15 Christmas Decorations to Make with Children

As winter draws on and the opportunities to go out are diminishing, why not turn your attention to festive decorations in time for Christmas.

Our list of Christmas decorations to make with children includes a wide variety, which will suit all different ages. Have fun!

1.      Cupcake wrapper Christmas trees

All those beautiful festive cupcake cases are wasted when only used for cakes! Whip up a few examples and get your little ones folding and glueing merrily in time for the big day. You could even add a little loop of ribbon to make a wonderful tree decoration.

2.      Fingerprint snowmen

Get your hands on some cheap baubles, quite literally, with this fun finger painting craft. We suggest you use sturdy plastic baubles to prevent any nasty accidents if your child decides to squeeze the bauble in enthusiasm. What’s more, these will be a magical memory of small hands for years to come.

3.      Bead candy canes

A few pipe cleaners and some beads can be transformed into stripy fun candy canes. Don’t shout about it, but this activity is great for practising fine motor skills too!

 4.      Handprint wreath

Have fun making lots of templates of your child’s hand on green card or paper, then let them get sticking. Add a few well-placed red dots and hey presto, you have an incredible wreath.

 5.      Threading decorations

If you want something to keep their hands busy, without too much input, then these threading decorations are the answer. They can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Simply cut out a circle from some scrap cardboard. Make some notches around the sides. Get some lengths of wool and then let them be creative.

6.      Hanging spiral Christmas tree

These hanging Christmas trees are a great chance to practice scissor skills whilst creating a fun decoration. Trace a spiral on a piece of green card. Cut along the line. Decorate with stickers, pom poms and glitter, then hang from the top!

 7.      Homemade snow globes

Kids love to be the centre of the action and what better way than capturing their likeness in their own snow globe? Make sure the adult super glues on the jam jar’s lid or you’ll end up with a soggy upset child!

 8.      Paper plate angels

With a few careful folds, the humble paper plate can be transformed into an angel ready for your child to decorate however they like.

9.      Hama bead decorations

Hama beads (or other small plastic beads) can easily be transformed into decorations for the tree. Get some metal festive cookie cutters and lay them out on a baking tray on top of the baking parchment. Let your little one fill the bottom of the cookie cutter with beads of their choice. Let the children watch as they melt in the oven! The adult should remove the melted plastic decoration from the cookie cutter whilst it is still warm, but not hot.

10.  Salt dough Olaf

"Do you want to build a snowman?" Whip up a batch of salt dough and let your kids have fun creating their very own Olaf. Poke a hole at the top before baking in the oven so he can adorn your Christmas tree with pride.

11.  Threaded popcorn garlands

A fabulous rainy day activity, which is calming and satisfying, is threading popcorn onto a piece of cotton, creating a very long garland to decorate the tree.

12.  Giant felt Christmas tree

Get a large piece of green felt and cut out a Christmas tree shape. Then make lots of felt baubles and candy canes and presents. Each day your little one will love re-decorating their very own tree.

13.  Button wreath decorations

Simple but effective, let your children loose with a bunch of red and green buttons and watch as they create these beautiful decorations.

14.  Snowmen pegs

Paint some wooden pegs white and then let your children transform them into these gorgeously cheeky snowman decorations.

15.  Penguin feet craft

Kids can’t resist a chance to get mucky and have fun. Make it worthwhile by getting them to make these penguin feet decorations. Do it on artist canvas blocks, and they could be ready-made gifts for the grandparents.

Have fun and make memories as you enjoy doing these Christmas decorations to make with kids. Christmas isn’t complete without some children’s decorations from previous years coming out, so create some now!