Easy Christmas Crafts for Kids

Family Activities Advent Calendar

Materials: A large empty frame, twine, envelopes, paper, scissors, paper clips or mini clothespins, a black marker, and decorative items such as washi tape, stickers, markers, etc., and some holiday flare for your frame. (If using larger envelopes, a stapler will work to close the middle portions after cutting.)

There are several options for creating advent calendars, but this one will focus on using a frame. Any frame will do if it fits the 25 days you create for your calendar.

The size of your frame will depend on the size of your envelopes. You can also come up with other ways to hold the activity for each day, such as small gift bags, a shoe organizer, or a cupcake tin. If you don’t have a frame that works well, you may also come up with alternative ways to display your calendar, such as using garland or a mini tree to hang your envelopes. Gather 25 envelopes and estimate what size you need each day to be for them all to fit in your frame. The frame in this example fits 5 rows of 5 envelopes perfectly if the envelopes were cut in half and roughly the same size.

Next, write the numbers 1 through 25 on each envelope. Talk to your kids about what kind of activities they look forward to doing as a family in December, leading up to Christmas day. Gather their ideas with some of your own, and write one activity on individual pieces of paper, until you have 25 activities. Place your activities into each numbered envelope. You may want to look at the calendar and decide which activities are more realistic for weekdays and weekends, and as the days get closer to Christmas eve and Christmas day. For example, if you bake cookies for Santa Claus you might want to do this on Christmas eve, so they are nice and fresh for when he visits that night. If you have a sledding adventure, a weekend day might work best for that activity instead of a school or work day.

Let your kids decorate the envelopes with washi tape, stickers, or markers. As they decorate, prepare the frame by tying twine across in however many rows you need to fit all your envelopes. Once they are decorated, carefully use paper clips or mini clothespins to hang your envelopes across your rows of twine. If you need to hang them sideways to fit all of them, go ahead. This is a flexible craft with creativity encouraged. Add some holiday flare to your frame and display before December 1st, so your family can open the first envelope on the first day of the month.

Baby Hanger Snowflake Décor

Materials: 16 white baby hangers, 16 white zip ties, scissors, and any additional holiday decorations you want to add once the snowflake is finished, such as a bow, glitter, string lights, etc.

This is an easy yet unique and creative craft you can do with your kids. If you don’t have extra baby hangers at home, you can find them at the dollar store. Gather 16 white hangers, and sort them into groups of two. There will be 8 hangers on the bottom layer, and 8 hangers on the top layer.

Start by placing one hanger down, with the hook pointing outward. Line another hanger upside down, mirroring the first hanger, making sure the hook is pointing outward as well. Keep doing this with 6 more hangers until you meet the first one. You now have the first layer for your snowflake. Next, place a hanger on top of the first hanger you laid, with the hook of the hanger lining up with the bottom of the hanger in the first layer. Continue the same pattern you did with the first layer on top of the ones you’ve already laid down and until you’ve met the first hanger of the second layer. You should have 8 hangers in the second layer on top of your 8 hangers in the first layer.

You are now ready for the zip ties. Loosely place a zip tie at each place 4 hangers meet in the center. Don’t tighten the ties until you are finished placing all 16 zip ties. This will ensure you are able to adjust the snowflake if needed. There should be 8 zip ties used in the center circle. Next, place a zip tie at each place in the outer circle where 4 hangers meet. In the outer circle, that will be where 2 hooks meet 2 bottoms. Once 8 zip ties are placed on the outer circle and you have all 16 zip ties in place, begin to slowly tighten them in the center. Adjust the snowflake as you go, keeping the hangers on each layer from overlapping. Keep the hangers as flat as possible. Tighten the outer zip ties, then trim them with a good pair of scissors.

You now have completed your snowflake. Add any holiday flare you want and display indoors or outdoors for the winter season.

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