Christmas Crafts for Children

Here’s an easy, fun Christmas craft you can use Inside the Classroom.

Supplies
Plain colored glass ball ornaments
Fingernail polish or acrylic paint
Paintbrushes
Lots of newspaper
Cups of water for cleaning brushes

Your kids can paint designs and Christmas motifs on the balls with the fingernail polish or use paintbrushes to apply acryllic paint. Show children how to carefully hold the ball with one hand while painting with the other. Devise a place to set the balls or hang the balls so they can dry without getting smudged.

This is a great project that lends itself well to all ages, individual creativity and is non threatening for the artistically challenged. If a child does nothing more than paint silver dots all over a blue ball, it will look beautiful. I’ve also seen teenagers paint intricate nativity scenes or Christmas trees. With patience, you can also write words but keep it simple. Our church made these ornaments last year to give to the elderly in the provided fruit basket, so on many of the ornaments, we simply painted the initials of the church.

Either acrylic paint or fingernail polish work well – each give a different effect. You can involve the adults of your congregation or the parents of your children by asking for donations of ready to discard bottles of fingernail polish. Believe me, you’ll be overwhelmed with unwanted colors!

Here’s some ideas of what to do with your ornaments:
Decorate a class or church Christmas tree
Give to shut ins, nursing home residents or the elderly in your church.
Give as a thank you gift to teachers and church leaders.

What’s a simple craft for children you’ve discovered? Leave a comment below or email me your idea at karenawingate@gmail.com. I may be able to include your idea in a future post.

Have fun!