Day 21 of 25 days of Christmas Crafts

Today, we made gift bags for the gifts that we made yesterday- or they were supposed to be, but the frames didn't quite fit with the handprints on them. I had seen these gift bags a long time ago, and had no idea where the people got the idea from, but thought it was great. Then with Danika's fascination with Rudolph this year, I decided to look and see if I could find them, and I did, thanks to pinterest. I followed some pins back to this.  I am on that site all the time and have never come across them. 

Anyways- I didn't quite cut out the bag the same way, I made the ears out of the sides of the bag, but either will do! I had to cut the bags first, and then get everything ready that we needed. Markers, glue, cut the antlers, and of course the bags. BUT because we were using these for a gift, and the gift was too big, we had to make another gift too- which we did using these other materials but I can't say because the gift recipients are reading this! But you could put anything in them! 

The kids basically just coloured the reindeer bag and glued on the antlers, but they had fun making the whole gift for their special people! 

Day 20 of 25 Christmas Crafts

WOW- we only have 5 Christmas Crafts left! I can't believe it is almost that time of year!

Today we made gifts for parents/grandparents. They are reindeer picture frames, on a CD case so they will stand up!

First I collected everything we needed, the CD cases, white finger paint paper, brown paint, glue, googly eyes, and a pom pom for the nose.

The first thing we had to do was to paint each child's hands, and also the background for the picture- all painted brown.

Then, after that dries, we put it all together. We started by gluing the brown background onto the front of the CD case.

Then the handprint antlers.

Followed by the picture- the easies way to do this is to flip the picture and put the glue on the back of the picture!

Once the picture was on, we glued on the googly eyes, and the pom pom nose!

When you give the frame, show the recipient that you can open the case, so it stands up! 

 

Day 18 of 25 Christmas Crafts and Free Craft Thursday

So, today, we did 2 crafts. It was Free Craft thursday, and I already had an easy craft ready for the kids to do. But, tomorrow will be a bit different for us, so we did the craft today.

Our first Craft, for Free Craft Thursday was to decorate foam stockings. We had markers and stickers. We also wrote the kids name on them, and they were able to just do what they wanted!

And then for Craft #18, we made handprint reindeer. Again, something really easy, and the kids could use what ever items they wanted. Today, they decided to use markers and glitter glue. 

First I traced each childs hand and cut them out. 

Then the kids decorated their reindeer, and we added a face and hooves.

Once the decorating was done, we used glitter glue to make a shiny red nose for them! 

Then we have the reindeer- Danika decided hers was a zebra reindeer, and Bryce got bored of colouring and moved on! 

Also today, we made a reindeer House to put on our front closet. I cut out the pieces and then the kids helped glue it together, and then tape it to the front closet. This is what we were left with. 

(idea modified from an image on pinterest)

Day 17 of 25 Christmas Crafts

Todays craft was a bit difficult, but we did it! I had to help each child one on one to get it to work, but that is because I choose the harder of the two choices! 

We made candy cane reindeer, but instead of the regular 1 candy cane, we used 2. So, it was a bit tougher. You can follow the same steps using one candy cane to make it a bit easier! 

First I collected everything we needed- candy canes, pipe cleaners, bells, googly eyes, a smartie for the nose, and glue. 

Then we put the two candy canes beside each other and wrapped the pipe cleaner half way up the two of them. Then added the bell, and kept going. 

After the body was done, we did the antlers. Just by twisting the pipe cleaner around the hook of the candy cane! 

Then we glued on the eyes and nose! 

These are great to use as ornaments, to stick on gifts, or just as a snack later! (don't eat the smartie though!)

Day 16 of 25 Christmas Crafts

Today, we did a craft that I believe most people have seen before. We do this every year and keep them, to see how the kids have grown. Handprint and footprint reindeer are so much fun to make, and a great keep sake- they also make great gifts- we make them into ornaments! And, you can add so many things to this craft! 

For some reason I do not have many pictures. I guess maybe it was Bryce with his hands painted, and a glue bottle! 

First I collected everything we needed. Paper- you can use brown paper, or white and then colour/paint it- we used brown today. Then some black or brown paint, glue, markers, a red pom pom (you can use red sparkles too)- for the nose, and ribbon to make an ornament (not pictured)

Then we traced the kids foot- you can leave socks on, because you don't need the toes outlined. Then, we painted both hands, and stamped them on the paper.

While the hand prints are drying, you can finish with the foot print. Draw on some eyes, and what ever else the kids want to add, and glue on the nose (pom pom).

Once the handprints are dry, have the kids glue them to the top of the foot print (head). 

Day 15 of 25 Christmas Crafts

Today, I started out with one basic craft idea, and then it morphed into something else. So, the first picture doesn't have everything we used, but I will add what else we put into it! 

We were making basic thumb print reindeer, but, then the idea morphed into the 8, sorry 9 reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh! 

First I got out some finger painting paper, brown paint, a paint brush, and some markers. (not pictured is the sleigh I cut out of red paper, and the santa sticker, and glue). 

 I did the kids thumb prints with brown paint first- and let those dry. I did 2 thumb prints per reindeer- one for the head and one for the body. 

Then we stuck on the Santa sticker- on the sleigh. And coloured that! 

 Then, once the thumb prints were dry, we drew antlers, faces, feet and tails on each reindeer, and coloured it. 

 Then we glued the sleigh onto the reindeer paper. And then we had Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen---oh yeah, and most important- Rudolph, pulling Santa's sleigh!

Day 14 of 25 days of Christmas Crafts

Today, we were going to make reindeer hats, but when I took the two older kids to preschool, they were doing reindeer hats there. So, I came home to see what else I could come up with. I finally figured out that we could do rudolph the same way we did frosty earlier- with popsicle sticks! 

So, I got things ready, cutting shapes for mouths, ears, antlers and hair. Gluing some popsicle sticks together (I put one across the back- and then we glued the ears there). I got googly eyes and a pom pom for the nose. Then, I cut some string, and got each child a bell. 

 Then, we started gluing things on. The ears, hair, antlers, nose, mouth, and eyes etc. 

 After everything was glued on, we strung the bell, and attached it to the bottom with tape. 

 We are going to add a ribbon so it can be an ornament too! 

Day 13 of 25 days of Christmas Crafts

Well, we are over the half way point! I can't believe tomorrow is December 1! 

Today we made heart reindeer puppets. It was an easy, quick craft for all ages! 

I cut out 3 heart shapes per child- one of those being a little bigger than the other 2, but not by much! Then, I also cut out eyes and a nose with the foam paper. But, you could use googly eyes and pom poms. And then I got the glue! 

 The kids first glued the two smaller hearts onto the bigger one- at the top, for the antlers. 

 Then, we glued on the eyes and nose. 

 Once those are dry, we will add a popsicle stick, so the kids can use them as puppets! You could also add a ribbon and use them as gift tags or hang on the tree!