Five Easy DIY Homemade Christmas Decorations to Make with Kids

Making holiday crafts with kids can be a fun way to get the whole family into the Christmas spirit. Here are five fun and easy ideas for either sprucing up your own home or gifting to a neighbor.

Holiday Door/Wall Hanging: Snowman Hat

Suggested Materials: Craft Straw Hat, White Paint, Paint Brush, Hot Glue Gun & Sticks, Black Construction Paper, Large Red Pompom, Two Large Wiggle Eyes, Thick Ribbon

I actually made this snowman decoration while in the fifth grade in an afterschool crafts club. We started with a full-sized craft straw hat, painting the outside of the half-sphere white and leaving the brim alone. After the paint dried, we hot glued wiggle eyes on and a red pompom for the nose. Out of black construction paper, or a material of your choice, you can curve a paper in the shape of a half cylinder to then glue on the brim as a tall hat for the snowman. You can add an additional circular cutout for the snowman's hat brim if desired. Attach a thick ribbon on the back from which to hang your snowman and let the festivities begin!

Paper Chain Countdown to Christmas: Red & Green Acts of Kindness

Suggested Materials: Red & Green Colored Paper, Tape, Pen

Kids and adults alike love counting down to the holidays. Making a paper countdown chain out of strips of paper formed in circles and taped together can be fun. And to make the countdown even more meaningful, you can make each numbered slip also have a suggestion of a specific small act of kindness to be performed the next day. Then, each night before you break off one more piece of the chain, you can share what nice things everyone did for one another that day. A family initiative of loving and serving others will surely help bring in the true spirit of Christmas.

Office/Desk Decoration: Poinsettia Pens in a Terracotta Pot

Suggested Materials: Pens, Green Tape, Craft Poinsettia Flowers, Medium Terracotta Pot

This craft idea is extremely easy and turns out great. After purchasing a set of poinsettia flowers and separating each flower, you simply take one flower and align the stem along one pen-with the flower sticking out opposite the tip of the pen. Use green tape to attach the flower and cover the entire pen except for the part you actually use to write. These cute, little flowers can then go point down into an otherwise empty terracotta pot to give any desk or office a festive flavor.

Fabric Countdown Hanging: Path to Bethlehem

Suggested Materials: Fabric, Felt Pieces, Marker, Pin

While growing up, my brothers and sisters used to love our family path to Bethlehem. The base is simply a piece of fabric with 25 spaces outlined signifying Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem. Each day of December we would move forward the felt Mary and Joseph piece, pinning it to the next outlined space on the fabric path. By Christmas, Mary and Joseph safely reach the end spot, which can be marked by a felt star or something of your choice. The felt parents of the Christ Child can simply be an outline of two personages, or even a couple of smiley faces, or anything you and your family are comfortable creating. Additional decorations around the path can be a great way of further decorating the fabric piece that can be hung or displayed on a table.

Christmas Stockings: DIY Painted Designs

Suggested Materials: Felt Stockings, Puff Paints

Another simple craft is to pick out a few plain felt stockings and let the kids decorate them using puff paints, which makes the project easy to do and easy to cleanup. With everyone showing their own takes on Christmas staples like trees, presents, holly, and so on, painting stockings can make for a fun activity to do together. And if all goes well, hanging the stockings across a mantle or on a wall can be a great reminder of the fun time shared with one another.