Beyond the Gingerbread House: Fun Holiday Crafts for Kids
The cancellation of some normal holiday activities doesn’t mean that normal holiday fun has to end! Particularly during this unusual year, the holiday season is a wonderful time for families to disconnect from the stresses of daily life and enjoy quality time together. If you’re looking for thoughtful ways to spend the holidays with your children, try out a few of the holiday craft ideas below! Engaging and easy, these handmade projects make great holiday crafts for kids of all ages.
Deck the Halls: Crafts as Holiday Decor
Instead of buying new decor every time a garland breaks or a light goes out, show your kids how fun it can be to decorate your home with hand-crafted creations!
Toilet Roll Choirs
Make a solo singer or an entire group of carolers using empty toilet rolls, paint and an old magazine. If your little ones play with dolls, you can even borrow the dolls’ winter clothing and accessories for a fun, personalized touch!
DIY Cardboard Gingerbread Men
We’ve all got spare boxes lying around, which makes these cardboard gingerbread men one of the easiest holiday crafts for kids. Cut a gingerbread-man shape from any cardboard box (Nurture Life boxes work perfectly!), and then let your little ones go wild with yarn, buttons, pom poms, paint and ribbon. This craft provides all the fun of real gingerbread men without the added sugar!
Paper Straw Snowflakes
Using only paper straws (or plastic, if that’s what’s in the pantry), cardstock and decorative beads, these snowflakes will turn your home into a winter wonderland. They’re also good practice for the fine motor skills of gluing, arranging and cutting with kid-safe scissors.
Share the Yum: Holiday Craft Ideas for Healthy Snacks
For many families, holidays are synonymous with food, and the healthy snack crafts below definitely scratch that itch. We especially love these holiday craft ideas because they’re just as much about spending time together as they are about building a positive relationship with food—which is a gift that will truly keep on giving!
Frosty the Egg Snowman
This imaginative snack packs an adorable protein punch to power your kid’s holiday celebrations. Simply stack two hard-boiled eggs, add peppercorns for the buttons and eyes, and then place a triangular carrot for the perfect nose.
Kid-Friendly Peanut Butter Snacks
This video shows five easy, kid-friendly peanut butter snacks for any time of year. To make them a little more festive for the holiday season, try these creative tweaks:
- PB Banana Popsicles: Instead of using a whole banana, cut it into three small pieces. Cover each piece with peanut butter, dip it in unsweetened coconut and then stack them together to make a cute frozen snowman for your kids to decorate.
- PB Raspberry Waffles: Serve raspberries, nuts, and other wholesome toppings for your kids to design their own holiday scenes on top of their whole-wheat waffles. Fun ideas include sliced banana snowmen, all-fruit “candy canes” and a green grape Grinch.
Polar Bear Popcorn Cups
All you need for this North Pole-inspired craft is white plastic cups, permanent markers, googly eyes and a ribbon for the scarf! After your kids have drawn their polar bear faces, fill them with air-popped popcorn for a nutritious whole-grain snack.
Spread the Love: Handmade Crafts as Gifts
Beyond the excitement of glueing on googly eyes and cutting out cardboard, crafting with your kids is a natural way to teach them what the holidays are really about: showing your loved ones how much you care. Make these holiday crafts with your kids so they can participate in the gift-giving fun!
Handmade Handkerchiefs
Using fabric crayons on an ironed handkerchief, your children can create a personalized gift that parents and grandparents will treasure for a lifetime.
Fingerprint Holiday Cards
Help your kids make their mark with adorable art that displays a string of holiday lights made with their thumbprints. Simply draw a curly black line to represent the string, and then have your little ones add the lights by dipping their fingers in different colors of paint.
To demonstrate that the best gifts come from the heart, help your children brainstorm and design a “coupon” to put inside the card—for example, a lunch date, a movie night or a trip to the park. A thoughtful coupon will take the focus away from material gifts and instead put it on shared experiences.
Snowflake Wrapping Paper
This handmade wrapping paper will put the finishing touch on your kids’ crafty gifts. Use any holiday-themed stencil you like, or encourage your children to draw their own patterns from scratch.
These holiday craft ideas are just the beginning! Take advantage of those days off from school to inspire your little one’s creativity, spend valuable time together and spread the holiday cheer.
