What is a good Christmas craft for my three year old son?

Question

I'm looking for a fun holiday craft to do with my son for Christmas. Something he can give to relatives as a gift. He's three years old so I'm looking for something relatively simple. Also, I don't give him sugar, so I don't want to bake cookies or anything like that.

Answer 1

Christmas Cards.
You can use templates to trace shapes of xmas trees or snowmen. Fold paper and cut like you do for paper dolls.
Important: Get glitter glue pens. Decorate and write messages.

If you get laminating sheets, you can use the same concept to make ornaments. Cut out a star, or other shape. Decorate, laminate, punch a hole and string with ribbon.

Edit: donrentf, kids love to make stuff...a 3 year old is fully capable of cutting paper and coloring on it with pens. A 3-year old is also intelligent enough to have a full understanding of the process and can appreciate the outcome.

Answer 2

At stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby, you can buy holiday magnetic foam frames. Your some can decorate them and then you can put a picture on the back. You have to back the picture with construction paper or card stock. These are quick, easy, FUN, and (for the most part) relatively clean.
He could also help decorate Christmas ornaments or make a Christmas mailbox and then he could put pictures, candy, etc. inside.
(All the links will show you a sample of the project completed.)

Answer 3

There are some fun family games out this year. Don't know if they are considered cheap, but when you buy 1 game that everyone can participate in, I guess that's one way to save some money. Or there are always the gift cards and spend whatever you think you can afford. I am going through the same problem myself this year. It's been very tough financially for many. Good luck on this.

Answer 4

Thats easy, get a picture of your son, and have him make tree ornaments with his picture in it, and on the ornament it would have Marry X-Mas From --------, and the year or something like that. This way every year your family will have a new ornament from him to see how he grows and what not. Since he is only 3 right now you could make a simple one out of paper or pop sickle sticks, and as he gets older they can become more elaborate.

Answer 5

Picture frames are great! And you can even include a picture of your son and the relative inside. Hobby Lobby and other craft stores have lots of applicays (sp?) you can apply with Elmer's glue. Great idea!

Answer 6

Make placemats--use construction paper--have him draw on it, add stickers and use finger paints and put his hand print on it, then once it has dried either use clear contact paper or a laminating machine and seal it--you will be able to save it for years to come (the hand print will remind you of how young he was--because they do grow up)

Answer 7

make popcicle stick reindeerby using haves for the legs and gluing them onto a bigger one.put a puff ball on for the nose and half sticks for the antlers.

Make reindeer food. Its mainly oats and glitter. Oats to feed the reaindeer and glitter to guider them to your house. Sprinkle it on your yard to show santa the way.

Cookies are always a fun activity be it cut out sugar cookies or inger bread men or ginger bread houses.

Make red and green chains out of construuction paper and hang them up. Gut the contruction paper into strips and glue one into a circle form. stick another through the circle and glue it together and keep going untl you can decorate with them.

Answer 8

Buy wood crafts, what he can do is go and paint them and then you can write on the back to: and from.... it's a simple thing but it means a lot to the family

Answer 9

Paper Plate Flower Craft
More Crafts
This simple-to-make poinsettia is made from a paper plate and a child's handprint cutouts.


Supplies needed: A paper plate
Red, green and yellow construction paper
Scissors
Glue (or a stapler)

Trace a child's hand on red and green paper construction paper.
Cut out the hand tracings.
Glue or staple a circle of green handprint tracings (fingers pointing outwards) around the outside of the plate.
Glue or staple a second circle of red handprint tracings (fingers pointing outwards) just inside the first circle.
Glue or staple a third circle of red handprint tracings at the center of the plate.
Glue a small paper circle in the center of the flower.

Make a Paper Tree
from Little Hand Prints
More Kinder Crafts



Make an adorable Christmas tree from your child's handprints. This makes a nice decoration to put on a door or a great bulletin board in a classroom.



Supplies needed: A lot of green construction paper
A piece of brown construction paper (for the tree trunk)
A piece of yellow construction paper (for the star)
A large piece of brown paper (or use another color)
Pencil
Scissors
Glue
Optional: Glitter, glitter glue, or paper ornaments to glue on the tree



Trace the child's hand on a piece of green construction paper.
Cut out the hand print. Fold the wrist over.

Make a lot of paper paper hands (the number you'll need depends on the size of your tree). If this is a class project, you may want to put each child's name on his or her hand print.

A nice touch, suggested by Peter Hesselmann, is to have each child write a Christmas wish for themselves on one paper hand, and a Christmas wish for the world on the other. Peter also did not tell his students why they were making the hands; he put the tree up, which surprised and delighted them. Peter also had the teachers and staff each write a wish for the world on a circular piece of construction paper - these were used for baubles on the tree.

Draw a tree shape on a large piece of paper.
Cut out a small rectangle of dark brown paper (this will be the tree trunk).
Glue the rectangle below the tree.

Glue the hand prints together in a tree shape, gluing the folded part of the wrist to the background. Start at the bottom of the tree. Starting with the second row, make the fingers overlap the next hand a little bit.
Cut out a yellow star for the top of the tree. Glue it on the tree.
Write a Christmas message around the tree.

Optional: Decorate your tree with glitter, glitter glue, or paper ornaments.
You can also make the tree on a triangle shape (so there is no background showing).


Make a Paper Wreath
from Little Hand Prints
More Kinder Crafts



Make an adorable wreath from your child's handprints.


Supplies needed: A lot of green construction paper
A piece of red construction paper or a red ribbon
Pencil
Scissors
Glue
Optional: Glitter or glitter glue

Trace the child's hand on a piece of green construction paper.
Cut out the hand print. Make about 10 paper hands for each wreath.

Glue the hand prints together in a wreath shape, with the wrists overlapping a little bit.
Glue on a red ribbon bow (or make one from red construction paper).
Optional: Decorate your wreath with glitter or glitter glue.

Hand and Foot Reindeer Craft
More Kinder Crafts
This cute reindeer is made from your child's handprints and footprint, cut out of construction paper. It makes a cute Christmas decoration.



Supplies: Brown and tan (or orange) construction paper
Pencil
Scissors
Glue
Googly eyes (optional)

Trace around the child's foot using brown construction paper. This will be the reindeer's head.
Trace around the child's hands using tan construction paper. These 2 pieces will be the reindeer's antlers.
Glue the handprint "antlers" to the top of the reindeer. Add a bright red paper nose, a paper (or drawn) mouth, and googly eyes (or paper eyes) to the reindeer's head.
You can now decorate your house for Christmas with these cute reindeers. Don't forget to put the child's name and age on the back of the reindeer

Answer 10

Make homemade Christmas cards:
Use old cards and cut out pictures to glue to your construction paper card.

Make Christmas stockings:
Red construction paper
Black construction paper
Cotton balls
Glue
Cut out boot shape and glue cotton around the top for fur. You can make mittens too.

Make a hand print wreath:
Green hand prints cut out for the holly
Red circles for the berries
Glue around a paper plate with the center cut out. Attach a pipe cleaner hanger.

Make a snowman picture:
Different size white circles, for the snowman
Black top hat
Black beans for eyes and buttons
You can also use cotton balls to make the snowmen

Make ornaments:
Cut out different shapes and decorate with glitter, punch a hole at the top and use yard to hang.

Make snowmen:
Out of white socks stuffed with fiberfill. Sew or glue on black buttons etc.

Gumdrop ornaments:
Toothpicks, broken in half
Gumdrops
2- to 3-inch Styrofoam ball
10-inch length of ribbon
Insert one end of a toothpick into a gumdrop and the other end into the Styrofoam ball. Repeat until the ball is covered with gumdrops. Tie the ribbon around the ball to hang it on the tree. Use a Styrofoam cone instead of a ball and create a tree centerpiece covered entirely with green gumdrops.

Lifesaver wreath:
MATERIALS
Shoestring licorice
Regular or Gummi green Life Savers

Use scissors to cut a piece of shoestring licorice 12 to 15 inches in length. Next, carefully string on about 15 Life Savers. Gather the ends of the licorice together and tie them into a bow to form a wreath. For a more durable ornament, use a ribbon instead of shoestring licorice.

Make snow pictures:
Navy blue paper with cotton balls glued on

Make paper bag santa puppets:
red construction paper
black constuction paper
cottonballs
glue
color or paint the bag red, attach a black belt, draw a face on the mouth part of the bag, glue on a red hat and use cotton balls for the tip of the hat, santa's beard/brows etc. Fold black strips of paper accordian style to make arms and legs. Glue on mittens and boots. He's done!

String popcorn or make paper chain garland