Here at St Peter’s Preparatory School, our Autumn term has now ended and we know our families’ preparations for Christmas are now well underway.
Amidst shopping for gifts, hosting various family members, attending local Christmas-themed events and preparing for the all-important dinner on the day itself, many families will be kept busy from the moment school breaks up until the morning of the 25th.
Younger children are likely to be very excited for the big day, so, to give that excitement a bit of an outlet, we’ve come up with a list of creative Christmas crafts to try!
Festive Papercrafts
Crafting with paper is an affordable and easy option that provides lots of opportunities for children to get creative.
Paper Chains
A traditional craft that’s sure to bring back a few memories of your own, paper chains will brighten up any area. Strips of paper are fairly inexpensive and can be purchased from most stationery shops. Families with younger children may want to use pre-cut strips if they are a little too young to handle scissors.
You can then leave children of all ages to it, challenging them to make the biggest chains of all; an activity that’s bound to keep them entertained for hours!
Paper Snowflakes
Another papercraft that is fun for all the family is snowflake cuttings.
Children are fascinated by snowflakes, and these square paper folded snowflakes are both beautiful and enjoyable to make.
In addition, cutting paper snowflakes can be a fun activity to help younger children to develop their scissor skills.
Snowflake cutting templates can be useful tools to ensure that young children’s snowflake creations are successful. Again, these templates are excellent for encouraging kids to improve their scissor abilities and fine motor skills.
Tree Ornaments
As those with young children can attest, glass decorations are unlikely to survive the festivities completely unscathed!
Rather than buying new decorations each year, you can create your own. Invest in some plastic baubles (which can be found in most craft stores) and encourage your child to fill them with their favourite ribbons and materials.
Children can mix and match their favourite colours and designs, adding glitter and whatever else they can find before proudly hanging them on the tree for everyone to enjoy.
Gingerbread House
For those who like to get creative in the kitchen, making a gingerbread house is a fantastic activity that children of all ages will enjoy.
There are plenty of recipes available online and once the gingerbread has been cooked and cooled, children can be set with the task of constructing their own house. They can make doors and windows out of icing or chocolates and sweets. If there’s any leftover dough, that can then be used to make into trees for a garden.
The assembly of the house might need some adult supervision, but remember any broken walls will make for a delicious treat or can be left by the fireplace for Father Christmas!
Make a Wreath
Wreaths are a fantastic outlet for creative flair and can be hung on as many doors as required – inside and out! Head for a wintry walk to gather the plants required for the wreaths, be it holly, twigs, pinecones, Christmas tree branches or anything else you fancy!
Some craft shops will sell pre-made bases, so you only need to worry about adding the decorations. The more adventurous amongst us can try to create the shape of the wreath from scratch using vines.
Go Foraging
The colder weather makes it easy to just curl up in front of the fire and watch a few Christmas films, but a breath of fresh air can be a wonderfully revitalising activity.
Head out to find some holly to decorate the mantelpiece or search for any materials that could be used for other Christmas crafts.
Those who would like to extend this Christmas forager hunt into another festive activity could look for pinecones to make into decorations. Pinecone hunts are usually a lot more suitable for younger children since they don’t have to worry about the spikes!
Pinecone Tree Decorations
This Christmas tree project, made from pinecones, wood slices, and acrylic paint, is ideal for displaying as a table centrepiece or grouped on the mantle. If you can, use foraged items, although buying them also works!
Pinecone Gnome
By using a small amount of coloured felt for the hat, white paint for a long beard and a small gold button for the nose, your natural raw materials will be transformed into a joyful festive gnome.
Salt Dough Decorations
Salt dough is easy to make and will give you countless decoration opportunities.
Salt Dough Snowflake
You could use a stamp to produce a snowflake shape on a salt dough circle or make salt dough in the shape of a snowflake using a cookie cutter. You will have an ornament, a present topper, or another Christmas keepsake in either case!
Salt Dough Ornaments
With this simple ornament DIY, you can immortalise your child’s handprint in salt dough, and even the tiniest youngsters can enjoy having a hand in the fun. Finish them off with a lovely ribbon, hang them from the tree, mantel or even give them as presents for the rest of your family!
Bake The Chocolate Yule Log
Slightly older children may appreciate the responsibility of baking the Christmas chocolate log and while some more organised families may have already started their Christmas baking, there are plenty of last-minute recipes online that aren’t only tasty but are quick and easy to make as well!
Encourage your children to choose the recipe themselves, write out a shopping list and then once you have all the ingredients they can set about following the instructions to create their own masterpiece.
After the sponge base has been made, they might need help with rolling and icing the log. Be sure to help them with decorating when needed. Perhaps you could buy some pre-made cake decorations to make it even more special!
Knitting & Sewing Stockings
The Christmas holidays are a fantastic opportunity for children to learn new skills and to put them to immediate use. Friends and family will appreciate the time and effort that’s gone into a homemade gift far more than something bought on the high street.
Learning to knit or sew will teach children about problem-solving, logical thinking and the importance of commitment – they will likely be occupied for hours while they work hard on their creations.
Don’t know how to knit? No worries! For an easier task, why not try sewing your own stocking?
For younger children, a premade stocking could be perfect for them to express their creative side. Maybe try gems, sequins and felt pieces that can be glued on so that they can join the fun without having to handle needles!
That concludes our Christmas craft inspiration! We hope this has given you some ideas for keeping everyone busy and productive over the school holidays.
Don’t forget to check the school calendar for upcoming events and if you have any questions about our private school in Devon, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today and a member of our fantastic team will be more than happy to assist.
