Bonus crafts!
Mistle-toes
This craft is a fun activity and a lovely keepsake. Here we have provided printable templates but we have also included some examples of how to draw them yourself.
What you need for the mistle-toes wreath:
You can do this in two ways: take a damp sponge and put it on a plate, apply a few squirts of paint and massage it into the sponge using a paint brush or your fingers to make sure the paint is worked through as much of the sponge as possible. Press your little one’s foot into the painted sponge one at a time, place their foot in the wreath (or under and gently press down onto the paper. If you don’t have a sponge, you can paint the bottoms of your little one’s feet with a very thin layer of paint, one at a time and repeat the above process.
Mistletoe wreath baby 1st Christmas template
Mistletoe wreath child template
Keepsake Ornament
Keep this easy paper ornament craft as a reminder of how little your little one’s were this Christmas!
What you need
Cut out the printed ornament templates or draw and write your own and cut a small hole in the top. Use a piece of string the measure the height of your child and cut to their height, loop the string through the hole at the top and tie carefully enough that you can untie it whenever you like! Now you have a permanent reminder of how little your children were for Christmas 2023.
Day 1: Thumbprint Fairy Lights
What you need:
All you need to do is make colourful thumbprints in a row and once dry turn them into Christmas lights by drawing a wire along the top. P.S… these make really sweet Christmas cards!
Tip: To make your paint last longer try making a home-made stamp pad. To make the pad take a damp sponge and put it into the plastic container. Apply a few squirts of paint and massage it into the sponge using a paint brush or your fingers to make sure the paint is worked through as much of the sponge as possible. Your homemade stamp is ready to go!
Day 2: Christmas Stockings Craft
What you need:
Cut the card into the shape of a Christmas stocking. Help the kids paint one side of the stocking with glue and let the children decorate! Once the kids have finished, put it aside to dry.
Day 3: Christmas Stars
What you need:
To make the star, secure the pop sticks (or twigs found during a nature walk) at right angles to make a cross, then either glue or wind string around them to secure.
Starting in the middle of the cross, help the kids wrap the tinsel around the pop sticks – over, under, over, under, until they reach the outside of the cross. Tie the tinsel off or thread it back through a few of the layers to secure.
Day 4: Pop Stick Reindeer
What you need:
Glue the pop sticks together to form a capital “A” shape. On the point, glue the red pom-pom to the top, this becomes the reindeer’s nose. Next wind the brown pipe cleaners around the middle pop stick to make antlers. Glue on the googly eyes and your reindeer is ready to decorate the Christmas tree.
Day 5: Snow Painting
What you need:
Fill a container with shaving cream and place it in the fridge for a couple of hours (or overnight if you have time). When it is cool pour PVA glue over the top (using a ratio of equal parts shaving cream to glue). Add some glitter and you are ready to paint! This snow paint also dries puffy so the finished result is very cool.
Day 6: Paper Plate Angel
What you need:
Preparation: Draw a pattern (like the one in the top right of the image) on the underside of a paper plate and cut along the lines, discarding the dark section.
Now it’s time for the kids to get creative. Help them draw a face on the angel then decorate the skirt and wings with stickers, crayons and glitter. To make the angel stand up, overlap the edge of the angel’s skirt slightly and tape or staple it into place.
Day 7: Hand-print Christmas tree
What you need:
Paint the front of your little one’s hand with green paint and gently press onto the paper or card in a tree pattern, start with 4 hand prints along the bottom overlapping and move up towards the top of the page with one less hand print in each row until you reach 1 handprint for the top of the tree. Paint a star at the top of the tree and decorate however you please, you could put a dot on each finger tip to look like baubles!
Day 8: Paper Plate Ornaments
What you need:
Cut out the paper plate in shapes such as wreaths or stars. Decorate the shapes however you like! Your little ones can paint the shapes or glue on tinsel, decorations, glitter, or pom poms. When you finish and let the pieces dry, punch a hole in the top of the shape, tie on some string and hang on the tree!
Day 9: Reindeer Hat
What you need:
Cut out a strip of card that will fit around your child’s head. When the card is cut to the right size sticky tape it securely. Make the reindeer antlers from a cut out of your child’s handprint, stick it on the headband and decorate!
Day 10: Pop stick ornaments
What you need:
Glue the pop sticks into Christmas shapes such as a triangle for a Christmas tree or a star to look like a snowflake. Decorate by gluing on decorations or wrapping thin tinsel around the pop sticks. Stick a loop of string at the top and hang on the tree!
Day 11: Paper Plate Santa & Snowman
What you need:
For Santa: Cut a Santa hat shape out of the card and stick to the top of the paper plate. Glue pom poms to the bottom of the paper plate to make Santa’s beard and optionally for his eyebrows. Stick on some googley eyes and draw on his happy face!
For snowman: Stick two or three paper plates together to make the snowman’s face and body. Glue on some pop sticks as it’s arms and cut out shapes for it’s face, nose and buttons out of the card and decorate however your little one’s want! Add some pizazz with glitter.
Day 12: Paper Chain Decoration
What you need:
Cut strips of card to the size of your choosing, about 2 inches wide and 8 inches long should work well! Decorate the strips, let your kid’s imaginations run wild! You could use googly eyes and pom poms to make Santa and his reindeer’s faces, snow men, or even elves or decorate with pom poms, glitter, tinsel, draw with markers, the ideas are endless! Once all of the strips are completed and dry, sticky tape the first strip into a circle, loop the next strip and tape through the first circle and continue doing that until the chain is complete! Use the chain to decorate your tree or home!
Extra idea: use this chain as a craft Christmas countdown! Write a number on each chain loop and carefully remove a loop for each day of the countdown leading up to Christmas! P.S. if you cut the loops carefully, you can reuse the strips for next year’s paper chain countdown
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