12 days of Christmas crafts

The festive season is upon us and with it comes a whole host of things you can make with the kids.  We’ve put together our top 12 days of Christmas crafts. Hobbycraft sells a great bumper Christmas craft box for £5 which has everything in it you could need, but you’ll also find similar sets in Sainsburys and online.

1: Doily angels

All you’ll need is a pipe cleaner (silver or gold work well), a pack of doilies, some glue and a black marker. Simply cut your doily in half and roll it into a cone.  Either glue the overlap together or use tape if easier. Take the other half, fold in half gently and then, with the curved side down, attach it to the back of your cone, so the fold in the straight edge is at tip of the cone. For the head either use a foam ball or cut out a circle of white card. Add the eyes, nose and mouth. If you’re using a foam ball you can gently press this onto the top of the cone. If not, stick it to the back of the card with tape.  If you want to glue on hair, use wool or embroidery thread then create a halo out of the pipe-cleaner.  A good way to attach this and give the head stability is to extend the pipe-cleaner and slot it through the top of the cone and tape in place. You can also add a piece of wool or ribbon so you can hang it from the tree.

2: Snowflakes

You can use a leftover doily or just a white circle of paper. Simply fold into quarters and then get snippy, cut out shapes and lines then fold out to create your snow flake.  Decorate the windows so your child’s artwork is in pride of place.

3: Paperchains

You can buy sets to make paper chains, but you can also use any strips of coloured paper you have, even strips of leftover wrapping paper.  Just create one loop, then thread through your next strip of paper, fasten at the end and keep going under your chain is as long as you want it.

4: Popcorn tinsel

Edible tree decorations (nom nom nom) . Simply pop some popcorn then thread together of a strong of cotton using a sharp needle.  Make sure young children are supervised, or you keep control of the needle and just let them put each piece of popcorn on it. Now for the fun bit.  Use food colouring on the popcorn to create different coloured strings.  You can either paint this on with a soft brush, or add it to the popcorn before it’s popped.

5: Tinsel baubles

Using left over bits of tinsel, simply fold them around your finger then tie in the middle with cotton.  Snip the folded ends and tease them out to make a ball. To make bigger baubles, wrap the tinsel around a piece of card, then tie in the middle, cut the ends and fan out. Tie with cotton and hang on the tree.

6: Lollypop Christmas trees

You’ll need a few green lolly sticks.  Cut them so that you have five lengths that are progressively shorter.  Start by laying them with the longest one at the bottom and work upwards lining them up.  Then, place another stick down the middle to secure them and glue in place. If you don’t have green lolly sticks, then simply paint them – even more messy fun. Turn your tree over and add stick-on gems for the baubles. Add cotton to tie it to the tree.

7: Reindeer pots

This is super cute for presents! Take a small empty glass pot, a chunky spice one would be perfect.  Make sure it’s clean, then cover in PVA and roll in brown glitter.   Do the lid too, but make sure not to get glitter in the screw lines. Once dry, screw on the lid and fix pipe-cleaner antlers to the side of the jar. Add a pair of wobbly eyes and a red pompom for the nose. Fill with sweets.

8: Snowman plant pot

First paint the plant pot white, or buy a white one to start with.  Once it’s dry, add a cone of orange card for the nose, use a hot glue gun to attach it.  Then add a pair of wobble eyes. Make a scarf with a thin piece of felt wrapped around, add a pipe cleaner either side for the twig arms and stick small black buttons on the front. If your child can knit or crochet, you could even make the scarf this way.

9: Pompom hats tree decorations

Cut a 2cm length off the end of a cardboard toilet roll tube. Cut pieces of wool into equal lengths.  Use different colours or all one colour or mix them up. Fold a piece of wool in half, tie a loop knot by placing the looped piece of wool through the toilet roll and then tucking the ends though the loop and pulling to secure. Continue until the ring is completely covered. Finally, use another length of wool to pull all the ends in at the top and tie to make a bobble hat shape. Use cotton to tie to the tree.

10: Tealight snowmen

Use a battery-operated tea light and the flame becomes the nose.  Draw on two eyes or use stick on eyes, create a scarf with a piece of checked ribbon and make a hat out of felt.

11: Pinecone Christmas Tree

Choose smaller cones and paint them green.  Add glitter to the edges and hang on the tree or add a piece of a wine cork to the bottom to act as a plant pot, sticking it in place with hot glue.

12: Paper plate Santa faces

Take a white paper plate and draw a line down the middle.  Paint the top part red or cover in red paper to make his hat. Add a cotton wool ball to the top to look like the bobble. Next draw on the eyes and a nose. Then curl strips of paper and add them to create a beard or use more cotton wool balls. Happy crafting!