Festive crafts and Christmas go hand in hand. It’s a time of year when parents of young children pick up their children from school and are handed crafty cards, baubles and decorations covered in glitter and glue. It’s a rite of passage!
But it’s more than a form of entertainment; festive crafts are also beneficial to children's cognitive and emotional development. Festive crafts help to:
Encourage children’s visual-processing skills by fostering pattern recognition, spatial awareness and sequence detection.
Challenge and develop executive function skills, improving focus and working memory skills, which they’ll need in the future.
Increase self-esteem by allowing them to enjoy the outcomes of their hard work and take pride in their work.
Stimulate creativity, a skill that can be transferred to all other academic and play activities throughout life!
Not only do festive crafts help nurture the above, but they also foster a sense of togetherness and joy. It’s something you do independently but together.
So, what crafting can you get up to this festive period? Read on to find out.
Festive crafts to do: making decorations
Making Christmas decorations at home or in the classroom is a practical way for children to learn the importance of festive traditions. It also gives them a great sense of achievement to see their work proudly displayed.
These concertina angels are a favourite festive craft, and they can be hung up on the tree or by the mantelpiece afterwards! The paper has guidelines for folding, which helps children with fine motor skills and following instructions.
When you think of Christmas, it’s likely that a wreath comes to mind, which makes these hessian wreaths a great festive crafts choice. This pack of 30 comes with coloured card, paper shapes, rustic hessian and gingham ribbon with easy to follow instructions and add on activities to enjoy.
Keeping it messy and free are these rip and stick baubles, which include 30 assorted bauble shapes made from sturdy cardboard. Children can use the patterned paper, glitter, paint, metallic pens, or any other festive crafts resources you may have to make their Christmas ornament.
Another classic decoration is these stained glass festive shapes, which children love to make. They get to enjoy designing their tissue paper placements and ponder their positioning choices, then they get to proudly hang them on a window for the light to shine through. This festive crafts pack includes everything you need to make 30 shapes, with instructions to boot.
Festive crafts to do: Christmas characters
Childhood imagination blurs the line between fact and fiction, which is why Christmas can be such a magical time, but did you know festive crafts can help fuel this burst of imagination?
Learning about Santa can actually help with early childhood development, as children learn to connect the dots between the world around them and discover why and how things work. Fantasy and pretend play are big parts of developing this ability, which is why it’s well worth getting familiar with some famous Christmas characters.
These Christmas character lanterns come with everything you need to make glowy paper versions of all the famous Christmas faces! There are 4 of each 5 festive designs, and instructions for you and your class too.
If you can’t get enough of the lanterns, you’ll love these Christmas stick puppets and the nativity stick puppets! These cute festive crafts occupy children in the making process and leave them something to play with afterward. Children can engage in that all important fantasy play with these stick puppets, but with recognisable characters.
There was Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer and Vixen, and… well there’s all of them and more in this tubey reindeer pack. The perfect addition to your festive craft puppets! Children can create wonderfully cute reindeer in a few simple steps and add their own decoration and festive sparkle.
Time to start those festive crafts!
We’ve listed some good learning opportunities and development benefits - and they’re true! But we all know the best part of festive crafts is that they’re fun! So go ahead and get shopping for activities today.
If you have any questions about festive crafts, or would like to use one of our happy team as a springboard for ideas please get in touch today.
