By Marcia Hall
Tis the season of gift giving! This year, rather than taking the kids out to the stores to find gifts for family members, why not have your children make gifts for their grandparents, aunts and uncles instead? Crafts made from prints of your child’s hands, feet, and even thumbs are treasured keepsakes that are held onto and brought out years later when the children are grown. Here are a few fun and memorable ones to try during the holiday season.
1. Sleepy Santa
From crazyaboutmybaybah.com
This craft could be put on any number of objects. One idea is to try it on a bag and use it as the wrapping of the other gifts you give out.
2. Reindeer Thumbprint Ornament
From crazyaboutmybaybah.com
This beautiful ornament, which is incredibly simple and cute as a button, is one that will be treasured for years. Write the child’s name and age on it to remember when it was made. This also makes a great “babies first Christmas” treasure.
3. Christmas Tree Handprint
From easypreschoolcrafts.blogspot.com
There are many versions of this simple craft, some with the fingers pointed up, others with the fingers pointed down. The fun part of this craft for your child is gluing all the objects onto the tree. You could put just about anything on there, from glitter to buttons like you see here.
4. Footprint Christmas Tree
From easypreschoolcraft.blogspot.com
How sweet would it be for grandparents to receive this adorable craft for babies first Christmas?
5. Festive Penguin Footprints
By funhandprintart.blogspot.com
This is a different take on the footprint. You might not even know they were footprints if it weren’t for the tiny toes peeking out from under the silly penguins. Children will love dressing the penguins up.
6. Reindeer Footprint
By easypreschoolcraft.blogspot.com
This is a fun project for mom and dad and is great for families with two or more children. You could even have everyone in the family put their footprint on the paper to make a little Reindeer footprint family.
7. Thumbprint Christmas Lights
By funhandprintart.blogspot.com
Your preschooler will love this easy craft. Children can pick their colors and place them wherever on the page they want. Then they can have fun tracing the line to attach them all to make the cord.
8. Hand cutout wreath
By happyclippings.com
This craft would be great for children that have learned to master the scissors, but if they haven’t then parents or caregivers can help them cut out all the handprints. Make the wreath out of felt and glue it to cardboard for a gift that will be sturdy and last a long time.
9. Reindeer Hand cutout ornaments
By mommygaga.com
This ornament would make a great project for preschoolers as a yearly keepsake. One fun tradition would be to have your child make one every year to see how she grows from year to year.
10. Jesus in the manger footprints
By funhandprintart.blogspot.com
This engaging image of baby Jesus laying in a manger is made out of your child’s footprint. It certainly looks eye-catching on this ceramic plate, but you could just as easily have it on paper or some other medium. The graphics are simple enough to reproduce and you can use whatever words you would like.
11. Menorah Handprint
By activityvillage.com
This is a great way to celebrate Hanukkah and include your children. You could have your child place his handprints beforehand and each night of Hanukkah he could then place the flame above the finger. You could even use your child’s thumbprint for the flame.
I hope this has given you a few ideas for crafts to do with the kids over the holidays. Have a happy crafting holiday!
