Are you looking for some fun Christmas craft ideas to do with your toddler? Christmas crafts are a great way to teach your toddler about the holiday; they also help with the child’s cognitive development. Even if you toddler is younger than 3, you can still do some simple Christmas crafts with them. Here are a few craft ideas for you and your toddler:
Picture Time
There is no question that kids love to draw. This year, allow your toddler to go crazy with some washable markers. Get out a Christmas coloring book and help them color in the trees, reindeer, Santa Claus, ornaments and other Christmas themes. This is a lot of fun for them because they get to be messy and you won’t get irritated with them.
If your toddler is a little older, picture time can be done with acrylic paints. Just make sure you put down some newspaper so that the paint doesn’t get all over your kitchen table. Give your toddler a blank sheet of card stock paper and let them come up with their own design. Crayons also work great if you aren’t comfortable handing your toddler paint.
Reindeer and Santa Claus
Another fun Christmas craft that toddlers can create is Santa Claus and his reindeer. You will need several sheets of foam paper in order to do this. Cookie cutters can help you cut out the basic reindeer designs along with Santa Claus and his sleigh. Make a book out of the foam and tell a quick story about the Night Before Christmas and insert your child’s picture into the book. This is a lot of fun for them and it’s a great Christmas keepsake to keep for years to come. To make the foam reindeer, you will need to get some wiggle eyes along with a little bit of ribbon to tie around their necks. Use a small strip of black foam to create a harness on the reindeer so it looks like they are pulling the sleigh.
Ornaments
Perhaps one of the easiest Christmas crafts for toddlers to create is the ornament. There are several different types of ornaments you can create with your toddler. Grab some glitter, crayons, markers, cardboard, yarn and glue to get started on your ornaments. Cut out cardboard pieces shaped like stars, snowmen, Santa Claus and other fun Christmas elements. Once you have cut out the cardboard, spray paint them different colors or allow your child to have fun decorating the cardboard however they would like. Help them when they are using the glitter as this can be pretty messy. Once your toddler has decorated their ornament, punch a small hole in the top of the ornament and tie some ribbon around it so you can hang it from the tree.
Another fun ornament for your toddler is to create a candy cane photo frame. This is great for older toddlers who understand giving presents. Explain to them that they are creating a Christmas gift for their grandparents. Get some candy canes, felt, ribbon, glue and a picture of your child. To create the candy cane frame, glue two canes together at the top and bottom to form a heart. You can glue four candy canes together to form a rectangle picture frame as well. Trace the candy cane frame with a marker onto some felt and cut it out. Cut a square in the middle of the heart that is made from felt and glue the picture to it. Glue the felt to the frame of the candy cane and hang it with some ribbon.