easy Christmas crafts

These easy crafts are simple enough for a one,  two, and three year old to make!  I had the joy of doing this with my kiddos and one of our favorite neighbor and friend.

Materials needed for Santa face:

Santa face template ( got mine from DLTK kids)

cotton balls

glue

Basically you glue cotton balls to the beard,  I remember doing this in elementary school myself.  I put the glue in small bowls and had the children "dip it, dip it, then stick it" to their pages.  It is amazing that something this simple is so fun for all kids.
Materials for Christmas letter picture:

Paper

Marker

Christmas themed stickers

Write the first letter of the child's name on a sheet of paper.  Let them "trace" their letter with the stickers.  Older kids could do their whole name and write it themselves.

t is for tissue

Materials needed:
construction paper
different colored tissue paper
glue marker

On your sheet of Construction paper draw an upper-case and lower case T. Trace the t's with glue, then attach crumpled tissue paper to the Ts. A fun and easy activity!

sensory caterpillars

This activity took us a while to complete but the kids loved doing it and were (surprisingly) very patient. This is a good sensory activity for preschoolers that I found in The Mailbox magazine.

Materials needed:

Several cut circles from construction paper
popsicle sticks or pipecleaners (for antennas)
glue
Different "sensory" materials ( we used cotton, aluminum foil, uncooked macaroni shells, glitter glue, foam stickers, and feathers)

Glue a different sensory material on each circle. As we were gluing we talked about how each material felt. Was it soft, smooth, sticky, etc.? You can also talk about what each object looks like....hard, shiny, sparkly, dull, etc. You may need to help younger children with the squirting of the glue.
Finish your caterpillar with a face that has antennas attached to the top. You could also add legs if you are really ambitious.....we stopped with the antennas.

Let your project dry for most of the day or overnight before displaying on a wall. This was indeed one of my kids favorite activities!

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwvlqIJHwR7_D57QLXtOZGqo85ZzQf_0rggj13pmE_c0cqaCzfuX-i7wbkdlKnW3FxImHkv7f18yCHXgqgW4oEqcwCLeh-j3Gz_gZce1cAkDuGsoo4uynIOCIMn7tC8GOUxkRAG4R2eY/
h/IMG_2526.JPG">

birthday collage

Ever wonder what to do with all of your birthday cards? Make a birthday collage!

Materials:
posterboard
cards
glue
scissors





This is a great way to practice cutting and pasting. My son loved the finished product and taped it to his closet door!

letters collage

This is a good way to study letters and introduce vocabulary to younger children.

Materials needed:
large piece of paper
marker
old magazines
scissors
glue

Using old magazines, find pictures that start with the letter you have chosen. Cut out the pictures and paste to your piece of paper. I let my 2 year old practice cutting with his scissors while we do this too.
Write the name of your object by its picture. Practice saying the words and letters throughout the week or as long as you study that specific letter.




Don't be afraid to paste pictures of things your child doesn't recognize. Like I said, this is a great way to build vocabulary. My husband was amazed when my son was 1 1/2 and could recognize a picture of a Beluga Whale and say "Beluga" after we did our B words with this activity!