25 Christmas Crafts for Kids From Things You Already Have

Start with the paper crafts this afternoon: scissors, tape and printer paper cover most of them, and a first project takes about 15 minutes.

10 paper crafts

Everything here starts with paper you already have: printer paper, old wrapping paper, paper plates or the cardboard from a cereal box.

Folding and cutting

1. Start here Paper snowflakes. You need printer paper and scissors. Fold a square into a triangle, then into thirds, cut notches along both sides and open it up.
2. Paper chain countdown. You need strips of paper and tape. Make one loop per day until Christmas, and tear one off each morning.
3. Accordion fan angels. You need a sheet of paper, a marker and tape. Fold the paper back and forth into a fan, pinch the middle and draw a face on a small circle for the top.
4. Folded paper trees. You need green paper and a stapler or tape. Fold three strips of decreasing length into loops and stack them into a tree.

Drawing and printing

5. Sponge-stamped wrapping paper. You need a kitchen sponge, paint and brown paper bags cut open. Cut the sponge into a star or a tree and stamp away.
6. Handprint card. You need paint and folded paper. A green handprint upside down makes a tree, and fingerprints in other colors make the lights.
7. Thumbprint ornaments on a card. You need an ink pad or paint. Each thumbprint becomes a round ornament, and a drawn string holds it on a branch.

Paper plates and boxes

8. Paper plate wreath. You need a paper plate with the middle cut out, green paper scraps and glue. Kids tear the scraps and glue them around the ring.
9. Cereal box gingerbread house. You need an empty cereal box, brown paper and markers. Cover the box and draw windows, a door and icing on the roof.
10. Paper plate Santa. You need a paper plate, cotton balls and red paper. The cotton balls make the beard, and the red paper makes the hat.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks explains why a paper snowflake gets six points: water molecules line up in hexagonal rings, so real snow crystals grow six-sided. That is why the fold in number 1 goes into thirds, not quarters.

I always forget how good a plain paper chain looks strung across a doorway.

8 crafts from the recycling bin

Rinse and dry first. Toilet paper rolls, jars, egg cartons and bottle caps all turn into decorations.

Rolls and cartons

11. Toilet roll reindeer. You need an empty roll, brown paper and markers. Twist two pipe cleaners or paper strips into antlers and glue them on top.
12. Egg carton bells. You need a cardboard egg carton and paint. Cut out single cups, paint them and thread a string through the top.
13. Toilet roll snowmen. You need an empty roll, white paper and a scrap of fabric. Wrap the roll in white, draw a face and tie the scrap on as a scarf.

Jars and caps

14. Jar snow globe. You need a clean jar with a lid, a small plastic toy and glitter or rice. A grown-up glues the toy to the inside of the lid, then the jar goes on upside down.
15. Bottle cap ornaments. You need metal or plastic caps, paint and string. Paint each cap like a tiny wreath or a snowman’s face.
16. Jar lantern. You need a clean jar, tissue paper and watered-down glue. Layer tissue squares on the outside and set it in a sunny window.

Cardboard

17. Cardboard tree to decorate. You need a large flat box. A grown-up cuts out a tree shape, and kids decorate it with paper ornaments they can move around.
18. Cardboard star topper. You need cardboard, foil and tape. Cut a star, wrap it in foil and tape it to a stick or the top of the paper tree.

Buttons, beads and bottle caps are small parts. The CPSC small parts rule covers toys and children’s products for kids under 3, so those crafts are for older kids or close supervision.

7 crafts from the kitchen and the yard

Some of these smell like the holidays. The baked ones need a grown-up at the oven.

From the kitchen

19. Salt dough ornaments. You need 1 cup of flour, half a cup of salt and half a cup of water. Roll, cut with cookie cutters, poke a hole for the string, bake low until hard and paint.
20. Orange slice garland. You need oranges and string. A grown-up slices and dries them in a low oven, and kids thread the slices onto the string.
21. Popcorn and paper garland. You need plain popcorn, string and a blunt needle. Older kids thread popcorn with paper shapes in between.
22. Cookie cutter stencils. You need cookie cutters, paper and crayons. Trace the cutters, color the shapes and cut them out as tags for presents.

Using a metric kitchen for the salt dough in number 19? That is roughly 125 g of flour, 140 g of fine salt and 120 ml of water, and the exact cup size does not matter, because salt dough only needs the 2 to 1 to 1 ratio. Bake the ornaments low and slow, at 250 °F (120 °C), until hard.

For other recipes, this printable kitchen conversion chart covers cups, spoons, grams and oven temperatures on one page.

From the yard

23. Pinecone trees. You need pinecones and paint or paper dots. Paint the tips green and white, or glue on tiny paper ornaments.
24. Stick stars. You need five straight sticks and string or yarn. Tie the sticks into a star shape and wrap the joins with yarn.
25. Leaf and twig wreath. You need a paper plate ring and whatever you found outside. Kids glue on leaves, twigs and pine needles in layers.

The sponge stamping at number 5 is my favorite on the page. It turns a stack of paper bags into wrapping paper nobody else has.

A few notes on crafting with kids

Cover the table with newspaper or an old sheet before the paint comes out, and keep a damp towel within reach. Most of these take 15 to 30 minutes, which is about how long a young kid stays at one project.

For more ways to fill December, try our Christmas games for the whole family and our advent calendar ideas. The paper chain at number 2 also works as a countdown for the Elf on the Shelf. The rest live in the Family hub, and we explain how we write these lists on How we pick.