Crafting as a family is part of the run-up to Christmas! It’s also a great opportunity to spend time together.
We’ve put together ideas for fun Christmas crafts that work for pretty much all ages. Most of them use materials you’ve probably already got hanging around at home or things you can find on a country walk. Crafting doesn’t have to be expensive!
But you may need to buy a few bits and bobs. Of course it all depends on which crafts you want to do.
Decide a day for Christmas crafts!
Book in a day or a weekend that suits everyone right now. Buy the materials you need in good time so there’s nothing missing when you’re about to start. Put your mobile phones away, craft, chat and enjoy!
When it comes down to it, the most important thing is having fun and spending time together, whatever the activity.
1. Painting Christmassy stones
Painting stones is always fun. For Christmas, you could paint Father Christmases and snowmen. It’s fun and you can use your festive stones to decorate the Christmas dinner table.
2. Making reindeer out of clothes pegs is a fun Christmas craft
These clothes peg reindeer make fun Christmas tree decorations! They look great if you make lots and paint them different colours.
You will need:
- Wooden clothes pegs
- Hobby paint
- Materials for decorations
Instructions:
- You need two clothes pegs for each reindeer.
- First remove the metal spring.
- Then glue the clothes peg “back to back” (see picture). Glue another clothes peg the same way.
- Then glue the narrowest parts of both pegs together in a V-shape.
- Paint the pegs and glue on eyes and noses.
- Finally tie a bow between the horns so your reindeer feels extra fancy for Christmas.
3. Make lively, colourful pine cone elves
These colourful, playful little elves make great Christmas tree decorations. As well as being a splash of colour, their long legs make them really cute.
We’ve got more ideas for Christmas crafts using pine cones here.
4. Christmas crafts using lolly sticks
Lolly sticks are a really handy craft material for children. Everyone can get involved using them to make fun Christmas decorations, whatever their age.
You could make a Father Christmas, a reindeer, a snowman or an elf. Not to mention Olaf from Frozen, a very special and irresistible snowman.
You will need:
- Lolly sticks
- Hobby paint
- Glue
- Materials for decorations
Note! Lay three or four lolly sticks close together. Then glue a lolly stick diagonally across them to hold them all in place. This will be the back of your decoration. You can start painting as soon as the glue has dried.
5. Cute twig angels
Make beautiful angels out of paper and twigs.
You will need:
- Twigs
- Heads (e.g. big beads or craft paper balls)
- Hair (some sisal or raffia that looks like hair)
- Hobby paint
- Glue
- Materials for decorations
Instructions:
- Find some twigs on a walk. Strip off the bark and leave to dry completely before painting them.
- Attach something round the head of the stick to look like hair. We used sisal, which you can usually find in florists.
- Finally cut wings out of paper and glue onto the angel, with string to hang it up.
6. Christmas crafts with pasta
Use different shapes of pasta to make festive decorations like these colourful Christmas trees.
You will need:
- Different types of pasta
- Hobby paint
- Cardboard
- Glue
- Materials for decorations
Instructions:
- Cut a triangle from single-colour hard cardboard. 7cm wide x 10cm tall is a reasonable size. It’s best if the cardboard has a relatively dark background.
- Decide on your pasta design. Set the pasta shapes out on your piece of cardboard so you can see how many pieces of pasta you will need and check that they fill up the whole card.
- Paint the pasta and leave to dry. Glue the pasta pieces to the card and glue a piece of string to the back.
- Finally, you can add decorations with glitter, glitter glue, self-adhesive gems and sequins.
7. Cute Father Christmases from felt and yarn
Decorate your tree with these cute Father Christmases.
You will need:
- Yarn
- Felt
- Small pom-poms
Instructions:
- Make a pom-pom out of yarn.
- Cut a long thin triangle out of felt to make a hat. Draw a template on paper first to make sure you’ve got the shape right.
- If you like, you could embroider a little star on the front.
- Finally glue the hat to the pom-pom with a little pom-pom on the top.
8. Creative Christmas crafts with twigs
Use twigs from the woods to make funny Father Christmases to hang on the tree. If you use really long twigs, you can put them together in a big vase. They make very decorative, unusual, Christmas decorations.
You will need red and white hobby paint. For the white details, we used a self-hardening clay with glitter in, called Foam Clay. If you can’t get hold of this clay, you can always use white paint instead.
Instructions:
- Find some twigs on a country walk.
- Remove all the bark and then leave them until they are completely dry.
- Paint them red apart from a little bit near at the top, where you paint the face.
- Use the Foam Clay to make a beard, the bottom of a hat and a pom-pom for the top.
9. Hand-made Christmas cards are fun to make and fun to receive
Why not make some lovely hand-made Christmas cards and send a Christmas greeting to someone who would appreciate a card dropping through the letterbox? You might have a granny or granddad or someone else who would like a “proper” card.
10. Beautiful Christmas tree from twigs and gems
If you like putting a bit more time into your Christmas crafts, why not make a little tree out of twigs? You could display it on the wall at Christmas.
For this tree, you will need red and white hobby paint, hemp string, self-adhesive gems and little Christmas tree baubles. A glue gun is an excellent tool for this job.
Instructions:
- Gather different-sized twigs. It’s best if they are as straight as possible. Find an extra thick twig for the “trunk”. Remove the bark and leave the twigs to dry properly.
- Put all the twigs close together on a table. Start with slightly thicker twigs at the bottom (towards you) and thinner ones as you go up.
- Draw a triangle on a piece of paper for the shape of the tree, and cut it out.
- Place it on top of the twigs you have laid down and use it as a template. Mark the twigs with pencil where the twig crosses the template.
- Depending on the thickness of your twigs, break or saw them off to the right length.
- Then paint the twigs in the colours of your choice and leave to dry. If you want to tie hemp string around the twigs when the colour changes, do this before gluing them to the trunk.
- Then glue all the twigs onto the trunk and decorate your tree.
- You could add a little star made from little, narrow twigs on the top. Tie three twigs together into a triangle. Make another the same size. Then glue them on top of each other and attach the star to the top of the tree.
Fun crafts for kids!
Interested in fun, creative crafts for your child? That come delivered to your door? And just for £5,90?
Click here to find out what our craft kits contain.
