It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and kids' Christmas craft should be top of your list when it comes to keeping your tribe happy and busy these holidays. We’ve curated 12 days’ worth of easy STEM activities that will work kids’ fine motor skills, inspire creativity and get them even more excited about the festive season. 

Christmas Craft Idea 1: Gingerbread House Bunting

Brown paper houses with white markings made to look like tiles, windows and doors tied on a string as bunting, laying flat on a light blue background.

This sweet bunting will add instant nostalgia to any space. Best of all, it’s a blank slate for kids’ creativity! 

Instructions

A GIF series showing brown paper being made into house-shaped bunting through cutting and drawing with a white paint marker. 

Step 1: Fold a piece of A4 brown card in half, before drawing the shape of a gingerbread house.

Step 2: Cut out the shape, leaving you with two identical cardboard houses. Then repeat until you have a set of about 10-15.

Step 3: Begin ‘decorating’ the gingerbread house with designs (small dots, swirls and squiggles to re-create an icing sugar effect), using a white paint marker.

Step 4: Using your scissors, cut small holes in the top and outer corners of each house, ready to be threaded.

Step 5: Take some thread and weave it in and out of the holes until you have a full piece of gingerbread house bunting ready to hang.

What You’ll Need

encil, white paint marker, scissors, a stack of cardboard and twine, laying flat on a light blue background.

SEE ALSO: 10 Easy DIY Christmas Crafts for Kids to Try

Christmas Craft Idea 2: Egg Carton Wreath

A GIF series showing hands cutting, assembling and gluing an egg carton wreath as a Christmas craft project, shown on a pale green background. 

Your kids will be proud as punch hanging this vibrant Christmas craft idea on their bedroom door. Upcycle your egg cartons and other cardboard materials to produce this masterful creation.

Christmas Craft Idea 3: Origami Folded Crown

Multicoloured folded paper crowns displayed on a light blue background.

It’s a paper-loving kid's dream, and this repetitive fold and weave will leave them with a glorious and colourful crown in minutes. Then all they need to do is draw a design on it. 

Instructions

A GIF series showing the steps to turn coloured paper into a crown with various folds and tucks, shown on a light blue background.

Step 1: Take a piece of square craft paper and fold two edges in towards each other to create a point.

Step 2: Then take the bottom edge and fold it directly upwards, pressing down as the edge hits the bottom of the folded point.

Step 3: Fold the same piece upwards again, making what looks like a sailor hat shape. Then repeat the whole process with separate pieces of paper until you have 7-8 folded shapes.

Step 4: Turn your shapes over so that the ‘back’ of them is facing up. Take two ends and slip one beneath the other to join them together. Repeat until all are joined in one line.

Step 5: Take the two ends and bring them together in a loop, and join by folding one end under the other. Gently bend the shapes a bit until the crown is nice and round.

Step 6: Put some glue on the back of the end pieces so the crown is secure.

What You’ll Need

Coloured craft paper and glue stick, displayed on a light blue background.

SEE ALSO: 10 Festive Crafts That Double as DIY Christmas Gifts

Christmas Craft Idea 4: Jumbo Decorations

A purple Christmas bauble, red and green bell and a green lantern, all made of cardboard, shown on a pale blue background.

If you fancy a little OTT Christmas cheer in your home, then these oversized cardboard decorations will be just perfect. Easy to create and brilliant for both mindfulness and working the dexterity of small (and big!) fingers, these large cardboard baubles will look fun hung from hooks, the mantle or even the tree.

Instructions

A GIF series showing hands folding, cutting and gluing red and green cardboard to make a bell-shaped Christmas ornament.

Step 1: Fold a large piece of cardboard in half, and half again, then trace a shape, such as a bell, star or round bauble onto the board.

Step 2: Carefully cut around your shape, pulling apart the multiple pieces of the same design.

Step 3: Repeat as many times as you like, including an alternate colour if you wish, to create a fuller shape.

Step 4: Fold each shape in half and then, using a glue stick, add glue to one folded side, and press it against another folded piece, lining up the edges.

Step 5: Repeat until you have a tight bundle, then add hot glue down the ‘seam’ of the folded pieces. Press all the pieces together to make one shape.

Step 6: Cut a small hole through the top of the shape using your scissors and thread through a piece of twine to make a loop.

Hot tip: If the shape doesn’t allow for the loop through a hole, you can glue the end of the twine loop into the seam before pressing the shape together.

What You’ll Need

Twine, glue stick, scissors, glue gun and a roll of coloured cardboard, displayed  on a light blue background.

Christmas Craft Idea 5: Fun With Clay

An overhead shot of Kadink Christmas Polymer Clay Kit, shown on a pale blue background.

The fine motor skills of your little ones will get a workout as the pair of you create special memories together shaping and sculpting these cute festive ornaments, sure to add a special touch hanging on your Christmas tree. Pop in the oven, allow to cool and get decorating!

What You’ll Need

Christmas Craft Idea 6: Twist Cup Scene Maker

Two paper cups balanced on a craft stick with drawings of a tropical beach scene, shown on a light blue background. 

Taking the humble paper cup to a whole new dimension, this activity will ignite kids’ imaginations and challenge their fine motor skills as they navigate engineering their cup design and then plan and draw their scenes. As the inside cup twists around, each scene will be revealed.

Instructions

A GIF series of images showing hands sketching, colouring, cutting and gluing together a paper cup scene maker, displayed on a light blue background. 

Step 1: Turn your cup upside down and sketch your scene designs onto the face of the cardboard. On a small cup you should fit around three scene changes.

Step 2: Fill in your designs with coloured markers until the whole cup has been coloured in.

Step 3: Take a second cup, turn it upside down and then cut a small hole in the middle of one side of the cup. 

Step 4: Using your scissors, carefully cut from the inside outwards until you have a square or rectangle-shaped ‘window’.

Step 5: Slide the cup with the window over the top of the designed cup and twist to see the scene changes. If your window isn’t big enough, cut a larger one.

Step 6: Glue one end of a craft stick to the inside edge of the designed cup with hot glue.

Step 7: Holding the outside cup in one hand, your other hand can turn the craft stick slowly around in a circle and you will see the scenes change in your window.

What You’ll Need

Markers, paper cups, pencil, craft stick, scissors, glue gun to make twist-a-cup-scene-maker craft, shown on a light-blue background.

Christmas Craft Idea 7: Sun Catcher Mobile

A hanging mobile of colourful beads and stars, displayed against a pale blue background.

Warm weather brings sunshine, which is perfect for getting the kids involved in sun-catching Christmas craft activities. Using their fine motor skills, kids can dream big using charms, beads and sparkly materials.

Instructions

A GIF series showing hands gluing, cutting and threading to make a hanging bead mobile, shown on a light blue background.

Step 1: Take two jumbo craft sticks and add a dab of hot glue to the middle of one, pressing the other over to make a cross shape, which will form the base of the mobile.

Step 2: Cut twine at different lengths between 10 and 15 centimetres, tying a double knot at the bottom of each.

Step 3: Choose beads to thread onto the twine, adding an occasional knot as you go to leave gaps between the beads.

Step 4: Using hot glue, add sparkly star gems to occasional beads, and also ‘sandwich’ them in the gaps of the twine. Do this by adding some hot glue to the inside (non-coloured) side of a star, then press the twine onto the glue, covering the exact spot with another star.

Step 5: Take the ends of your now decorated twine and tie them onto the craft stick base, with space between them. 

Step 6: Take a few lengths of twine and plait them together for a stronger ‘rope’ that you can then tie to the middle of your craft stick base. Then tie it directly to a tree branch, balcony rail or porch beam and watch it sparkle in the sunlight.

What You’ll Need

Glue gun, twine, markers, star and geometric rhinestones, beads, craft sticks, displayed on a pale blue background.

SEE ALSO: How to Have a Green Christmas

Christmas Craft Idea 8: Catch A Ball Cup Game

A white bead attached to a paper cup with yellow and orange zigzag stripes, shown on a blue background.

The perfect solution to the ‘I’m bored’ catchcry on the summer holidays. Not only is this game inexpensive and easy for children to create, they’ll also get the satisfaction of making it themselves. Trust us, that equals more fun, too.

Instructions

A GIF series showing a ball-in-cup game being created, including hands drawing on the cup, attaching the string using a hot glue gun and adding the bead.

Step 1: Start by decorating your cup using markers to make any design you like.

Step 2: Take a piece of elastic around 10 to 12 centimetres long (ensuring the length is short enough that it doesn’t hit you in the head), thread a large wooden bead on to the end and tie a knot to secure it in place. 

Step 3: Cut a hole through the bottom of the cup using the tip of your scissors. An adult can help with this.

Step 4: Push the end of the elastic without the bead up through the hole from the outside to the inside. Then tie a big knot at the end which will sit over the hole inside the cup and hold the elastic in place.

Step 5: Place a small hole on the side of the cup and push through a small craft stick, angling it down so the end rests on the bottom of the cup. Then use a small dot of hot glue to hold it in place. Allow to dry.

Step 6: Your game is ready! Hold the craft stick in one hand, and swing the elastic and bead backwards and forwards until it lands in the cup.

What You’ll Need

Glue gun, markers, elastic, beads, paper cup, craft stick and scissors, laying flat on a light blue background.

Christmas Craft Idea 9: Snowflake Sewing Plate

GIF series of images showing hands threading and painting a snowflake paper plate for a Christmas craft project, shown on a light blue background. 

Kids as early as prep and kindergarten age can put their fine motor skills to work with this fun STEM school holiday activity, then show off their cool snowflake keepsake by hanging it from the Christmas tree, a hook or a handle.

Christmas Craft Idea 10: Paper Plane

An image showing Kadink Paper Plane Folding Kit, displayed on a pale blue background. 

Up, up and away! Making paper planes is a great way for kids to practise their folding skills and this craft kit lets them try out five different techniques. While their planes might not break the Guinness World Record for distance flown by a paper plane (a whopping 88.31 metres!), they can have fun trying.

What You’ll Need

Christmas Craft Idea 11: Friendship Bracelets

Image of a Kadink Best Friend Bracelet Kit, shown on a pale blue background.

Without a doubt, your children are going to miss their friends over the Christmas holiday period. Putting their minds and hands to work creating a friendship bracelet will have them excited for their reunion with their bestie. With this kit, they’ll be able to make four colourful friendship bracelets using two different techniques. Not only will their craft session result in a beautiful collection of jewellery, but hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and self-expression are all at work in this fun activity.  

What You’ll Need

Christmas Craft Idea 12: Festive Cardboard Puppets

Front view of a Christmas craft Santa puppet made from cardboard, shown on a light blue background. 

This super-jolly Santa puppet will bring all the smiles and cheer to little faces (while also being the perfect Christmas STEM activity). And if you need a few more days’ worth of activities, you could even make a whole Christmas scene with the big man in red, reindeer and elves. ‍

Instructions

Folding, drawing, cutting, gluing and pinning to make a moving cardboard Santa puppet, displayed on a pale blue background. 

Step 1: Take a piece of A4 red card and fold in half, then half again. Trace your arms and legs onto the card and cut out, leaving you with two arms and two legs.

Step 2: Take another piece of red card and create your body and hat design, then cut out accessories like belt buckles and trim from pieces of black, yellow and white paper and card.

Step 3: Glue your accessories together on each separate piece, and use a black paint marker to draw in Santa’s face. Add mittens and boots as well.

Step 4: Place all the pieces together, making sure they will all be able to move, so you can measure what length the legs should be.

Step 5: Finally, take gold paper fasteners and gently push them through the card, pinning the body to the legs and arms. Once secure, you will be able to twist them around and make Santa pull off some impressive moves!

What You’ll Need

Coloured card, gold paper fasteners, pencil, glue stick, acrylic paint marker and scissors to make Santa puppet, laying flat on a light blue background.

SEE ALSO: Easy Christmas Crafts to Makeover Your Home