Parenting Toddlers

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Today, I was chatting with my good friend, Randi, and she inspired me to create some great Christmas crafts. She’s full of good ideas - when you need help, ask another parent!! Anyway, she came up with several great ideas that young children can do to decorate your home for the holidays.

* Draw a picture of Santa on any kind of paper you have handy. You could probably even find a printable online if you’re not handy with the pencil. You can have your child color him, and then stick cotton balls on his beard. Randi’s daughter’s preschool did this and a variation. They applied double -sided tape to his beard, and the children put a cotton ball on each day…as a count-down method. I thought that was really cute and toddler-friendly.

* You can draw candy canes (or get printables online) and decorate them. Hang them up on your walls and windows for easy, fast decorations.

*Make a multi-layer tree of green construction paper (like tiers so it looks more tree-like). Hang it on your wall or window. Each day, your child can make an ornament for it from construction or regular paper and hang it on the tree. Again, this is a cute count-down method, and a good way to get into the Christmas spirit. And it’s a great activity during which you can talk about what Christmas means.
(I like this one - I’m going to do it with Peanut ASAP).

*This is another idea from pre-school. Trace your child’s hands - and yours if you want - on green construction paper. Cut them out. I know Peanut loves to cut, but I don’t know if she’s agile enough to cut hands - you may want to do that part. Then put them together in a wreath shape on your inside door, wall, or window. You can then decorate with pictures of your child or have them make decorations as with the tree idea. You can also use the hand cut-outs to make a tree as shown in the picture above.

*There’s also a website called PaperSnowFlakes.com, which has templates for snowflake activities. These require cutting also, but there are also templates that you can print and color. Click here for that link.

*Draw a reindeer head - just an oval. Your child can draw in the face if he’s older. Peanut is pretty good at eyes, mouths, and noses. Then, dip their hands into washable paint and have them put their handprints on top of the reindeer’s head for antlers. So cute! And easy. While you have the paint out, have them dip their hands in green and use handprints to make a Christmas tree. When that dries, they can use other colors to decorate it.

There are so many things you can do. You can make whole snowy village scenes with some crayons and cotton balls. I love little kid crafts. All you really need is construction paper, glue, scissors, tape, crayons, maybe some paint. All pretty cheap and easy to use. Have you made any Christmas crafts with your kids?

Also, if you’re looking for some great craft and holiday ideas, check out Wax and Bubbles. There are some awesome and interesting ideas there. You can find out how to make your home smell nice and Christmasy or how to make peppermint lip balm…yummy! They make great and frugal presents that anyone will love.