Easy Christmas Crafts for Preschoolers
The best part of Christmas with little ones is getting creative with them and using your imagination to produce crafts that are festive and will last for years to come. These easy Christmas crafts for preschoolers are designed with little hands in mind. Cutting, sticking, colouring and sorting are all early learning goals which preschoolers practice when making crafts. These ideas can be your inspiration to get into the Christmas spirit but remember to embrace your child’s creativeness, even if the results aren’t perfect! As much as I enjoy crafts with clear steps and uniform results, it is also nice to let children plan and produce unique creations which they can feel ownership over.
Top 8 Quick and Easy Christmas Crafts
1. Paper Plate Christmas Tree
Paper plates are a handy resource when it comes to crafts! To make a paper plate Christmas Tree you will need: a small paper plate, green paint, yellow and brown paper and a popsicle stick.
For this activity:
- Paint the paper plate green and cut into quarters.
- Cut out a brown rectangle and stick on the bottom of the popsicle stick.
- Glue one of the quarters on top of popsicle stick, covering the top of the brown rectangle.
- Layer 2 more quarters on top of this, gluing to the stick. Use the last quarter if you want an extra long tree.
- Decorate with craft materials you have on hand.
2. Popsicle Stick Puzzle
These puzzles are so versatile and can be used to practice literacy or maths. Lay the popsicle sticks out side by side and use cello tape to keep them together. Decide on your focus word or numbers and write them along the bottom, one letter or number on each stick. Draw a simple picture to accompany your theme and you have an easy, home made puzzle. Muddle up the pieces and put them back together again. I love to use this idea to practice tricky spelling words. These are so easy to make; older kids can make them for each other!
3. Christmas Tree Collage
This is a great activity for fine motor skill practice. If you child is able, get them to cut the square pieces of green paper. Provide a simple outline of a Christmas tree that they can fill in with their green squares. Cutting and sticking are both great ways to focus on hand-eye coordination. I like to use a red paper plate as the background for the tree and once finished this makes a great Christmas decoration for the house or to hang on your tree. This activity can be done with all types of Christmas shapes, so get creative!
4. Shape and Sort Christmas Tree
One early learning maths goal is to be able to sort shapes by length. This shape and sort activity is a great way to reinforce this skill and make a Christmas tree at the same time. Simply cut different lengths of green paper and let your child sort them by size, gluing the longest one at the bottom of a white paper and working their way to the smallest at the top. Decorate with stickers or shapes cut from coloured paper. Laminate if you can to keep it as a decoration for years to come.
5. Fingerprint Christmas Card
Merry Christmas Card Printable Template
Homemade Christmas cards are always a fun way to get creative and make keepsakes for family and friends. This printable card template can be used in a variety of ways. First colour or paint the tree green. Then get messy with paint and use fingerprints to decorate the tree. Or cut out different shapes with coloured paper and stick them on.
6. Popsicle/Lolly Stick Decorations
Popsicle/lolly sticks have so many uses, especially at this time of year! Rather than giving your child a pattern to follow, give them the sticks and some paint and ask them to come up with some ideas for decorations. Experimenting with different shapes that can be made with the sticks is fun and creative. Discuss different symbols of Christmas and how these sticks might be used to make these shapes.
7. Homemade Snowflake Decorations
Homemade snowflakes are the easiest and quickest Christmas craft. All you need is a pair of scissors and white paper. Experiment with different shapes and cutting techniques. Fold only a few times for younger children so they can still cut through the paper. Decorate with glitter, stickers or any other craft material you have on hand.
8. Paper Chain Decorations
My daughter loves this activity. Cutting the strips of paper uses bilateral hand coordination, meaning both hands are doing different tasks. The simple motion of putting two ends of the paper together and sticking takes a lot of hand-eye coordination and concentration. Once another circle is added on, there is motivation to continue and see how long the paper chain can grow. I found paper printed in Christmas designs in my local craft store, but it is easy enough to cut small strips out of Christmas wrapping paper or construction paper. This is another skillful activity that creates colourful decorations for your house and tree. This kind of activity is recommended by occupational therapists for fine motor skills practice.
Enjoy Easy Christmas Crafts for Preschoolers
Making crafts is a great way of spending quality time with your children during the holidays. Let them get creative, get messy and enjoy making creations that you can keep for many Christmases to come.
