Christmas crafts for toddlers and young children

Making Christmas crafts is a great way to feel more festive. Spend time with your toddler or child making these decorations, cards and gifts. They’re easy to make and you probably already have the materials around the house.

These Christmas angels can decorate a tree, a shelf or even the dining table when you sit down for Christmas dinner.

Watch the video or follow the instructions below.

You will need:

• Paper plate (or draw a circle on a piece of paper and cut it out.
• Card
• Glue
• Felt tip pens, colouring pencils or crayons
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Optional: glitter (we love biodegradable glitter!)

Instructions:

1. Decorate both sides of the plate or circle however you like. You could draw a colourful pattern, or use just one colour. It’s up to you.
2. Once you’ve decorated the plate, fold in two sides towards the middle so they overlap slightly. This makes the circle into a triangle shape. Dab some glue onto the overlapping sections to keep them in place, but don’t stick them to the bottom of the plate. This will be the body of your angel.
3. Then, take a piece of card and a pencil. Place your hand on the card, and draw around your fingers. Do the same again so you have two hand shapes, and then cut them out. These will become the wings of your angel.
4. Once you have the two wings, dab some glue at the bottom – around where your wrist starts! Stick them on the back of your angel’s body.
5. Draw a circle on another piece of card and cut it out. This is your angel’s face – so draw on the eyes, nose and mouth. Put some glue on the back and stick it to the top of the folded paper plate.
6. For an extra bit of Christmas sparkle, you can always put a bit of glue on your angel and shake glitter over it.
7. Leave it to dry for five or more hours and then stick it at the top of your Christmas tree!

These homemade Christmas bauble are easy to make and look lovely hanging from the tree.

Watch the video or follow the instructions below.

All you need is:

• Paper plate
• Pieces of tissue paper or wrapping paper in different colours
• Some card
• A ribbon (around 3 inches or 8cm long)
• Glue
• Scissors

What you need to do:

1. Cut or tear different shapes out of your tissue paper or wrapping paper.
2. Glue them onto your plate to decorate it.
3. Cut a small square out of the card. This is where you’ll stick the ribbon later. Glue the square to the top of the plate.
4. Make a loop with the ribbon and glue both ends to the back of the square. Leave the middle bit sticking out to let it hang from your tree.
5. Leave the glue to dry for five hours or so before hanging it on your tree or a door handle.

This Christmas wreath is a perfect decoration for your child’s bedroom door. You could make a new one with your child each year and see how much they’ve grown.

Watch the video or follow the instructions below.

All you need is:

• Lots of card. You can use green and red card for an authentic look, or decide to go for a more colourful look.
• Glue
• Scissors
• Ribbon
• Pencil

What you need to do:

1. On the green card, using your pencil, draw around your hand.
2. Repeat this another 20 times. You can fold over the card under your hand and cut around your drawn hand several sheets at a time.
3. You should have 20 paper hands now. Slightly overlap them and stick them to each other in the shape of a circle.
4. Cut out small circles from the red card and stick them onto your wreath. These will be the berries.
5. Make a loop with the ribbon at the top of your wreath and tie in a bow.
6. Leave the glue to dry for five hours or so before hanging it up on a bedroom door.

This Christmas card is a lovely way to show your friends and family you’re thinking of them.

Watch the video or follow the instructions below.

All you need is:

• Two sheets of card. Any colour will do for the card, plus you will need some red card for Father Christmas’ hat.
• White washable paint.
• Cotton wool. Or you can use white card or paper
• Black felt-tip pen
• Optional: sticky googly eyes
• Optional: pink or red tissue paper

What you need to do:

1. Fold an A4 piece of coloured card in half.
2. Paint your whole hand with white paint. Turn your card upside down and then gently place your painted hand on the front. Hold still for a second while pressing your hand onto the card, then you can go wash your hands. Make sure you’ve left enough space below your handprint for Father Christmas’ hat and face!
3. Turn your card the right way up again and add Father Christmas’ face above the top of your palm. You can draw it on with the black pen. Or you stick on googly eyes and cut circles out of card or pink or red tissue paper for his nose and rosy cheeks.
4. Cut a hat-shaped triangle and glue it above his face as his hat. Stick cotton wool as the bobble and rim of the hat.
5. Leave the glue to dry for a few hours. Then you can write your messages inside and post it to your loved ones.