I don’t know about your brood, but we love to get involved with a bit of craft come the festive season. The best thing about Christmas craft is like a double win because it’s an enjoyable family activity, and you get some decorations that don’t cost a fortune as well! Of course, the key to keeping things fun is to make sure you choose simple craft activities for the kids. Luckily you can find two of the best festive craft options below.
Retro angels
These little beauties are inspired by all those lovely mid-century style angles on Pinterest and Instagram. The good news is that they are super easy to make and look effective and stylish when completed as well.
To make 6 angels you will need:
- Card
- Pencils
- Foil paper
- Glue and a glue gun
- Mini ribbon bows
- Tinsel pipe cleaner
- Scissors
You will also need the pattern which you can find here.
Step one: Print the template out onto card stock and then cut around it. Then use this template to trace out the design multiple times on the foil paper. Choose gold and silver for a more traditional look, or go for all the colours for a fun vibe.
Step two: Use the card template to cut out the design from the foil paper and then fold it along the lines, so it slots together. At this point, you can get the kids to draw their own angel face designs on a card and then stick these over the foil circle in the head position. Use something like one of these glue guns to stick the angle together and to affix the head. Make sure that an adult does this part.
Step three: Make the halo. For this, you will need to take a tinsel pipe cleaner in silver or gold. Loosely fold it in half and then use a cylindrical object like the end of a tube of hand cream to mold the pipe cleaner into a circle. Be sure you do this in the very middle of the pipe cleaner, use where you folded it as a guide. You should be left with plenty of straight pipe cleaner as well as the halo.
Step four: Affix the halo. Once again get an adult to use a glue gun to stick the halo to the angel.
Use the long straight parts of the pipe cleaner and stick these to the body of the angel to help give it structure. Then leave the loop framing the angel’s head as it will also double as an easy way to hang your decorations when completed.
Step five: Add extra decoration. Often a small ribbon bow added at the neck will do, although you can add Christmas charms, or paper flowers if you like.
Paper bag advent calendar
Why buy expensive advent calendars when you can get a tow for one by making your own with the kids?
For this, you will need:
- 30 paper bags (white, brown, or any colour you like)
- Some Christmas twine
- Mini clothes pegs (25)
- Some felt stars or bells
- A ruler
- Glue gun and glue
- Pens and pencils
- glitter/ glitter glue
- Coloured paper or wrapping paper
Step one: Dish out the paper bags for the kids. Yes, you will need 30 at least because it’s likely that there will be a few mistakes, so it’s a good idea to get spares.
Step two: Hand out the coloured paper, glitter, and pens and let the kids create a festive decoration for each of their bags. Of course, if they are still small you may wish to do this with them, especially if there is cutting involved.
The kids can draw pictures of Santa and Rudolf or cut out shapes like Christmas trees and presents. You can give them templates to draw around if that makes things easier.
Step three: While the kids are busy decorating their allotment of paper bags you can get cracking on the string you will use to display them in your home. First of all, measure a spare bag and then times this by 25 so you can make sure that there is enough room for them all. Add a little extra length to the twine onto the end of each side as well so you will hand enough twine to tie/stick it onto the place where you will display the calendar.
Step four: Take the mini clothes pegs and the felt stars and stick the latter to the former. Use a glue gun for this as it will ensure they are as secure as possible. Be sure to keep the hot glue out of the kids’ reach and also mind your fingers!
Step four is to help the kids complete the paper bag designs, and then collect them up. Next, decide on the order that you will hand them, and then take a felt tip pen and write a number from 1-25 on each bag. (That is if you want your kids to open a bag on Xmas day? If not you can just do 1-24 instead.)
Step five: Finally all you need to do is take a peg and use it to fix each bag to the string. You may want to take the time to add a little treat to each bag now or do it later when the kids are in bed. Otherwise, they will know what is in there and it won’t be a surprise.
Of course, you can add anything you like to the bags. Sweets and choccies are always a good idea, as are small toys and games. Mini books can work wonders too especially if they are festive-themed, or what about adding a riddle or to each one that they can solve? You could even write out Xmas theme activities like baking mince pies, or decorating the tree and put these in each of the bags. Then you will have a perfect plan for your Christmas season as well as a lovely home-crafted decoration.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post
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