Kids love getting creative during the festive season and helping to decorate the house – so we bring you some ideas for Christmas crafts for children.
We asked Kirsty Henderson, of Fife-based Krafty Kidz, for five suggestions of simple makes for children with materials you’re likely to have at home already.
Former primary school teacher Kirsty runs messy play and arts and crafts classes for children from six months to 12 years old, so was quick to come up with some great projects.
Here are her top five Christmas crafts for children:
Pipe cleaner wreath
What you need: Straws, thread, pipe cleaners, ribbon, bow and glue (last two optional)
How to do it: Cut two straws into six even parts. Thread the straw pieces onto a pipe cleaner then wind the ends of the pipe cleaner to secure. Tie on a loop of ribbon for hanging on your tree and glue on a bow if desired.
Peg snowman
What you need: A wooden clothes peg, white paint, black marker, glue, small pompom and a piece of wool
How to do it: Paint the peg white and leave it to dry. Once dry draw on the eyes, mouth and buttons with the marker. Glue on the pompom for a nose and a piece of wool for a scarf.
Paper chain snowman
What you need: White paper, glue, colouring pens or pencils, googly eyes (optional)
How to do it: Cut strips of white paper about 3cm wide. Use the strips to create a paper chain by gluing the very end of one strip and attaching it to the other end to make a circle. Put the next strip through the centre of the circle and make another circle as before. Continue until you have six interlinked circles. Add a hat, googly eyes and nose made from paper.
Lolly stick Christmas tree
What you need: Three lolly sticks for each tree, green paint, cardboard and anything to decorate such as pompoms, glitter, sequins, stickers, etc.
How to do it: Paint the lolly sticks green and leave to dry. Once dry, glue the ends of the lolly sticks together to former a triangle shape. Again leave to dry. Once the glue has hardened you can use card to add a star and a tree trunk. Decorate as desired.
Rudolph button card
What you need: A5 cardboard, black marker, finer black pen, various buttons (including one red)
How to do it: Fold your card in half. On the front draw Rudolph’s eyes and antlers as shown in the picture above with the black marker. Use a finer black pen to draw strings for baubles. For the baubles glue on some buttons, using a red button for Rudolph’s nose.
Kirsty runs regular classes from her base in Dunfermline and in Rosyth and more classes are to be launched soon in Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy.
She also provides arts and crafts entertainment packages for birthday parties.