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Christmas Paper Crafts For Kids
These easy Christmas paper crafts for kids will give your child lots of practice with fine motor, scissor cutting and coordination skills to make some attractive Christmas crafts!
For each Christmas paper craft idea, I have outlined the basic concept, and then explained how it can help build your child's fine motor, coordination and/or planning skills.
Best of all, these ideas are simple enough that kids who usually struggle with arts and crafts, should be able to come up with a lovely end product.
Make A Collage Background For Any Christmas Picture
supplies needed
Collage backgroundHave your child tear or snip paper strips into small pieces and then use the pieces to collage the background of a regular Christmas-themed coloring picture.
For the picture above, we used jumbo popsicle sticks (craft sticks)#Ad to create an outline of a stable, and then pasted our snipped paper all around the picture. Looks stunning, and is really encouraging for kids who struggle with coloring or making neat pictures.
Strips of Paper
Tearing Paper
Snipping PaperWhy is this a good activity?
- tearing paper with the tripod fingers helps your child to isolate the use of the fingers that are needed for pencil control. Show your child how to position the thumbs together on the paper (as above) to make tearing easy.
- snipping paper can help a young child learn to master the art of opening and closing scissors. If your child struggles with this, try some of my scissor cutting tips and techniques.
- your child is using bilateral coordination when both hands are working together to tear or snip. Eye-hand coordination is used to paste the paper collage
Tip:
- Cut the paper strips ahead of time to make it easier for your child, or have an older sibling cut the strips.
- My Christmas-themed fine motor activity pack contains loads of different pages that can be used for this activity.
Download a free instant preview if you are unsure if this pack is for you!
Tracing Shapes and Outlines
Layered decorations are perfect Christmas paper crafts for kids! We used different sizes of stars and circles to make these cute layered paper crafts. We pasted them onto Christmas cards and used them for gift tags and tree decorations.
Make a simple shape template from a cereal carton or thick card-stock and have your child trace around it onto various papers. Wrapping paper and sheet music can make a pretty addition to regular colored card-stock. You can download a free printable shape template here.
Tracing Around A Star Template
Cutting Out
Piles of Stars
Gift Tags and CardsWhy is this a good activity?
- Tracing around a template or stencil requires your child to use both hands together in a coordinated way - bilateral coordination. One hand is doing most of the work, while the other is assisting. This is an important component of writing skills in the classroom.
- Tracing around a template requires your child's eyes to guide the hand in staying on the outline of the template. This is called visual-motor coordination, which is very important in handwriting.
- Getting all the way around the template will require your child to plan how to move the hands without bumping the template, and may also involve some crossing of the midline.
Tips:
- Use simple shapes (circles and squares) for younger kids
- Thicker templates can be easier to work with
- Regular paper is more forgiving than thin wrapping paper
- Tracing on the back of the patterned paper means the pencil "skid" marks won't show on the finished product
- If you like the idea, but your child struggles with the tracing aspect, then trace the shape yourself and just have your child cut the shapes out.
Christmas Scissor Cutting Crafts
If the stars suggested above are too tricky for your child to cut out, try some of these simpler, scissor cutting Christmas paper crafts for kids!
Straight lines are easiest for kids to start with, then they can progress to simple shapes like circles and triangles. Click on each image below to view the page containing the instructions!
Why is scissor cutting a good activity?
- Cutting out with scissors can strengthen your child's hands.
If your child holds the scissors correctly, then cutting can also help
get the tripod fingers working well together for better pencil control
- Scissor cutting requires that both hands work together in a coordinated way to keep the scissors cutting on the line and around the corners. If your child struggles with this, read my page on bilateral coordination for some info and tips.
- Your child will also be using some visual-motor coordination skills as the eyes guide the hands to stay on the lines.
Tips:
- Thicker lines are easier for kids to stay on than narrow ones
- Use scissors that are the right size for your child's hands, and if your child is a leftie, the scissors should be special left-handed ones.
- Read more of my scissor cutting tips if your child struggles with cutting on a line
Kirigami Christmas Paper Crafts for Kids
Kirigami is the art of folding and cutting paper. We have probably all made zillions of paper snowflakes in our childhood :-)
Check out the Kirigami for Kids webpage for additional Christmas themed Kirigami ideas.
Kirigami snowflakes for ChristmasWhy Is Kirigami a Good Christmas Activity To Build Skills?
- Folding paper accurately requires eye hand coordination, careful planning and following instructions.
- Children also need to use just the right amount of force to create folds and manipulate the paper without tearing.
- Gives additional scissor cutting practice with a lovely end product!
Get These Christmas Paper Craft & Cutting Printables!
A variety of fun, simple paper crafts and cutting activities suitable for kids from preschool to early elementary. Over 17 different paper crafts (over 40 possible templates) with photographed instructions - for just $7!.
View My Printable Christmas Paper Craft Cutting Templates!
Unsure? Then download my instant, free preview to see if this pack is what you need!
Thanks for visiting my page! Please do share with others if you found it helpful!
I truly hope you and your child have fun with these easy Christmas paper crafts for kids!
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