So the Christmas season has come around again, and you’re wondering if your toddlers are old enough to participate in a holiday-themed craft? We think the answer to that question is a resounding “yes”, but as craft enthusiasts, we could be a bit biased.
In this article, we have chosen 20 crafts that are designed to be appropriate for toddlers. An adult might need to help them with some of the steps, but they are open to a toddler’s own creative interpretation for the most part!
Creative Christmas Crafts for Toddlers
Salt Dough Handprints
Are you familiar with salt dough? If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s exactly what it sounds like — dough that is made from a mix of flour, salt, and cold water. This may sound like a food recipe, but we’re not telling it to you so that you can make something to eat. Salt dough is usually used to make a mold that you can place a handprint or footprint in. Then, you can bake it to preserve it for the future. One of the quintessential toddler Christmas crafts is the salt dough handprint. You can involve your toddler by making the dough yourself and then placing their handprint (or footprint) down on the dough to create a mold. You can find full instructions here.
Handprint Christmas Tree
Here is another craft that involves handprints! What can we say, toddler handprints are just downright adorable. They also happen to make the perfect Christmas tree when you line them all up as is seen in this craft idea here. You can either just use your toddler’s hands, a mixture of your hand and your toddler’s hand, or the handprints of multiple toddlers if you happen to be doing this craft with a class or a group of young ones.
Plate Christmas Trees
Paper plates are an example of something that we often have around the house that we can use as craft material. With this tutorial, you won’t just be simply drawing a tree on a paper plate, you will be folding it into a cone that is in the shape of a tree. It’s a bit too complicated for toddlers, maybe, but they will have a lot of fun carrying it around after you have the finished product.
Popsicle Stick Reindeers
Popsicle sticks are the perfect materials for making reindeer, because their long skinny sticks work great for portraying long skinny reindeer necks. Check out the ultimate guide to making a popsicle stick reindeer over here.
Winter Gloves
This is a fabulous craft idea for a kindergarten teacher or a preschool coordinator. It again uses handprints, though this time they are cut out of construction paper and placed on gloves that are also made from construction paper. They make such a cute display if you hang them up in the school hallway! Just remember to label each of them with the corresponding child’s name so that you don’t get them mixed up — handprints like this aren’t exactly distinguishable.
Pinecone Reindeer
Pinecones make for great reindeer craft making! Plus, depending on where you live, the Christmas season is a great time to find them laying around outside, ripe for the picking (and crafting). Your toddler is going to want to play with this pinecone as if it was their toy. All you need to do is add felt and voila, you have a reindeer face.
Christmas Sweater Collage
You’ve heard about the ugly Christmas sweater, but what about the ugly Christmas sweater craft? This is a great project for toddlers because the object of the craft is to make it look as busy and cluttered as possible. Of course, it’s not about making real sweaters but instead sweaters made of construction paper. But if you wanted to, you should totally make a fabric ugly Christmas sweater craft that you toddler could wear around the house!
“Mistletoes”
We love a punny craft! To make this “mistletoe”, you will want to use your toddler’s feet as a stamp and place them on a white piece of paper. Then, you can tie a ribbon at the top so that it resembles the mistletoe plant. Get it?
Paper Plate Ornaments
Here is another craft that makes use of paper plates. This time, the paper plates are made into giant “baubles” that are made to look like they sparkle thanks to a collection of small thin paper circles but you can also use bingo dabbers.
Handprint Wreath
We’ve got to the midpoint of this list, so it’s about time that we threw in another handprint craft. We present to you the handprint wreath. You can make this by tracing your toddler’s hand on a piece of construction paper and adding other touches like “cranberries”. Pro tip: instead of tracing a hand multiple times, which we’re sure that a toddler will not sit still for, trace the hand on one piece of paper and then cut several sheets at the same time.
Mosaic Gingerbread Man
This craft presents the perfect opportunity to teach your toddler the story of the gingerbread man. They are sure to delight over that classic tale. Plus, this craft is a mosaic, which makes it extra fun. Just make sure that you have toddler-safe scissors to use when cutting up all of the small paper pieces.
Paper Straw Christmas Trees
Plastic straws are out and paper straws are in. This isn’t only the case because paper straws are a lot better for the environment. This also rings true because paper straws are just a lot more fun to craft with! You can make an easy Christmas tree out of paper straws by following the tutorial that is found here.
Puffy Paint Snowglobe
Puffy paint is a very unique kind of crafting material — it refers to any kind of paint that offers volume and texture that sits on paper instead of sinking into it. It’s a lot of fun for toddlers who are predisposed to have a lot of fun with tactile play. Check out this puffy paint snowglobe tutorial for a wintery way to incorporate puffy paint into your crafting.
Pipecleaner Candy Cane
Pipecleaners are one of the most versatile craft materials out there, so if you are your family are big on crafting, it’s always a great idea to have some pipecleaners on hand (if you have a family cat, just make sure that you keep them away, otherwise they will quickly become their new favorite toy). All you will need to make these pipecleaner candy canes are pipecleaners and beads. This is one of the easiest crafts on this list, making it ideal for toddlers.
Sequin Snowflake
Sequins were pretty much made for toddlers. They are small, they’re colorful, and most importantly they offer a whole lot of sparkles. These pretty snowflake sequins are made from popsicle sticks, glue, and of course, sequins. You can make them and use them as tree ornaments, or just leave them as they are.
Footprint Snowman
There’s a reason why we use so many footprint crafts for toddlers. It’s not only hard to keep the attention span of toddlers focused on one thing, but it can also be hard to get toddlers to apply craft instructions (it’s not their fault, it’s just because they’re little). This will show you how you can use a footprint to make a snowman. It even gives you an idea for using a fun pun, “I love you snow much!”
Santa Countdown Chain
Chains are super fun to make! The best part is that all you need to make a chain is construction paper, scissors, and tape (although the tutorial that we are about to share also uses cotton balls for Santa’s beard). For this Christmas-themed chain, you’ll want to use a mixture of green and red paper. When you have the finished product you can hang it up around your apartment for extra Christmas cheer.
Gingerbread Ornaments
What could be better than an ornament you can eat? Nothing, we say. Making gingerbread cookies is one of the best parts of the holiday season because it gives families a chance to spend some quality time together (toddlers included) and enjoy a fun treat. Next time you make gingerbread cookies, bake them with a hole at the top so that you can pull a string through them and hang them on a tree. Then you’ll have a snack to enjoy whenever the craving gets you! Check out a tutorial here.
Giant Group Christmas Tree
Oftentimes the best crafts are collaborative ones. “Collaborative” is exactly the right word to describe this group Christmas tree, which consists of a giant piece of Christmas tree-shaped cardboard that everyone can get involved in. Check it out here.
Pine Cone Christmas Tree
Do you remember those ceramic light-up Christmas trees that everyone’s parents seemed to have in the 90s? Well, they’re having a comeback in the form of these pinecone miniature Christmas trees that just happen to be their identical twin. We love how the white paint makes it look like these trees have snow on their tips!
These crafts not only offer the opportunity to make precious memories, but they are also perfect to gift to friends and family members! After all, who isn’t touched by a homemade gift from a toddler?