s hand with the green paint.  Begin placing handprints (fingers pointed out) around the circle until the circle is completely covered.  Once the green paint is dry, pour some red paint on a paper plate and paint your child’s hands with the red paint.  Place the red handprints at the bottom of the wreath to form a bow.  You can also have your child paint berries on the wreath using his fingertip.  Make sure to put the year on your paper.
4. Christmas Pom-Poms
Supplies needed: candy cane template, red pom-poms, white pom-poms, glue
Have kids decorate a candy cane template with red and white pom-poms.  This one is so simple, but turns out so beautiful!

5. Hand-print Snowman Ornaments
Supplies Needed: ball ornament, white paint, sharpies in different colors, ribbon, paper plate, paint brush
It is up to you to decide what color ornament you want to use.  You can use clear or colored.  Pour paint onto the paper plate.  Paint your child’s hand white.  Have them grab the ornament to form a handprint.  After the paint is dry, decorate the handprint to form snowmen!  Write your child’s name and year on the ornament somewhere.  Tie a ribbon through the top and hang on your tree or give it as a present!