Simple 5-10 minute Christmas Crafts

Ah, I love Christmas. All of the lights, the decorations, the good smells, the food! Here are some cute crafts to make with your kids to hang around the house.

Paper Santa

What you'll need:
*Scissors
*Glue
*construction paper- pink, red, and white
*cotton balls (optional)
*Sharpie
* a bowl

Start by folding the pink construction paper in half (only necessary if you're doing this for more than one child). I used a a bowl (Santa) to make the circles. Cut them out.

To make Santa's Hat I put the circle up against the red construction paper and traced the shape of his hat around the circle (this way I know it will be the right size). To make his beard, I did the same thing.

For Santa's white trim I  made a cloud shape the length of Santa's hat & a circle for the ball of his hat. I cut out two small blue circles for Santa's eyes.  After you have glued the pieces down if you want to add  a small smile in his beard. To add texture to his beard and hat I suggest gluing cotton balls on.

Santa's Elves

What you'll need:


*Construction paper-, Pink, green, red, your choice in hair and eye color for elves.

*Scissors
*glue
* CD case



Start by folding the pink construction paper in half (only necessary if you're doing this for more than one child). I used a CD case (elves)  to make the circles. Cut them out.

To make the hat, I put the circle up against the green construction paper and folded it over to make a triangle that would be the right size for the elves head. I made a strip of red to add color to their had (you can use any color really). You can also make Holly leaves, bows, etc..

 I did the same thing to make the collar (this time I traced it on)



After I cut out all the pieces, the girls' chose their hair color and we glued  it all together

Reindeer hands

Santa can't get around the world without his reindeer!

What you'll need:

*Scissors
*Construction paper- Brown and black
*Red and white candy mint (or a red circle)
*Sharpie or small black circles for eyes

Fold the black piece of paper in half. Trace and cut out your childs hands-these will be the antlers. Cut a triangle shape out of brown construction paper & "leaf shape" for the ears. Glue on the hands and ears to the brown triangle face. At the tip of the triangle glue the candy mint on. Somewhere along the lines our mints "mysteriously" went missing (but our breath was minty fresh!) You can use black if you don't want to be Rudolph (he's not really one of Santa's Reindeer anyway!)





The Christmas Angel

What you'll need:


*White paint (or white paper)

*Blue paper
*markers
*Your choice in dress color.




Start by painting your childs hand with white paint and stamp it onto the blue paper. Notice in the picture about the hands are stamped on opposite sides ( Left hand is on the right and vice verse). Let it set while you trace their foot in which ever color choice (ours is almost always yellow- which i never have any more...hmmm I wonder why?) glue the foot down onto the wings.  Let it set before your child colors on it.

Snow Man

What you'll need:


*Blue construction paper
*Orange for his nose
*3 different sized circles ( I used a yogurt container, a kids cup and adult cup)
*Construction paper in your choice of color (for decoration)
*Sharpie
*Cotton balls

Start by tracing the circles onto the blue paper & outlining them with sharpie. I added arms with my sharpie.

I cut a small triangle for the Snow mans  nose. Then I took a long brown for his broom handle and yellow for the bristles, and of course the red strip for the rubber band. Don't forget his top hat!


You can use cotton balls for the snow mans body to give it texture, (You can make it a guessing game for your older children, "How many cotton balls do you think will fit in the middle circle?" etc..) or paint him in. Other ideas are adding snowflake stickers, a flower hat. Your choices are endless.

The Ginerbread Family

What you'll need:


*Pattern
*Brown construction paper
* Decorations: buttons, beads, ric rac, etc..
*crayons
*Markers
*scissors
* Glue

Print out the pattern, here:

Decorate with whatever you want! the choices are endless. We used Crayons and beads (we're not the original, but it's what I had off hand!)

Melty Ornaments:

What you'll need:


The kit.





These are pretty cool, I remember them from when I was little. I found them at Michael's Craft for $1 a piece!  They are a little tricky for small hands, but they make great gifts. Follow the directions on the packet- sorry that's the best I can give you.  Warning: They kind of smell when you bake them (like when you melt crayons) and make sure you put tin foil down or they get stuck to the pans (like mine did!!)

Paper Chain Coutdown.

If you're like me, you get tired of your children asking, "how many more days until_____" This simple paper chain is a great way to encourage counting, making patterns (red, green, red or red green, white, red, green white) & sanity.



What you'll need:
*Scissors
*stapler
*Construction paper- red and green (or blue and White for Hanukkah)  Any color for birthdays.


Take and cut the construction paper into strips (you get more out of it if you cut it landscape). Loop the strip into a circle and staple it. Take the next color and loop it through the first colors hole. continue until you have 25  chain links for Christmas or whatever number you need for any other occasion.