Holiday Crafts for Kids

With it getting colder now the kids will be spending more time inside and looking for things to do, you can help them fill their time by making some easy holiday crafts. Here are a few of my favorite crafts to do with kids.

1.Pinecone Bird feeder, these are easy to make and great to hang outside your windows for the kids to watch the birds come to eat. You will need to get several open pinecones, if they are not open far enough you can place them in a warm oven for a little while. Next you will need peanut butter, buy the cheapest type with no sugar that you can find. For every one pound of peanut butter you can make ten bird feeders.

Next you will need to get birdseed, crafts sticks, and some heavy twine or string. Place the birdseed on a cookie sheet or deep pie plate. Then you can start buy coating the pinecones in peanut butter using the crafts sticks. Make sure to fill in every crack .Now take the pinecone and roll it in the birdseed making sure to thoroughly coat each one. Shake off any extra seed very gently, then tie the string to the top of the pine cone, you can wrap any extra feeders you have made in wax paper until you are ready to use them. The kids could make these and give them to neighbors so they can enjoy watching the birds as well.

2.Another craft that can be made from pinecones is a Pinecone Christmas tree. You will need the following items, dried pinecones, green glitter, glue, sequins, and little star stickers. Make sure the pinecones are open, if not place in a warm oven for a little bit. Then paint the pinecone with glue and sprinkle the green glitter on, once that has dried you can glue the sequins on as tinsel and ornaments. Then you can glue a star on top. You can be creative and add other things if you wish. These can be used for tree ornaments by tying some string around the top of the pinecone. Or you can sit them around to display. These can be done with different size pinecones.

3.Christmas Candy Cane Mouse, these are cute crafts that can be done at home or would make a great craft for the school class. You will need the following materials,Two colors of Felt, wrapped candy canes, plastic wiggle eyes, and small pom-poms for the nose. These items can be found at any craft store. First you will need to cut the body and ear pieces from the felt. Cut two slits at the tip where the ears will go, then slide the ears through the slits. Glue on the eyes and nose, then insert the candy cane through the underside of the mouse where the ears attached. These can be made in a variety of colors using different flavored candy canes and different color felt.Here are two pictures to show you how to cut the pieces and what it should look like when it'sdone.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b240/caitlynchristel/christmas_mouse_parts.gif,and http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b240/caitlynchristel/Candy_mouse.gif

4.Magic Reindeer food, this will be a big hit with the smaller children on Christmas Eve. Their eyes will light up when they think they are leaving food for Santa's reindeer. You will need rolled oats, glitter, plastic baggies, and some paper for the note. Place the oats and glitter in the baggies and mix it well, then on a piece of paper write the following Sprinkle on the lawn at night, The moon will make it sparkle bright, Santa's reindeer fly & roam, This will guide them to your home. You can attach this to the bag if you want to give some reindeer food to others.

5.Chocolate mint spoons, these make great presents and they are really easy to make .You need the following items, red plastic spoons, two Hershey's bars (No nuts), Crushed peppermint candy canes, ribbon. First melt the candy bars, you can do this in the microwave, it will require the parents help for this step. Then dip spoons in melted chocolate, and immediately dip into crushed candy cane, tie a thin ribbon on the spoon handle, you can attach this poem through the ribbon.

Try some chocolate mint hot cocoa, it's as tasty as can be, and while you drink it, you can think of me. These would be great placed in a nice mug, and include some cocoa mix.

So anytime your kids are bored you will have a few ideas of some crafts to keep them busy.