Christmas feels especially magical when you’re little. A cardboard tube can become Santa Claus, a few pieces of green felt can turn into a tiny Christmas tree, and two fuzzy pipe cleaners can suddenly look like a candy cane ready for the tree.
Preschool Christmas crafts don’t have to be complicated to be memorable. In fact, the best projects for young children are often the simplest—lots of bright colors, familiar Christmas shapes, easy decorating and plenty of room for children to make each creation their own.
These ten fun and easy Christmas crafts for preschoolers are perfect for a cozy afternoon at home, a preschool classroom, a holiday playdate or simply keeping little hands happily occupied while Christmas music plays in the background.
🎅 1. Cardboard Tube Christmas Characters
Save a few empty cardboard tubes and you already have the beginnings of an adorable little Christmas collection. With colored paper, paint and a few simple details, children can make Santa, a reindeer, a snowman or even a Christmas tree.
What you’ll need: Empty cardboard tubes, construction paper, washable paint, child-safe glue, crayons or markers, cotton balls or white paper, and pre-cut paper shapes for decorating.
Wrap or paint each tube in the main color of the character you want to make. A brown tube can become a reindeer with paper antlers and a bright red nose, while a red tube makes the perfect Santa when you add a white beard, hat and little black belt. For a snowman, use white paper with an orange carrot nose, black buttons and a strip of blue paper for a scarf.
The Christmas tree can be made from folded or layered green construction paper decorated with colorful paper circles and topped with a yellow star.
Make several characters and line them up together on a shelf or windowsill to create a cheerful miniature Christmas display.
❄️ 2. Coffee Filter Snowflakes
Coffee filters are wonderfully suited to snowflake crafts because they are lightweight, inexpensive and already perfectly round.
Fold a white coffee filter in half and then in half again. An adult can help younger preschoolers make a few simple snips around the edges with child-safe scissors. When the filter is unfolded, a one-of-a-kind snowflake appears.
For a colorful variation, let children draw dots and little patches of color onto the filter with washable markers before lightly misting it with water. As the colors spread through the paper, the snowflake takes on a soft watercolor effect.
Once dry, tape the snowflakes to a window or hang several together to create a snowy Christmas scene—even if there isn’t a single real snowflake outside.
🌿 3. Handprint Christmas Wreath
Few preschool crafts are as sweet to look back on years later as a handprint project.
For this Christmas wreath, trace your child’s hand several times onto different shades of green construction paper. An adult can cut out the handprints for younger children, while older preschoolers may enjoy helping with child-safe scissors.
Arrange the handprints in a circle with the fingers pointing outward, overlapping them slightly until they resemble evergreen branches. Glue everything into place and add red paper circles for berries.
A bright red paper or ribbon bow finishes the wreath beautifully.
Write your child’s name and the year on the back before putting it away after Christmas. Long after those little hands have grown, the wreath becomes a wonderful reminder of just how small they once were.
🧦 4. Decorated Paper Christmas Stockings
A large paper stocking gives preschoolers plenty of room to decorate without having to worry about tiny details.
Cut a simple stocking shape from red, green or white construction paper or cardstock. Then set out crayons, washable markers, Christmas stickers, cotton balls and paper shapes and let your little artist take over.
Cotton balls make a wonderfully fluffy white cuff, while stars, trees, candy canes and colorful dots can be glued across the stocking like decorations.
Children who are beginning to recognize or write letters can also add their names.
Hang the finished stockings along a wall, classroom bulletin board or playroom window for an easy Christmas display made entirely by little artists.
🎄 5. Colorful Felt Christmas Trees
Soft felt makes these tiny Christmas trees especially charming.
Start with simple Christmas tree shapes cut from green felt. They can be classic triangles or have the familiar tiered-branch shape of a Christmas tree. Cut small circles, stars and other shapes from brightly colored scraps of felt.
Children can arrange the pieces however they like, creating ornaments across their trees and adding a colorful star to the top.
You can glue the decorations permanently in place, or leave them loose and turn the craft into a reusable decorating activity. Preschoolers can decorate the tree, remove everything and start again with an entirely different design.
For an extra-special keepsake, an adult can add a simple stitched border around the edge of the finished felt tree.
🌲 6. Pinecone Christmas Trees
A walk outside can provide the most important supply for this next craft.
Collect a few sturdy pinecones and allow them to dry completely. Children can leave them natural for a rustic little tree or an adult can paint them green ahead of time.
Once the pinecone is ready, tuck colorful pom-poms between the scales to resemble Christmas ornaments. A tiny paper or felt star can be added at the top.
Place the finished pinecone tree on a small cardboard circle, wooden disk or folded piece of cardstock to help it stand upright.
Several pinecone trees grouped together make an adorable miniature forest for a mantel, side table or Christmas village display.
For very young children, skip tiny decorations and use larger pieces that cannot easily become choking hazards.
🍬 7. Red and White Pipe Cleaner Candy Canes
This may be the easiest craft on the entire list, but the finished candy canes look wonderfully festive.
Place one red pipe cleaner beside one white pipe cleaner. Twist the two together from top to bottom until you have the familiar red-and-white stripe of a peppermint candy cane.
Then bend the top into a hook.
That’s it!
Make several and hang them from a piece of string to create a Christmas garland, tuck them between the branches of the Christmas tree or attach one to the top of a wrapped present.
Children can also experiment with other combinations. Red and green looks especially festive, while white and silver can resemble sparkling winter icicles.
🌨️ 8. Paper Plate Snow Globes
There is something enchanting about a snow globe, and preschoolers can create their own little winter scene using an ordinary paper plate.
Begin by drawing a snowy Christmas landscape on the plate. It might include a little Christmas tree, a snowman, a house with smoke curling from the chimney or a friendly woodland animal.
Glue pieces of cotton around the bottom for snow.
To give the picture the appearance of being inside a globe, an adult can attach clear contact paper or transparent plastic over the scene. A brown or black paper base added underneath helps complete the snow-globe shape.
Children can add snowflake stickers, white dots or tiny torn pieces of tissue paper to make it look as though snow is falling inside their miniature winter world.
🦌 9. Handprint Reindeer Christmas Cards
Grandparents and other family members are going to have a hard time throwing away this Christmas card.
Dip a child’s hand lightly into washable brown paint and press it onto a folded piece of cardstock. Depending on how you position the print, the fingers can become the reindeer’s antlers.
Once the paint has dried, add eyes and a bright red nose. A simple smile and a few drawn details bring the little reindeer to life.
Inside, children can draw a Christmas picture, practice writing their name or dictate a holiday message for an adult to write down.
You could make several at once and turn Christmas card day into a full afternoon of painting, decorating and sending handmade surprises to loved ones.
⭐ 10. Colorful Popsicle Stick Christmas Stars
Brightly colored craft sticks come together to make a wonderfully simple Christmas star.
Use five sticks in different colors and arrange them into the familiar five-pointed star shape. Preschoolers can experiment with arranging the pieces while an adult helps glue the overlapping sections securely together.
The rainbow colors make the stars cheerful just as they are, so they don’t need much extra decoration. Children who want more sparkle can add Christmas stickers, washable paint dots or a little glitter glue.
Once everything is dry, attach a ribbon or piece of yarn and hang the star on the Christmas tree.
You can also make several stars and string them together as a colorful handmade garland.
✂️ A Few Christmas Crafting Tips for Preschoolers
With preschool crafts, the goal isn’t a perfectly symmetrical wreath or a Christmas tree with every ornament placed exactly where an adult would put it. The crooked stars, enormous red noses and slightly lopsided trees are part of what makes children’s Christmas crafts so delightful.
Prepare anything difficult ahead of time so children get to spend most of the activity doing the enjoyable parts—painting, sticking, arranging and decorating. Preschool craft activities commonly use supplies such as paper, felt, crayons, glue and safety scissors with adult supervision.
Pay particular attention to small craft supplies. Pom-poms, beads, buttons, googly eyes and other tiny decorations can pose a choking risk for younger children, especially those under age three, so substitute larger decorations when necessary and keep small pieces closely supervised. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission specifically addresses small-part hazards in products intended for young children.
Choose craft materials intended for children, follow their age recommendations and let adults handle staples, sharp cutting, hot glue and similar tasks. Children’s art materials are subject to specific U.S. safety requirements, making age-appropriate supplies the sensible choice for preschool projects.
Most of all, give children permission to experiment. The Santa with the enormous beard or the green reindeer covered in pom-poms may turn out to be the decoration everyone remembers best.
🎄 Make Christmas Memories at the Craft Table
Christmas crafts have a way of becoming much more than something to keep children busy for an afternoon. A handprint wreath might come out of the decoration box every December. A colorful craft-stick star may still be hanging on the family tree years later. Even the simplest cardboard Santa can become a treasured reminder of one particular Christmas.
So cover the table, put on some Christmas music and bring out the paper, felt, glue and crayons. There is no need to make everything perfect.
For preschoolers, half the Christmas magic is simply getting to make it themselves.
🔗 Related Articles
- Easy DIY Christmas Ball Crafts to Decorate Your Home
- Create Your Own Enchanting Circle Starburst Ornaments
- Create Hand-Painted Christmas Star Ornaments for Mom and Dad
- DIY Christmas Stockings: Simple Steps for a Personalized Touch
📚 Sources
- American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org — Playful Birthday Party Ideas & Tips for Young Children
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission — Small Parts Ban and Choking Hazard Labeling
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission — Art Materials
