In many homes, decorating the house for the holidays is an annual tradition. Some families focus on decorating the Christmas tree, exterior of the house or the entire interior in holiday trimmings. If you have children, they probably want to be part of the decorating as well. You can plan a craft day each year to allow your children to make holiday decorations for your home or tree. Does this Spark an idea?
Tree Decorations
Have your children make Christmas tree ornaments using items you already have, rather than buying new supplies. Use frozen juice lids for a base to the ornament. They are flat and easily manipulated. Use old greeting cards to place an image on the ornament. Cut out phrases or pictures of holiday items from the cards, and attach them with rubber cement instead of white glue, so that the decorations will last through the years. Add some sparkle with glitter or tinsel, and hang the ornaments with some ribbon. Use a hole punch to punch the ribbon holes, because the punch makes a perfect circle. Holes poked with scissors or pencils may eventually tear.
Wreaths
Use old cereal boxes to cut the shape of a wreath. The cereal box cardboard will provide a perfectly flat surface that is easily bonded with glue. Green construction paper can be used to trace your child's hand several times. You can cut out the hand shapes, and glue them in a fanned arrangement around the wreath. The hand shapes are a great way to mark your child's growth from year to year.
Hanging Snowman Wall Art
Cut white craft foam into three different sized circles to create a snowman. Glue them to a string or long piece of wire, in a snowman formation. Decorate your snowman using a small strip of fabric as a scarf and make a small hat from black construction paper or black craft foam. You can use real buttons in any color on the snowman's body. A small triangle of orange craft foam makes a great "carrot nose". Black permanent markers can be used to create the snowman's mouth and eyes. You can also achieve a whimsical look by adding self-adhesive plastic eyes. Your snowman can be hung on a door, tree or a wall to add to the holiday theme in your home.
Tags: craft foam, children make, Christmas tree, construction paper, create snowman