32+ School Holiday Craft Ideas Fun and Creative Projects for Kids

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And what better way to celebrate than with some festive crafts? You’ll find over 32 School Holiday Craft Ideas to make this Christmas merry and bright. From color-matching Christmas trees to snowman puppets, you’ll be busy making arts and crafts that the kids will be proud to take home to their families. Get into the holiday spirit with these classroom-friendly crafts that are fun for kids from preschool through early elementary!

School Holiday Craft Ideas

Are you looking for creative ways to entertain your kids during school holidays? The holiday season is perfect for getting crafty with your children and creating fun memories together. With a little planning and some basic supplies, you can keep your kids engaged and entertained for hours on end.

Crafting is a great way to help your children develop their creativity, fine motor skills, and problem-solving abilities. Whether you’re looking for classroom ideas or activities to do at home, there are plenty of holiday craft ideas.

From making homemade ornaments to creating festive decorations, there’s no shortage of fun and easy projects your kids will love.

You will need basic crafting supplies like construction paper, glue, scissors, and markers to get started. You can also get creative with materials like felt, beads, and yarn to add flair to your projects. With so many options, you’re sure to find something that will keep your kids entertained and engaged throughout the holiday season.

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Fun School Holiday Craft Ideas

Christmas Tree Color Matching Craft

Practice color identification while keeping with the Christmas festivities. Kids will love that they can put the pom-poms on the velcro dots over and over again to decorate the trees. This is a great quiet time activity or busy bag idea.

Gingerbread Paper Plate Craft

This paper plate gingerbread man (or woman) is so adorable! With pom-pom cheeks, a cute little hairbow or bowtie, and a big smile, kids will love displaying these cute creations in the windows or on the wall.

Santa Binoculars

Kids know to keep watch for Santa on Christmas Eve, and now they can get even more excited for the event with these fun and furry Santa binoculars. They’ll be happy to take their special binoculars home to use during the holiday break.

Paper Plate Christmas Trees

Grab some paper plates, green paint, and pom-poms to get started on this bright and colorful Christmas tree craft. Not only are they fun to make, but they also add some whimsical decor to your holiday decorations.

Rudolph Popsicle Stick Ornaments

No craft stash is complete with lots of popsicle sticks. You can make so many cute things, like these reindeer ornaments. You’ll also need pipe cleaners for antlers, googly eyes, a button nose, and some jingle bells to attach to the bottom.

Toilet Paper Roll Snowmen

Recycle some empty toilet paper tubes to make an adorable snow family. Don’t they look nice and cozy in their felt scarves and pom-pom earmuffs?

Birdseed Ornaments

We should always teach children to care for the earth and the creatures in it. One easy way to do this is by making birdseed ornaments to help feed birds through the winter. They’re super easy to make with birdseed, gelatin, and water, and they’ll look cute hanging from the trees outside.

Gingerbread Playdough

Whip up a batch of gingerbread playdough to make gingerbread men that you can cut, decorate, and then roll into a ball to do it all over again. This playdough recipe is soft, squishy, and smells terrific, thanks to the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. It’s perfect for a preschool classroom.

DIY Crystal Snowflake Ornaments

These beautiful borax crystal snowflakes are a great winter science experiment. And they make an excellent gift idea or homemade ornament.

Holiday Craft Ideas for the Classroom

The holiday season is a great time to bring festive cheer to your classroom with fun and engaging craft activities. Here are some easy and budget-friendly craft ideas that your students will love.

Clothespin Snowmen

Clothespin snowmen are a cute and easy craft that your students will love. To make a clothespin snowman, you will need wooden clothespins, white paint, black and orange markers, cotton balls, and glue.

Paint the clothespins white and let them dry.
Glue two clothespins together to make the snowman’s body.
Glue cotton balls to the top of the clothespins for the snowman’s head.
Use black and orange markers to draw the snowman’s eyes, mouth, and carrot nose.

Orange Peel Garland

Orange peel garland is a fun and festive craft your students will enjoy. To make orange peel garland, you will need orange peels, string, and a needle.

Cut the orange peels into thin strips.
Thread the needle and string the orange peel strips onto the string.
Tie a knot at the end of the string to keep the orange peel strips in place.
Hang the garland in your classroom for a festive touch.

Greeting Cards

Greeting cards are a simple and thoughtful way for your students to spread holiday cheer. To make greeting cards, you will need cardstock, markers, and decorations such as glitter and stickers.

Fold the cardstock in half to make a card.
Use markers to write a holiday message on the front of the card.
Decorate the card with glitter and stickers.
Encourage your students to give their cards to family and friends to spread holiday cheer.

These holiday craft ideas are a great way to get your students into the holiday spirit while engaging them in creative and educational art projects.

Learning Activities With Holiday Crafts

Holiday crafts are a fun way to engage children in learning activities during the holiday season. Not only do they provide a creative outlet, but they also offer an opportunity to learn new skills and concepts.

Here are a few ideas for learning activities with holiday crafts:

Advent Calendar

An advent calendar is a fun way to count the days until Christmas. You can make your own advent calendar using paper bags, cotton balls, scissors, and other materials. Each day, you can add a new item to the advent calendar, such as a small toy, a piece of candy, or a special note.

This activity can help children learn about time, counting, and anticipation.

Bird Feeder

Making a bird feeder is a great way to teach children about nature and caring for animals. You can use a variety of materials to make a bird feeder, such as pine cones, peanut butter, and birdseed. Children can decorate the bird feeder with paint, glitter, or other materials.

This activity can help children learn about birds, their habitats, and the importance of caring for the environment.

Holiday Printables

Printables are a great way to engage children in learning activities without requiring a lot of materials. You can find a variety of free printables, such as coloring pages, craft templates, and other fun educational holiday ideas. Children can work on these activities independently or in groups.

Easy Holiday Crafts to Make at School

Christmas Tree Corner Bookmarks from redtedart.com: This quick and easy Christmas party game is sure to be a hit with the kids. It’ll be a hit with you because it’s so easy to make! In about 30 minutes or less (excluding paint drying time), you can have a cute reindeer board that’s ready for your little partiers and their misguided noses.

Christmas Art with Pointillism from coffeeandcarpool.com: Use this festive craft to teach kids the pointillism art technique. Making art with tiny dots is a fun challenge, and you can start at even young ages with preschoolers and up. This Christmas tree is a simple one to try and is sure to be a fun craft for the kids.

Handprint Reindeer Ornament from buggyandbuddy.com: Help the kids make a cute keepsake for their parents. These handprint reindeer are super adorable and will be treasured year after year.

Pin the Nose on the Reindeer from redtedart.com: The holiday break is the perfect time to catch up on some reading, so before it begins, make some adorable Christmas tree bookmarks. Kids can add the cute little Kawaii face or not; it’s a lovely bookmark either way.

Christmas Tree Paper Bag Puppet from simpleeverydaymom.com: These Christmas tree puppets would make a fun addition to morning songs like “O Christmas Tree” or the “Five Little Christmas Trees” song, with the kids taking turns holding up their tree puppets.

Christmas Tree Popsicle Stick Craft from acultivatednest.com: These popsicle stick trees will look great in the classroom, and kids will love taking them home to show off to their parents. They take hardly any time to make, so it’s great for little ones who get a little wiggly after a few minutes.

School Holiday Craft Ideas for Kids

Block Ornaments from teachingideas.ca: With a bit of paint and creativity, you can turn ordinary blocks into Santa, a reindeer, a snowman, or a Christmas tree. Which one is your favorite?

Santa Claus Hat Craft from homespunhydrangea.com: For a super simple craft you can make in minutes, look no further than this Santa hat made of popsicle sticks and cotton balls. Aside from drying time, you can make it in 10 minutes or less with just about any age group. If you don’t want to paint, buy colored craft sticks instead.

Christmas Tree Toss from redtedart.com: Get those wiggles out with a game of bauble toss! Build a Christmas tree toss game out of a large cardboard box, provide soft Christmas baubles to toss into the holes (like cornhole), and you’re all set. Kids of all ages will love this game.

Popsicle Stick Grinch Craft from simpleeverydaymom.com: He may be a mean one, but he looks pretty cute when he’s made out of popsicle sticks! This Grinch craft would make a great magnet for the fridge. Just add magnetic tape to the back when the paint is dry!

Reindeer Handprint Craft from kidsactivitiesblog.com: If you’re looking for an adorable craft for toddlers or preschoolers, this reindeer with handprint antlers is an excellent choice.

Christmas Crafts for Kids

Christmas Tree Sponge Painting from buggyandbuddy.com: Cut simple shapes from sponges to stamp out creative Christmas trees. Triangles, squares, or circles all work, each one giving you a uniquely different tree. Decorate with circle stickers, tissue paper, or pom poms when you’re done. Which one do you like best? The tree made of squares is ours!

Christmas Tree Fingerprint Lights Craft from ourkidthings.com: Make a keepsake of those tiny little fingers that leave fingerprints everywhere with a fingerprint tree parents can keep forever. Print the template on colored cardstock or print it on white and let the kids color their pieces instead. If you’re prepping this for preschoolers or kindergarteners, you may want to draw the lines that will connect the lights.

Popsicle Stick Reindeer from artsycraftsymom.com: Your reindeer stories will be more fun with these charming little reindeer puppets. Made with basic supplies, this one is easy enough for your preschoolers or kindergarteners to try.

Printable 3D Christmas Craft from projectswithkids.com: Print, color, cut, and assemble this gorgeous 3D Christmas tree! It’ll make a great holiday craft for those in upper elementary grades and will look fantastic in the classroom until they’re taken home.

Creative Christmas Projects for Kids

Gingerbread House Paper Craft from nontoygifts.com: This cut and glue craft is easy as pie but is a super cute way to decorate the classroom windows for the holiday season. It comes with two template versions: one for the home and one for the classroom, which allows you to print all the pieces on colored paper to make this craft a little easier.

Paper Bag Grinch Puppet from ourkidthings.com: Make Grinch puppets to re-enact scenes from the classic Seussian tale. The kids will have so much fun playing with their puppets at school and home.

Christmas Candle Craft from nontoygifts.com: This smiling Christmas candle is darling. Candles are very popular for the holidays but don’t pop up in crafts very often. This would be an excellent opportunity to talk to kids about fire safety, too.

Popsicle Stick Gingerbread Man from artsycraftsymom.com: These gingerbread man puppets are too cute to resist. This one is super simple, requiring only a jumbo craft stick, construction paper, googly eyes, and a couple of other materials. You can put them together quickly and have fun with the gingerbread man nursery rhyme.

Christmas Craft Ideas

Paper Straw Wreath Ornaments from projectswithkids.com: Paper straws are a handy addition to any craft closet. Use them to make cute necklaces, bracelets, or, in this case, wreaths. Decorative paper straws are perfect for this kind of project.

Printable Christmas Bookmarks from artsyfartsymama.com: Here’s another bookmark option to encourage kids to read during Christmas break. This one is as simple as print, cut, and color.

Cupcake Liner Christmas Tree Ornament from abcsofliteracy.com: Turn cupcake liners into a lovely layered Christmas tree ornament. All kids have to do is fold and glue, so it’s easy peasy.

Popsicle Stick Snowman from artsycraftsymom.com: This is the cutest popsicle stick snowman ever. Doesn’t his striped pipe cleaner scarf look like it’s blowing in the wind?

Woven Christmas Tree from buggyandbuddy.com: Introduce kids to paper weaving with a simple Christmas tree craft. The contrasting greens make the tree pop, so it’s excellent as is, but kids can use stickers or markers to decorate the trees when they’re done as well.

Holiday crafts are a fun and engaging way to teach children about a variety of skills and concepts. Whether you’re making an advent calendar, Santa crafts, a bird feeder, or Christmas ornaments, there are plenty of ways to incorporate learning activities into your holiday crafting.

We hope these craft ideas have given you some inspiration for your classroom holiday craft projects. Many of these crafts use recycled materials, which is always a bonus because it helps teach kids about sustainability and how their actions can make a difference in the environment.

Some of the items on this list might be things you have lying around at home or can easily find at dollar stores or thrift shops- so there is no need to spend lots of money!

Happy holidays, educators.