December 25th, Christmas Day, is a very popular holiday across the world. A time for celebrating life with family and friends, Christmas brings many people closer together. It is also a time of gifts, decorations, baking and crafts. There are many free craft ideas that children can do. Free coloring pages, wreath-making and free collage arts are just some ideas you can find online.
Free Coloring Crafts for Kids to Make for the Christmas Holiday
There are many free paper-coloring page crafts that you can download from the Internet. They include:
- Manger Settings
- Snowmen
- Angels
- Snowflakes and Wreaths
- Santa Claus
- Santa’s Sleigh and Reindeer
- Christmas Tree and Ornaments
- Stockings and Presents
- Holiday Text like “Happy Holidays”
Download a paper coloring page and after your child has colored it, you can then carefully cut it out and mount it on a paper plate to hang it on the door, wall or tree. You can also glue it to a popsicle stick to make a Christmas flag or ornament to put on the tree. It is an easy, free and fun craft for the holidays and aims to allow your child to be creative at the same time.
Free Wreath Ideas Children Can Make for Christmas or Give As Gifts
There are also many ideas for free Christmas wreaths online, which make great crafts for kids and can even be given as gifts to friends and family. Some ideas are collecting leaves and pine cones from outside and gluing them to a paper plate that has it’s center cut out. Once your wreath is complete, glue or staple some string to the back and hang it on your door or wall.
You can also download coloring pages of wreaths, bells, angels, snowmen or snowflakes; color them, cut them out and glue them to your wreath. Make your wreath shiny by applying some glitter dust to it or shiny foil.The fun thing with homemade crafts and children is their imagination can be allowed to go free and they will often come up with even more ideas that listed here.
Free Paper Crafts and Gifts Children Can Make for the Christmas Holiday
With so many free Christmas crafts your kids can do, you don’t need to spend extra money and your kids can have fun making their own decorations. Another fun free paper craft you can do is download a Christmas poem or song from the Internet, or write it out yourself. Cut it out and glue it to some artwork your child designed.
Some ideas of artwork are:
- Colored construction paper dusted with glittery dust
- Drawings of Christmas scenes
- Collages of leaves, colorings or pine cones
- Your child's name in gold or colored glitter
- Your child's hand or footprint on the paper (outline with pen or use a mold to capture and preserve this moment
Allowing your child to make these crafts is fun and teaches them about giving gifts from the heart, not the wallet. The gifts they make and give to others are snapshots in time and will be cherished for years to come.
Crafts for Stringing Popcorn Garland on the Christmas Tree
The famous popcorn stringing is a tradition going way back. This can be a family event or, if you run a daycare, you can turn it into a craft idea; allowing the kids to take home their garlands to put on their trees at home. It may not be a great idea for younger children to attempt the popcorn stringing, but they can help by passing you the popcorn. To string popcorn:
- Pop some popcorn.
- Cut some string, a couple of feet long, or longer if you have the room.
- Tie a knot at one end.
- Attach a needle to the other end.
- Thread the popcorn onto the string by inserting the needle through the popcorn.
- Push popcorn to the end of the string, or have your helpers assist you.
Once you are done, and the popcorn garland is complete, remove the needle and tie a knot on the end. Your garland is reading to hang on the tree. For variation, use some food coloring on your popcorn to turn it red, green, yellow, blue or even purple!
Why Kids Should Do Free Christmas Crafts and Make Their Own Gifts
Kids should have fun making their own Christmas crafts. It will give them a sense of accomplishment and will be something they can be proud to call their own. Once Christmas has passed, you can save the decorations for next year or put in a file folder for your child to look back on when he or she is an adult.
The memories from doing your own crafts are fun and will be cherished for generations. Children who learn to make their own crafts for the holidays will also pass along those traditions to their children. Christmas is about spending time together and building memories, and what better way to do that than with making your own Christmas decorations?
It is also a great way for your child to express themselves and since they don't often have too much money, making a gift give them some empowerment too. So look online for thousands of great Christmas craft ideas and you may even come up with some of your own in the process. Be sure to save the ideas so you have them for years to come.
Tamara Laschinsky - Health and wellness advocate, author, researcher and owner of Natural e GREEN: Natural Health & Wellness store!
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