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Finding time to slow down with your family at the holidays can be hard – if not impossible – but working together on a craft is one easy way to spend time together, making memories while you’re putting together a one-of-a-kind project. From personalized aprons for your annual baking extravaganza to ornaments that will help you remember just how small those little hands once were, these five crafts are family-friendly ways to preserve this year’s holiday memories.
Contents
- Thumbprint Cards
- Cardboard Tube Characters
- Handprint Reindeer Ornaments
- Terra Cotta Snowmen
- No-Sew Holiday Aprons
5. Thumbprint Cards
You may prefer ordering photo cards to show off your growing-like-weeds little ones to friends and family who don’t see them much during the year, but let the kids make their own cards for grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends by putting their thumbs to work. Use a marker to draw a wavy black line on the front of the card and different colors of handprint ink to create thumb-sized bulbs for a string-of-lights card, or layer green thumbprints to create a holiday tree image and then let the kids trim it with stickers or crayon drawings.
4. Cardboard Tube Characters
Put those empty cardboard tubes from rolls of toilet paper or paper towels to work by turning them into angels, soldiers, Santas, snowmen, and more. FamilyFun has specific instructions for covering the tubes with paper and embellishments to create your own cast of holiday characters, but letting your kids use their imagination will give you an end result that’s even more personal and memorable.
3. Handprint Reindeer Ornaments
What better way to remember your kids’ tiny hands than with handprint reindeer ornaments? Trace each hand onto brown paper or felt and cut around it; then let your kids add red pompoms, stickers, or black triangles to the edge of the thumb to create a nose, attach eyes to the middle of the thumb, use pipe cleaners as sparkly antlers, and let the four fingers act as the legs. The rest of the decorating – think saddles, jewels, bows, or glitter – is up to your kids.
4. Terra Cotta Snowmen
If you live in a place where White Christmases are few and far between, you can let your kids make their own snowmen by using terra cotta plant pots. After painting the pots white, turn them upside down so the wider part rests on the table, and then encourage the kids to create each snowman (or woman’s) face, scarf, hat, and (of course!) carrot nose using paint, fabric, or other craft supplies. (Craftown.com has more ideas for adding earmuffs, using scrapbook paper, and putting the finished product together.
5. No-Sew Holiday Aprons
Leave it to Martha Stewart to come up with a kid-friendly apron pattern that you can pull out every year for the annual cookie baking party with Grandma. Rick-rack, pre-cut shapes, and fabric glue let your kids create their own design on an apron sized just for them; follow these instructions to make a tree or ornament pattern, or get creative with your own design.