EASY CHRISTMAS CRAFTS FOR KIDS ~

Wreaths and Christmas Trees

Simple fun craft projects that are easy for kids and work well for a group or party.  Adults will need to do a little work to get things ready but these holiday crafts keep kids busy and they love them.

PINE CONE TREES ~ 

Collect or buy medium size (or any size you like) pine cones (amount you will need) and spray them with glossy red and green paint.  

Make little stands (about 1"x1") out of scrap wood or dowels and glue to base of pine cones with hot glue gun.  If you don't have a saw, you can use cardboard tubes instead or even cut pieces of cardboard.  You may have to remove some pieces from the pine cone bottoms here and there to even it out.

Make or buy stars for tree tops and glue to trees with hot glue gun.  I cut up a garland of silver stars I found at the 99 Cent store which is a great place for finding craft supplies (actually decorations) especially at holiday times.  You can also make stars out of poster board and add glitter.

Search craft stores, 99 Cent stores and fabric stores for supplies and trims kids can drape and glue to their tree.  Put them out in plates and bowls for kids to choose from.  I buy the large bags (variety of sizes) of pom poms from Oriental Trading. I use them year round because kids love them. 

WREATHS ~

Buy or make wreaths.  I found a few different kinds of wreaths at the 99 Cent store (including the snowflake) and I made a few out of garland (cut and wired together) also from the 99 Cent store. 

Cut mittens (5" or so) out of white card stock for kids to decorate and hang on their wreaths along with a piece (8" or so) of thin wire to attach them together and then to the wreath.  

Cut a variety of trims (ribbons, zig zag trim etc) along with pom poms, stars and any good things you can find to glue on mittens.  Provide markers as well so kids can draw designs on their mittens if they choose, or combine with trim.

For decorations to glue on the wreath, use large size pom poms and any fun items you can find or make like stars and snowflakes.  I found the snowflake trim at the 99 Cent store and cut it apart. 

I usually put tacky glue in little cups or paper plates and provide sticks as it works better than glue bottles and tacky glue works better than school glue.

  

Twig Christmas Trees

Easy craft to do with kids, lots of creative possibilities ~ paint, decorate, add ornaments, glitter, trims, yarn, or leave natural.

Collect twigs with kids or have them do the collecting.  If none are close by you can always go to a park.  Arrange twigs in tree shapes and zap corners with a glue gun (adults should do this part) to attach.  Add cross pieces.  Cut stars out of lightweight cardboard, tag board or poster board, glue to a small twig, and then to tree top.  These trees are delicate and will need to be hung on a wall or door.  They look great in a group or row or alone.  They can be left natural or decorated.  Some ideas include paint, glitter, little tied on ornaments (such as the little cut out watercolor houses shown), trims, yarn draped on the cross pieces, loops of colored paper and anything you can think of.  

HAUNTED HOUSE POP-UP

Three D Haunted House craft is easy and fun for all kids, all ages.  You can provide all cut outs for younger kids or those who need more help and encourage older kids to cut out their own shapes and add their own creative touches.

You will need some black railroad board or heavy construction paper or poster board for your basic house, and some good Halloween colors for windows, doors, moon, pumpkins etc as well as a black marker, glue, and scissors.   Optional glitter.

You can make house any size and any sort of funky roof design you like.  For balance, it is best to have 2 tall roof sides and then 2 shorter straight sides (as shown in picture).  You can have kids help out with designing the house.  It will be crooked so no need to try and make a perfect design.  The main idea is that you will need 4 sides of appx same width (ours is 4").  You will measure and score the sides before kids glue on their decorations so they won't glue things over the seams as the seams will be your fold lines when assembling the house.  I like to make patterns out of newspaper because I like to have a pattern and newspaper has helpful lines.  Look over the pictures below to see how our pattern was done.

After cutting out the house, cut out lots of Halloween shapes like pumpkins, bats, windows, doors, ghosts, a big crooked tree, a moon, a black cat, and anything else you can think of.  Kids will glue the items on the house while it is flat, leaving the seam lines free.  They can add details with marker and then, if you choose, some glitter here and there.  After glue is dry, house can be folded and glued together along the tab.

HALLOWEEN WITCH ~ PAPER CRAFT

PAPER WITCHES ARE CREATIVE, FUN AND EASY.   KIDS CAN CUT AND DECORATE THEIR WITCH ON THEIR OWN OR YOU CAN HELP THEM GET STARTED BY PROVIDING THEM WITH THE BASIC WITCH ALREADY CUT, GLUED AND READY TO PAINT AND SPRINKLE WITH GLITTER.  FOR BASIC INSTRUCTIONS SEE HALLOWEEN PAPER CRAFTS, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017.

 

Easy Fall Sign 

A fun and easy Fall craft for kids of all ages.  Also a great way for kids to enjoy the beauty of watercolors and a simple method that always works.  You will cut leaves out of watercolor paper, provide kids with Fall watercolors (tube paints work great) , instruct them to put water on paper first, and then add dabs of colors here and there, letting them run together.  Fall colors are "friends" so always look good together.   After all pieces are glued or tied to sign, hang on the door!

Materials ~

Piece of cardboard, jagged cut ends, holes in top for hanging string or jute.  Sign can be any size, we used 4X9.  Plus a piece of jute or string for hanging. Hole for large leaf on bottom edge.  Or more if you want to add more leaves.  You can use string to tie on hanging leaf or clear fishing line/thread if you have it.

Fall letters cut out of colored paper and some leaves cut out of watercolor paper (there are patterns online if you need them).  You can do a few smaller leaves for top and one large as we did or you can do lots of leaves, anything goes.

A few tubes of watercolors in Fall colors such as red, yellow, and purple.  More colors can be mixed from these.  If you have a paint box set, that will work too.

Glue for letters and leaves.  

CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH POSTER

HELP KIDS MAKE THEIR OWN POSTER AND SHARE IT!  CUT OUT STARS AND GIVE KIDS PAINTS AND GLITTER AND LET THEM DO WHATEVER THEY LIKE.  ART AND CREATIVITY FOR KIDS FACING CHALLENGES IS A WONDERFUL, POSITIVE DIVERSION.  

PAPER MACHE CASTLES

EASY TO MAKE PAPER MACHE CASTLES CAN BE CREATED BY KIDS, OR WITH A LITTLE HELP, OR AN ADULT CAN CREATE CASTLES FOR KIDS TO PAINT.  KIDS LOVE CASTLES AND THEY ESPECIALLY LOVE MAKING THEIR CASTLE THEIR OWN.  FOR HELP MAKING CASTLES SEE BLOG 3/3/17.

EASTER EGGS

EASY PAPER MACHE EGGS FOR ALL AGES ~ 

Easter eggs are created out of balloons and paper mache.  The large eggs are from 20" balloons but are not blown up all the way, just far enough to get the egg shape, about 12".  10" balloons make a nice size egg for kids.  

Materials ~

Assorted balloons in different sizes, 8", 10", 12", 20", masking tape, torn newspaper strips, liquid starch for paper mache (or any paper mache recipe you like).  Gesso or any white acrylic paint for base coat, assorted acrylic colors plus white for mixing, paint brushes, assorted sizes.

For younger kids you can pre paint eggs in bright colors and give them sticky back foam shapes to stick on their egg (photos 2 and 3).  This works great for really young kids and for kids who are in the hospital or clinic as it is fun, easy and very neat.  For kids old enough to cut out their own shapes you can give them some extra foam and scissors. 

Paper Mache tips ~

Blow up some assorted sizes of balloons and stretch them a bit before blowing to help give them more of an egg shape.  You may have to try a few as some may be too round.  Use masking tape and tape down the balloon knot.  

To make eggs strong and smooth it's best to do 3 layers of paper mache and let each layer dry before applying the next.  This can take a few days (due to drying time) but it's worth it as eggs will be strong and smooth.  It just doesn't work as well trying to do 3 layers all at once.  Sometimes the balloon collapses or egg gets lumpy.

Painting ~

When eggs are dry, paint a coat of white paint for undercoat, I prefer Gesso but white acrylic paint works too.  You can paint eggs one solid color to start or just dive in and paint any way you like.  You can paint stripes of color (as shown in first picture) and then paint different designs in each stripe.  Try patterns like leaves, swirls and flowers.  Starting with big stripes can also be good for older kids as it gives them a place to start and a great big blank egg can be daunting.

FUN FOR ALL AGES!

ROBOTS ~ PAPER MACHE

Simple Robots created out of cardboard boxes, pieces of cardboard, some springs and paper mache.  Robots can be just about any size, from 4 or 5 inches to a few feet high.  After cardboard is taped together, robot is covered with a layer or two of paper mache, a coat of Gesso or white base paint, and it's ready for painting.  A fun craft for all ages.

Materials  

Cardboard boxes, pieces of cardboard, scissors, masking tape, liquid starch and torn newspaper strips, little springs and or wire, Gesso and assorted acrylic paints and brush.

This robot is about 8 inches high and is made with a box for the main body, a smaller box for the head and 2 pieces of folded cardboard for arms.  A little spring was poked into the top of the head but you can also use a piece of coiled wire.  

After boxes and cardboard are taped together, cover with a layer or two of paper mache.  I prefer liquid starch and torm newspaper strips.  Liquid starch is only sold at a few select markets like Stater Brothers but you can use any paper mache recipe you like.

After paper mache is dry, paint a coat of Gesso (or any white acrylic paint) so robot will be nice and bright for painting.

I prefer acrylic paints for paper mache projects as it covers really well.  The little inexpensive bottles sold at craft stores work great.  Let kids pick out the colors they like and encourage them to paint their robots any way they choose.   You can use a clear acrylic top coat for a nice shiny finish which is not necessary but looks great and makes objects a little  stronger.

Small cardboard robots are fun and easy to take to kids spending time in the hospital for example.  But be sure to try creating other sizes and even extra large ones made from large boxes.  You can also cut face pieces and "controls" out of pieces of cardboard and glue them on your robot.  Keep it super simple or make it detailed, lots of possibilities.