The holiday season is full of joy and excitement, but it can fly by in a blur. If you want to slow down and enjoy meaningful moments with your little ones, these fun and easy Christmas crafts for kids are the perfect way to spend time together. They’re affordable, simple to set up, and filled with learning opportunities—though your kids will just think they’re having fun!
7 Fun and Easy Christmas Crafts for Kids
These creative holiday activities are simple, affordable, and perfect for toddlers and big kids alike.
1. Sticker Snowflake
A simple, mess-free craft that helps develop fine motor skills while making beautiful snowflakes.
This Christmas craft is entirely too easy, but it will keep their hands busy for a long time. It requires very little work for you but yields a big-time payoff. Oh, and did I mention it’s virtually mess-free? You’re welcome. I grabbed a large piece of blue poster board at the dollar store and some plain white dot stickers. Yes, that means this activity costs only $2. It doesn’t get any better than that, right?
Directions:
- Using a black marker, draw a basic snowflake pattern onto your poster board. You can make it as simple or intricate as you would like!
- Have your child use the dot stickers to cover the lines. Encourage them to keep the stickers only on the lines so you get a clear picture at the end.
Stickers are a great way to use our refined fine motor skills, and honestly, what kid doesn’t love stickers? If your little one has difficulty separating the stickers from the sheet, you can peel off the surrounding backing, leaving only the dot stickers behind.
Bonus tip: I like to stick the entire poster board up on a wall so our kids work against gravity for the duration of the activity. It’s a great way to work on building the shoulder muscles required for fine motor tasks, such as writing and cutting. This one is a win!
2. Cardboard Village
Turn leftover boxes into a festive decoration your kids will love helping with.
I’m not sure about you, but our kids love to help us decorate during the holidays. And I love finding ways for them to be involved in the process. I can’t necessarily have them help me put out our fragile decorations, but they can certainly help with this Christmas craft.
Directions:
- Grab a bunch of recycled cardboard (I imagine you have some sitting around from all those deliveries this time of year) and a white paint pen. You’ll need tiny sequins, jewels, or glitter for the kids. Hopefully, the kids and glitter don’t give you anxiety as it does me.
- Cut out several of the house shapes from the cardboard and decorate them with white paint or a paint pen. If you have older kids, they could help you with this step. For our younger kids, I had them help me decorate the houses with sequins and jewels, and they loved it!
- Once the houses are completely dry, you can string them with yarn and hang them somewhere in your home. Alternatively, you can attach them in an accordion format and display them on your table. The possibilities are endless with this one. Our kids were so proud of what they created, and it was great to have them feel like they contributed to our holiday décor this year.
3. Snowman Bowling
A fun indoor activity that keeps little ones active on chilly days while building hand-eye coordination and teamwork.
This great gross motor activity can easily be done indoors during those cold winter months.
Directions:
- Gather 10 Styrofoam cups and draw a snowman face on each one. I used a black Sharpie for the eyes and mouth, and then cut out orange triangles for the noses. You’ll also need a lightweight object. I found a pack of snowballs at the dollar store, or you could also use a couple of pieces of crumpled-up construction paper.
- Have your child stack the cups into a pyramid and use your snowball or another lightweight object to try and knock the cups down.
Having your child restack the cups is a great visual motor activity, and they will love knocking them down again and again! If you have more than one child playing, you can make it a game to see who can get the most snowmen knocked down with each round.
4. Reindeer Ornament
This sweet DIY ornament makes a perfect keepsake and adds a personal touch to your family’s Christmas tree.
Who doesn’t love a homemade ornament idea? You’ve probably seen several examples of salt dough ornaments (capturing your little one’s handprints as a babe is a must!), but if you’re looking for another fun DIY ornament, here’s an idea that can be done in just a couple of minutes. You can make this as easy as a “place and paste” activity, or for older kids, you can also involve them in the cutting process. I did this one when our baby was just three years old, so I cut everything in advance, so all he needed to do was paste it together with some help.
Directions:
- Cut out two antlers from glitter brown cardstock and a small red nose out of red glitter cardstock.
- Add some eyes and a mouth, and you have a sweet little Rudolph ornament!
I found the wooden ornaments at our local craft store for just a couple of bucks and already had the cardstock on hand. But even if you buy all the necessary supplies, this one still costs just a few dollars per ornament.
5. Pouch Cap Christmas Tree
Save those pouch tops and turn them into a fun, hands-on Christmas craft that strengthens your child’s fine motor skills.
This Christmas craft has always been one of my favorite DIY activities. I made this two years ago, and it’s still holding up, and the kids still love it!
Most parents of young kids or toddlers have a collection of squeeze pouches in their cabinets. Start saving those tops and putting them to good use with this fun activity. You’ll want to keep the twist cap and the plastic piece that the cap twists onto. Just cut them right off the pouch, rinse them, and set them aside until you have enough saved. We had two toddlers in the house when I originally made this, so I had enough tops on hand for this craft after just a few days.
Directions:
- Using recycled cardboard, I cut out a tree shape and a star, then painted the tree green and the star yellow.
- Once they were dry, I used my hot glue gun to put the tree together. I used the hot glue gun to glue on the plastic twist-top portions. (Tip: leave the caps detached, so they don’t accidentally get glued onto their twist top.)
- Once they have had enough time to dry completely, it’s time to play. Your child will love to “decorate” the tree with the pouch cap “ornaments.” As they twist the caps on, they work on practical fine motor skills.
I love finding ways to encourage our kids to engage in activities like this because they are excellent for building skills disguised as play.
6. Marshmallow Painting
Turn snack time into art time with this creative painting idea that uses marshmallows as snowy stamps—kids love it!
There’s just something about kids and painting. This Christmas craft and art project is easy and cheap, and your kids will love this unique spin on stamping. There are various unconventional ways to use food for paint stamping. Apples, potatoes, and even broccoli can be dipped into paint and used as stamps. But this activity uses marshmallows!
I purchased a bag of jumbo marshmallows at the dollar store and some white craft paint at our local craft store. I then used the back of a piece of the blue poster board I had used in the sticker snowflake activity.
Directions:
- Using a black permanent marker, I drew a snowman shape and allowed our little one to dip his marshmallow into the paint and fill in the snowman shape.
- After he was done filling in his snowman, I helped cut out the facial features, hat, and buttons from construction paper.
You could have your kids make their own unique snowman, and you’ll have a whole family of snowmen (and women)!
7. Stocking Guessing Game
A quick and cozy holiday game that helps kids sharpen their sense of touch while having fun together as a family.
This game is set up in just minutes and involves skill-building for your kids.
Directions:
- Grab a stocking and fill it with random objects or toys from around the house. Ensure there are no sharp edges, as your child will likely grab things without using their eyes.
- Have your child reach into the stocking, grab an object, and then guess what it is without looking. The ability to recognize an object using your sense of touch, without visual and auditory information, is called stereognosis and is an important life skill.1 Imagine how often you reach into your purse or diaper bag looking for your keys, phone, or another object and can locate it based purely on your sense of touch!
You can mix this one up as many times as you want. And you can use easy objects your kids are familiar with, or you can increase the difficulty if you use things that are a bit more obscure. If your child can’t verbally communicate, you could have pictures of the objects, and your child can point to the image they feel inside the stocking. This activity is an excellent, low-key, easy-to-set-up way to occupy your little ones this holiday season. You can do this again and again!
I hope these Christmas crafts and activities keep your little ones entertained and inspired this holiday season. Amid the busy rush, take time to slow down and see the season’s magic through your children’s eyes. These simple moments often become the memories you’ll cherish most.
