Christmas is supposed to be a time for family fun and games. It’s the time when most families hold get-togethers, exchange wonderful gifts, and eat special delicacies.
During this time, you would want to keep your toddlers busy and entertained as well. Fun is the perfect gift for your kids during Christmas.
There are several Christmas crafts for kids that you and your toddlers can explore. Play materials don’t have to be expensive.
Your kids can use recycled materials to make a variety of fun shapes and awesome holiday-themed crafts.
All you need is a craft kit with a collection of dry ingredients and other basic craft supplies.
Christmas Crafts Ideas for Toddlers Age 1-2
Kids between the age of 1-2 years will need more of your help to craft. They also love popping colors, so making a colorful craft will brighten their days.
Another consideration to make is that they’re in the oral stage, where everything goes to the mouth.
It would help if you provided edible or harmless craft supplies for them. For instance, use wheat flour or toothpaste instead of hot glue.
Also, their craft can get pretty messy, so get ready to clean after them without a fuss.
That said, let’s look at some of the coolest toddler Christmas crafts ideas for this age group.
Handprint Ornament
Creating a Christmas tree handprint ornament will require:
- Homemade playdough
- Colored candies
After you’ve prepared the dough, help your kids press their palms hard into the dough to make beautiful crafts.
Once the handprints are done, you can leave them overnight to dry then hang them around the house.
Christmas-themed Footprint Reindeer
All you need:
- A White craft paper
- cardboard
- The toddler’s foot
- Medium-light wheatpaste
- Green food color
- A round red candy for the nose
- Small black and white sweets for the eyes
- Brown food color
Add the green food color to the paste, then stir to form a homogenous green paste. Pour the paste on cardboard, help your toddler step on it, and make a footprint on the white paper.
Show them where to fix the candies to fix the reindeer’s eyes and nose. Make a paste using the brown food color.
Using one of the kid’s fingers, help them to draw the antlers, then let the Christmas reindeer dry.
Christmas Crafts Ideas for Toddlers Age 2-3
At age 2-3, children are more adventurous and can do most things by themselves. However, you’ll still need to handle any tools that may pose a danger to them, like a pair of scissors.
Once you cut everything ready, allow them to explore and have fun. Below are some crafts for kids at this age:
Paper plate Tissue Ornament
You will need:
- Christmas-colored tissue papers
- Homemade glue to stick. You can use a thick wheat flour paste or toothpaste.
- A paper plate with holes punched out on it
- Small cutting scissors for you to use but keep away from the toddlers
- Glue gun
First, cut the tissue papers into small pieces. Then, allow the kids to place one piece onto each hole on the paper plate.
Next, load the glue gun and let your toddlers apply glue all over the surface of the tissues using the glue gun.
Finally, allow the tissues to dry completely before hanging them up.
Snowman With Simple Ornaments
This simple snowman craft requires simple materials, namely:
- A colored piece of paper. Construction paper is the best
- Strong craft glue
- A pair of scissors
- Green, red and white buttons
- Red and green glitters
You’ll need to cut out circles from different sizes of construction paper.
Then ask the kids to fold each circle in half and attach it with glue on top of another one. After all the pieces are glued together, add googly eyes using black marker pens.
Finally, let your toddlers decorate the finished product by adding buttons and glitters.
Popsicle Santa Hat
- To create this cute popsicle hat, you need:
- Two red popsicle sticks
- Six cotton swabs
- A red or pink manilla paper
- A cardboard
- Glue
- Scissors
Cut the manilla paper into a triangular shape considering the size of the popsicles. Place the triangle piece on the cardboard.
Apply glue on the two longer edges of the triangle, then show your toddlers how to place the popsicle sticks on the edges to stick.
Apply more glue on the top edge along the base of the triangle.
Again, let your toddler place one cotton swab at the top and the other five along the base, and voila! Santa’s favorite hat!
Christmas Crafts Ideas for Toddlers Age 3-4
Kids in this age bracket need Christmas craft ideas that provoke their creativity more and improve their learning skills.
They can safely handle most tools within range with less supervision.
For instance, they can use hot glue to join hard craft materials as long as you load the gun and show them how it works.
Some of their interesting Christmas crafts would be:
Candy Cane Reindeer
This one is low-cost and also easy to make. The requirements are:
- Medium-size red candy for the nose
- Two small black and white sweets for the eyes
- Pipe cleaners, preferably brown
- Big green and red candy canes for the mainframe
- Craft glue or icing
Start by fixing the reindeer antlers. Twist the brown pipe cleaners and fix them at the point where the candy cane begins to curve.
Then let your toddlers apply glue or icing on the red candy and fix it on the shorter end of the candy cane to make a nose.
After the antlers and the nose are in place, it’s time to fix the eyes. Allow your toddlers to apply the glue on the black and white candies, then show them how to fix the eyes on the sides.
Just like that, and you have a Christmas-themed adorable reindeer ornament to spice up your holidays!
Handmade Christmas Tree Ornaments
The Christmas tree is one of the most treasured holiday decorations. Kids love decorating it, so your toddlers will be excited to make the decor ornaments at home.
A tree ornament can be as simple as a multi-colored candy, so you won’t need to overspend on this one.
Some of the simple materials you’ll need are:
- Green banana leaves to act as ribbons
- A pair of baby scissors
- Jingle bells
- White glue
- A long white ornament string
- Colored tissue paper, preferably red
- Candy ornaments
- Edible assorted colors
To ensure the safety of your kids, make starter cuts on the banana leaves using a pair of scissors, then put that tool away.
Show your kids how to rip the leaves into sizeable ribbons following the cuts you made.
They can make as many ribbons as necessary, depending on the size of your tree. You will tie the improvised ribbons on the stalks of the tree to form a beautiful pattern.
Let your kids cut the long ornament string into smaller pieces and die them with the assorted colors.
They can now use the colored pieces of strings to hang the candy ornaments on the tree. Use pieces of the red tissue paper to decorate some of the jingle bells.
Use the white glue to stick the tissue paper wrapped around the bells.
Decorating Gift Boxes
A gift box is another essential item during the Christmas holidays. Friends and family use gift boxes to present gifts to one another.
Toddlers aged 3-4 years can use gift wrappers and other decorations to make these boxes more adorable before use.
Requirements for this craft:
- Different-sized gift boxes
- Gift wrapping papers
- Scissors
- Glue
- Tape
- Colored beads
Cut the wrapping papers into different sizes to cater to all the boxes that need decoration, then show your toddlers how to fix the wrappers.
They can use glue or tape to fix the wrappers and colored beads. Allow the kids to get creative with the bids and form patterns of their choice.
Take Away
Toddler Christmas crafts ideas don’t have to be complicated, yet they mean a lot to these little ones. They only need enough opportunities to express their creativity and participate in boosting the holiday’s fun like the rest of the family.
