Christmas Crafts
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Christmas Decorations
Share Your Preschool Craft Activities
The Christmas crafts for kids published on this page are courtesy of
Litte Footprints published by Footprints On Our Land - South African Homeschooling Resources.
Christmas Decorations
Personalised Christmas cardsPop-up cards
Paper chains
Christmas star
Egg shell decorations
Christmas crackers
Hanging hearts (opens in new window)
Salt dough candle holders
Personalised Christmas cards
You will need: family photos, cards
Close relatives and friends will appreciate a personalized card.
- Take a photo of your family or children dressed in nativity costumes and use it on the front of the card.
- Either have reprints made or if you have a computer, scan it in and create your own cards in that way.
Top of Christmas Crafts for Kids
Pop-up cards
You will need: two sheets of card, scissors, glue, sticky tape
- Fold a piece of card in half and makes four cuts in the paper, along the folded side, as shown in diagram A.
- Draw a heart, tree or any other shape picture as tall as the space between the two fold-up segments as shown in diagram B.
- Fold your shape in half lengthwise and then open it again.
- Using sticky tape stick the shape onto the two segments inside the card.
- Cover your card with another folded card and glue them together at the edges to hide the holes made by the pop-up segments.
- Decorate the front cover of the card and write your message inside.
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Paper chains
You will need: coloured paper or metallic paper in red, green and gold, glue, scissors, ruler, pencil
- Cut strips of paper (about 20 x 2,5 cm)and then paste the ends together, interlocking them first, to make a chain.
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Christmas star
You will need: coloured paper, scissors, glue, thread
- Cut the paper into a rectangle with sides about 30 x 15 cm. (A4 size)
- Fold it backwards and forwards concertina-style to form small equal pleats,about 1cm wide, across the width of the paper.
- Fold the pleated strip in half and cut diagonally across the corner of the edges of the paper, not across the fold.
- Now unfold it into a circular shape, glue it to complete the star and then hang it by a thread.
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Egg shell decorations
You will need: empty egg shell halves, needle and thread, bright paints or food colouring, paint brush
- Make sure the egg shells are clean and dry inside.
- Push a needle and thread through the centre of the top of the shell and knot it on the inside.
- Tie a loop on the outside by which to hang the shell.
- Paint it colourfully and hang it up for decoration.
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Christmas crackers
You will need: numerous empty toilet rolls, colourful wrapping paper or tissue paper (red, green, and metallic paper looks good), gift ribbon, small toys or chocolates, scissors or pinking shears
- Place the gifts or chocolates inside the toilet rolls and wrap them, tying each side with gift ribbon to make a cracker.
- Cut a strip of paper of a different colour and wrap it around the middle part of the roll for contrast.
- Cut the edges of the cracker into zig-zags for effect.
Top of Christmas Crafts for Kids
Salt dough candle holders
Using the recipe for salt dough, make candle holders.
You will need: rolling pin, knife, baking tray, round pastry cutter or a glass, thin cardboard, scissors, paints, paint brush, clear water-based varnish or nail varnish, strong glue, sticky putty, candles
Salt dough recipe
Ingredients (Multiply the quantities as you see fit.)
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
cold water
Method
- Mix the flour and salt with a little water to make firm dough.
- Store in an airtight container until needed.
Candle holders method
- Set oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 350 Farenheit.
- Roll out the dough until it is about 10mm thick. Cut out round circles of dough with the cutter or glass.
- Cut out a circle in the centre of the dough a little wider than the end of the candles, using a bottle top or small pastry cutter. The dough now looks like a doughnut!
- Decorate the circle with leaves, berries or small fruit made from the dough or twist a roll of dough into a snake coiled around the hole. Stick the shapes down with a little water.
- Bake for about 1h30 until the rings are hard.
- When they are cool, place them on the card and cut circles to stick onto the bottom of the rings.
- Paint the rings and when the paint has dried then varnish them.
- Use the sticky putty to stick the candle to the card in the centre.
Top of Christmas Crafts for Kids
Handmade Christmas Gifts
Glass paperweightHomemade puzzle
Stone paperweights
Decorated bottles
Flour patterned scarf, handkerchief or bandana
Glass paperweight
You will need: Small glass jar with lid, thin white plastic container (like an old household cleaner container) waterproof glue, scissors, small plastic toy eg. a soldier, and water.
- Glue the plastic model to the bottom of the glass jar.
- Cut up the white plastic container into tiny pieces to resemble snow.
- Place some of this ‘snow’ in the jar and fill it almost to the top with water. Glue the lid on the jar and leave it to harden.
- If you turn the jar upside down the model will appear to be in snow storm.
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Homemade puzzle
You will need: picture, cardboard, glue, scissors, storage container
- Find an attractive picture on an old calendar or in a magazine.
- Paste it onto stiff cardboard.
- Draw lines to cut into jigsaw pieces. For small children just six or eight pieces will be enough.
- Cut up the picture and store the pieces in an envelope, zippy bag or small box.
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Stone paperweights
You will need: large smooth stones, paints, paint brush, clear varnish
- Wash the stones thoroughly and then paint on your design.
- When the paint has dried, varnish over the design and allow it to dry again.
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Decorated bottles
You will need: empty bottles with interesting shapes or jars, oil paints or gloss paint, paint brush
- Wash and dry the bottles well.
- Paint a design or pattern on the bottles.
- Use as containers for bath salts, homemade salad dressing, vases or candle holders, jars for nuts, preserves or other homemade treats.
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Flour patterned scarf, handkerchief or bandana
You will need: flour, water, mixing bowl, spoon, pins, wooden board, cold water dye, bowl or bucket, paint brush, plain material or scarf, rubber gloves, saucepan, cooker
- Spread out your scarf or material and pin it to the wooden board.
- Mix some flour and water in the ratio of three parts flour to four parts water. Mix well until you have a runny paste.
- Using the paint brush, dribble the paste onto the scarf to form a thick pattern.
- Leave to dry overnight.
- Unpin the fabric and wearing rubber gloves place in a bowl of cold water dye, for about an hour.
- Wearing the rubber gloves, remove it from the dye and rinse well.
- Boil the scarf in a pot of water to remove all the flour paste. Rinse well in warm water and dry.
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Homemade Gift Wrap
Leafy gift wrapWax and dyed paper
Stencilled paper
Leafy gift wrap
You will need: waxed paper, small pressed leaves and flowers, scissors, an iron and old newspapers, coloured tissue paper
- Place pressed leaves and flowers on top of the newspaper and place the waxed paper on top of the leaves.
- Press with an iron until the leaves stick to the melted wax.
- Turn the wax paper over, place tissue paper over and wrap the gift with both layers of paper.
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Wax and dyed paper
This is a most economical gift wrap.
You will need: sheets of plain butcher paper, white wax crayons or candles, thin watery paint or food colouring
- Using the wax crayon or candle, draw designs or patterns on the paper e.g. stars, flowers, wavy stripes etc.
- Paint over the entire piece of paper using the food colouring or paint – the designs will remain white.
- Allow to dry.
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Stencilled paper
You will need: thin card, paint, small sponge, pencil, scissors, butcher paper or coloured tissue paper
- Make your own stencils by cutting out shapes from the cardboard. You can make circles, stars, hearts, bells, holly leaves etc.
- Dip the sponge in paint and sponge inside the design to create your shape on the tissue paper.
- Stencil a design onto a folded card to make a matching gift tag.
Top of Christmas Crafts for Kids
Need some fresh ideas for crafts that your preschooler can make as Christmas (and birthday, etc.) gifts? Moms-n-Preschoolers.com has a great selection. Click here to see our whole library!
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