Santa Crafts for Kids
- Have kids craft a Santa Claus decoration for their Christmas trees.santa claus christmas tree ornament image by green308 from Fotolia.com
The Christmas season is a fun time filled with wonder and excitement for children. Santa Claus is one of the main Christmas characters that add to the intrigue and joy of the holiday. During this time of the year, children will enjoy creating crafts centered on this "jolly old elf" that can not only be used as decorations for the holiday, but as a means to heighten their excitement. - Help kids make a Santa craft to hang on the door to welcome guests at Christmas time. Supply children with paper plates. Help them cut a triangle out of red construction paper and glue it on the top half of the paper plate. Instruct them to glue cotton balls along the bottom part of the triangle and one cotton ball to the top point of the triangle. Give them two googly eyes to glue onto the paper plate below the hat. Glue a red pom-pom below the eyes to form a nose. To create rosy cheeks, children can dip a finger in pink paint and stamp one fingerprint on either side of the nose. Show them how to draw a smile for Santa with a black marker. The Santa craft is finished when cotton balls are glued onto the bottom of the plate, forming his beard. Punch a hole through the hat and string a piece of yarn or ribbon through it to hang the decoration.
- Have children create a one-of-a-kind Santa Claus decoration for their Christmas tree using their handprints. Supply children with a piece of white or blue oak tag. Use a paintbrush to paint red finger paint on the bottom half of their palms and their thumb--this will be Santa's hat; paint their palms with pink finger paint to create Santa's face; and paint the rest of their fingers with white finger paint to make Santa's beard. Have them stamp their handprint onto the oak tag. When the paint has dried, have them use a black marker to make a nose, eyes and a mouth on their Santas. Have them cut their Santa out of the oak tag in a circle or a heart shape using safety scissors. Punch a hole in the paper just above Santa's hat. String a piece of yarn through the hole and tie it into a loop. The decoration can be hung from a tree by the yarn.
- Create a Santa Claus from a recycled plastic bottle. Gather a collection of recycled plastic water or soda bottles--1-liter bottles are ideal. Have children tear pieces of red crepe paper or construction paper and roll them into balls. Have them fill the bottle with the paper. Instruct them to cut a long strip of black construction paper and glue it around the center of the bottle--this will be Santa's belt. They can create a belt buckle by cutting a small square out of yellow construction paper and gluing it to the center of the belt. Above the belt, have them glue cotton balls, creating a beard. To make a nose for Santa, have them glue a small pom-pom above the beard. Two googly eyes, attached with glue above the nose, bring Santa to life. Have kids secure the bottle with the cap and glue a cotton ball on top of it.
