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.