Reindeer Art Projects for Preschool and Homeschool

No animal symbolizes the Christmas season more than the reindeer, or caribou. Whether your preschool students' favorite reindeer is Dasher, Dancer, or Rudolph himself, they will love making these easy and inexpensive reindeer art projects.

Reindeer Place Mats

Let your students choose a large piece of construction paper. Dip one of their feet in brown paint and make an impression on the paper. This print will be the reindeer's head. After cleaning their foot, dip their hands into light brown paint and make two handprints on each side of the reindeer's head, making two antlers. When the paint is dry, let your students use black paint to make eyes and red paint to make a red nose. Use a circle stencil if your students have a hard time making their own circles. Let them decorate the rest of the picture with Christmas themed stickers. Laminate or cover the place mat with contact paper when complete.

Clothespin Reindeer

Cut the shape of a reindeer out of heavy brown paper (4-5 inches in length-don't add legs!). Let your students decorate their reindeer with google eyes, red sequins, markers, small scraps of brown yarn, cloth, and felt for fur, and small pieces of Christmas ribbon for their harnesses. When their reindeer is complete and dry, give each student two clothespins (with springs) to clip to the bottom of the reindeer for legs. The reindeer can then stand up and be placed on a table or in a window.

Thumbprint Reindeer Cards

Let students make several thumbprints using colored, non-toxic ink pads on a piece of white paper folded in half to make a card. Use one thumbprint for faces only, and two thumbprints together for a body and head. Use a fine black marker to make eyes, ears noses, antlers, legs, and tails on your reindeer. Antlers can easily be made by young kids by drawing two lines straight out of the reindeer's head, then drawing two "V" shapes on each line.

Shape Reindeer Gift Bags

Give each student a plain paper gift bag in any color and a glue stick. Also give them a brown construction paper triangle, two brown half circles, a red circle (or black oval), two black circles, and two antler shapes. Let them create a reindeer image using the triangle as the face, the half circles as the ears, the black circles as the eyes, the red circle as the nose, and the antlers shapes as antlers...of course.

As students work, let them get into the holiday sprit by listening to recordings of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas."