What are the best Christmas crafts to do with kids?

Question

Cheap & fun, that's what I'm looking for.

Thanks!

Merry Christmas!!

Answer 1

Try here:

http://www.make-stuff.com ,
http://www.familyfun.com

Answer 2

This is so simple and cheap, cheap, cheap !!!! I saw it on the HGTV station on one of those decorating shows & decided to do it. My daughter & I went to the craft store & purchased a goodly amount of pipe cleaners, all different colors. They have Xmas colors out right now. We spent about 9 bucks.

What you do is you gather up a pile, say about 10 & then take another one and wrap it around the middle of the group. Just wrap it a couple of times and cut off the excess. Now you have a group of pipecleaners tied in the middle. We separated them just a little, enough to be able to get a pair of scissors in the group to cut them different lengths. After that, we started to separate them more into a round shape & voila, you have got a beautiful snowflake. We covered the whole tree with them and they are beautiful. We also made some without cutting different lengths & wound up with big snowflakes all the same size & hung them from different lengths with fishing line in the window. They look like they are suspended in mid air. Very pretty. I think you could hang them with pretty ribbon if you wanted to & they would look nice, also. The kids might have a hard time cutting the pipe cleaners with the scissors, but you could do that part for them as the fun part is making the snowflake.

Answer 3

I once made a wreath out of plastic baggies when I was that age. 1 wire hanger 1 box of 300 plastic baggies (fold, not zip) Plastic Christmas-like things, even broken pieces of old decorations Hot Glue Gun. CAREFULLY take pliers and unhook the hanger. Take each baggy and tie it around the hanger. After doing all 300, the hanger can be rewound again with the pliers. At this point, you can glue whatever you'd like to the wreath! I glued plastic holly leaves, bows and nuts on the wreath and I still have it to this day!

Answer 4

SALT DOUGH clay can be used to make figures, or wreaths, or candy canes, or whatever and is fun for kids. It can also be rolled out, then shapes can be cut with cookie cutters or glasses/cans, etc. (can also twist a hole with a straw, then hang on tree on on gifts, etc.).
You can leave the dough uncolored, or color the dough, or paint the object after it's dried. It's best to seal these well though if you plan to store them for next year because bugs also love them.

There are various similar recipes... check out these sites for more info:
http://tinyurl.com/ydaq33

If you don't mind going to the trouble, and want to make even more detailed items, "BREAD CLAY" is even better:
6 slices white bread
6 tbsps. white glue
1/2 tsp. detergent (liquid?, clothes or dishes?)... or 2 tsp. glycerine
food coloring
Remove crusts from bread, and knead with glue.
Add either detergent or glycerine.... knead until no longer sticky.
Separate into portions and add food coloring if desired.
Shape.
Brush with equal parts of white glue and water if you want a glossy finish.
Allow to dry overnight to harden.
Paint with acrylic paint if you want as well, or if you didn't color the doughs.
Can also seal at this point with clear nail polish
.... or seal with white glue (or yellow wood glue)... starting out with a light coat... let dry... then use a heavier coat


P.S. And "TOILET PAPER " or TISSUES clay or pulp (one kind of "paper clay") can be fun too, especially if you have some molds or make-shift molds around, or just want to texture or shape it yourself.
Basically just tear up toilet paper or cut a long folded length into thin strips, put in a bowl of hot water, stir till consistency of mud. Lift some out and drain excess water.
Can press into molds (layer at a time, pressing between each), or just onto a flat surface, then texture with anything you can find (won't take fine details though)... make hole for hanging if desired. Let dry in warm place (24 hrs?).
Can paint with acrylic paints, or even lightly with watercolors for a misty look... then seal to protect from moisture if you want them to last a long time.

Also check here for lots of VARIOUS CRAFTS to make with kids around Christmas:
http://tinyurl.com/ydmdof



Have fun!

Diane B.

Answer 5

These are gorgeous....
Pine cones with sequin stuck on each segment, stick to one colour or similar for each single cone, just a blob of craft glue and a sequin, blob, sequin, blob, sequin... really really simple and pretty.
Red ones look like they are burning, I love them.
Have fun and Merry Christmas.

Answer 6

I say make snowflakes. When you fold the paper a certain way and cut out different designs. Definitely cheap and they're all unique.

Answer 7

Gingerbread house!!!!! lol and you could take a magazine, and cut out some parts like a jigsaw puzzle and swap puzzles and see if you can get them.