17 Christmas Craft Ideas That You Can Do With Your Kids

Christmas is a wonderful time for kids -- full of presents, snow, and magic. And you can help make it even better with some crafting time! Try some of these kid-friendly Christmas crafts with your little ones for some cute decorations that come with wonderful memories.

Christmas Cookie Decorating Party

Baking Christmas cookies is a great way to have fun with your kids and let them express themselves creatively. Set out 16 cupcake paper liners, and fill each one with a different type of sprinkle. If you don’t have enough kinds of sprinkles to place in each cup, fill the remaining liners with assorted colored icing created from adding food coloring.

Christmas Button Trees

The first thing you need are popsicle sticks. Provide the children with 4 small cups of assorted colored poster paint, a large supply of assorted plastic buttons, and some school glue. Make sure the table is covered with newspaper.

Fabric Wrapped Wreaths

Buttons and fabric are available in all fabric stores. Cut foam into a ring shape and wrap glue backed assorted strips of fabric around the ring. Once the wreath is dried, be sure to put a glue glaze over the wreath and allow to dry.

Washi Taped Christmas Tree

If you have leftover washi tape, you can use it for Christmas decoration. Simply get some paper machet, white or painted white and fold them into 3 cone shapes, securing them. Take some washi tape and starting at the top and going down to the bottom, apply a strip of tape.

Felt Santa Ornaments

Patterns for felt Santa ornaments can be found online. You will need 2 feet of red and white felt and a foot of gold and black felt for his belt and buckle. Be sure to make the red felt 2 ply if you plan on stuffing him with cotton and hand basting the edges together.

Foam Stacker Christmas Tree

You’ll need a quarter inch wood dowel, a half a dozen sheets of foam in various shades of green, and a Styrofoam ball for the base that can all be purchased at the dollar store. Make sure the largest square is 4 inches and the others are slightly smaller until the smallest one is about a half an inch. If you have two shades of green, be sure to alternate the colors.

Popsicle Stick Snowflakes

Start with 6 craft sticks, 4 of them in an x design. Glue two more sticks together and place them under the X design to form an asterisk shape at a 30 degree angle. Craft sticks are fun and you can make your snowflake as big as you want them to be.

Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies

One of the easiest ways to make peanut butter reindeer cookies is to start with refrigerated dough that comes in loaves. Cut the dough in 1 inch slices and place on a cookie sheet. You can use brown M&Ms for the eyes and red ones for the mouth, and use chocolate covered pretzels for the ears.

Reindeer Food

To add to the excitement of Santa’s arrival, create reindeer food out of grains. You’ll need 2/3 of a cup of oatmeal and 2 teaspoons of red glitter in a plastic sandwich bag. Kids can sprinkle the oatmeal out on the lawn on Christmas Eve in time for Santa and his sleigh to come.

Santa Beard

Draw a beard on a piece of cotton fabric, making sure you leave room for the mouth. Apply cotton balls all over the fabric. Don’t forget to attach an elastic band to the top sides of the beard.

Easy Paper Straw Snowflakes

Trace around a jar lid with a pen or pencil onto cardboard; cut it out. Cut ten paper straws into 2.5 inches and cut a small circle from a straw, and place it in the center. Place the straws around the center like sun rays, add another round cardboard cut out, place a button in the center, and allow the glue to dry for a few hours.

Cinnamon Applesauce Heart Ornaments

You’ll need two types of heart shaped cookie cutters. Take applesauce/cinnamon dough, spread it out and cut hearts into it. Skew a hole into the tops of the hearts, let them bake, and when they are cool you can run a string through them so they can hang on the Christmas tree. Holding the paper sideways, draw one inch lines.

Construction Paper Wreath

Take some 9 x 18 inch green construction paper and fold it in half, length wise, and draw a line across the fold side. Cut strips a half an inch apart on the side that is not the fold and then cut them. Open it up and then join the ends until they look circular and you can tape or staple the ends.

Candy Cane Reindeer

All you need is a package of candy canes, brown pipe cleaners, some small red pom balls, and eyes. Place the pom pom on the end of the cane for the nose and just below the curve of the cane, place the eyes. At the curve of the cane, you can tie the pipe cleaner around curve part of the cane, and curve the pipe cleaner sides into the shape of antlers.

Mini Pinecone Tree Pots

Get some miniature clay pots, paint, and pinecones. You can use poster or spray paint for your pots. After the pots dry overnight, place the pinecones into the pot like little trees.

Gumdrop Snowflakes

If you have toothpicks and gum drops, you can put together a gum drop snowflake. All you do it make one gumdrop the center and then skewer other gum drops through a toothpick and then place the end of the toothpick into the center one. Take 4 toothpicks with gumdrops on them and place them around the center ones.

Paper Plate Christmas Tree

Paint one large paper plate green. Once the paint is dry, cut the plate into wedges. Place them into tiers on top of each other, on a brown construction paper cut in the shape of a bark, making sure the round plate parts are on the bottom.