Elmers

Recycle, save money, and have fun with your kids during the holidays with these awesome activities. Read on about cool & cost-effective kid’s Xmas crafts with Elmer’s liquid glue. By Laurel Pretorius.

The best bit about making Christmas crafts with your kids during the holiday season is you get to recycle, repurpose and reuse instead of blowing precious budget on store-bought festive accessories. Not only are we making and creating things to do but your kids are also working on developing basic developmental learning skills.

The below festive arts and Xmas craft activities will teach your child about:

• Developing fine motor skills
• Learning patience
• Focus and concentration
• Planning and foresight
• Creativity and imagination
• Counting and patterns

Also read The power of creative play

4 festive crafts– fun, easy to do with your kids and that use recyclable materials:

Advent calendar

A craft for the parents (to surprise your kids)

The problem with store-bought advent calendars is they can be quite costly, especially if you have more than one child. Making the calendars and filling them with meaningful surprises that light up little faces is so much more rewarding.

What you need

Makes 1 advent calendar

• 24 matchboxes (or small equally sized boxes or containers that small fingers can easily open like a drawer)
• Festive coloured poster paints
• Glitter
• Elmers Liquid Glue
• 24 strips of blank paper
• A mix of Smarties, Astros and Jellytots

Instructions

• Paint and sprinkle with glitter all 24 matchboxes (this may get messy so lay down sheets of newspaper to work on).
• While waiting for the boxes to dry, write a happy thought (positive affirmation) on each of the 24 strips of paper. Once the boxes are fully dry, fold to fit an affirmation inside each matchbox.
• Arrange the matchboxes and glue one on top of another to form a 4 x 6 grid.
• Clearly number the front “drawer” of each matchbox from 1 to 24.
• Once the glue has dried, fill each matchbox with a mix of Smarties, Astros and Jellytots.
  

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Gift tags

A craft for the whole family

The great thing about creating your own gift tags is you can personalise them for each family member. Watch how grandparents treasure their tags because they were made by precious grandies.

What you need

• Recycled cardboard – use old project boards, the backs of exam pads, and inner-tubes from wrapping paper.
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Elmer’s Liquid Glue
• Ribbon or twine
• Black marker
• Coloured kokis and/or pencil crayons
• Glitter

Instructions

• Cut the cardboard into your desired tag shapes/sizes (square is always easiest).
• Use your black marker to draw Christmas icons onto each tag, for example a star, snowflake, snowman, Christmas tree, Christmas angel, Christmas bauble, mistletoe, etc.
• Get your little kids to colour in the icons while older kids can help draw and colour.
• Dab Pritt glue on specific areas of the drawings where you want to add some festive sparkle, such as the snowman’s bowtie or the angel’s wings, for example, and sprinkle glitter where you have applied the glue.
• Punch a hole at the top of each tag.
• Thread a ribbon or twine through the hole.
• Write personal messages on the back of each tag before attaching to the gifts.

Wrapping paper

A craft for the toddlers, tweens and teens

When your kids make the wrapping paper it’s not only money saving and eco-friendly but it’s also a more meaningful way to wrap gifts for family and friends.

What you need

• Left over brown paper which was used to cover schoolbooks or old newspapers (try use newspaper with a lot of text rather than images, like the classified pages).
• Stencils – cut star and heart shapes out of stiff cardboard (always effective as a festive design plus easy to draw and cut)
• Poster paints in vibrant colours
• Brushes or sponges (use old sponges)

Instructions

• Roll out the paper on a flat surface.
• Place the stencil onto the paper and paint over it. Keep doing this to create a repeat festive design.
• Let paint dry.
• Have fun wrapping your gifts.

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Christmas crackers

A craft for the toddlers, tweens and teens

A fun activity for little kids (with your hands-on guidance) and big kids (great fun for tweens and teens to do on their own). The best part is deciding what small surprise goes inside each cracker and it could potentially be anything from a compliment or happy fortune, a lovely quote or poem, a wisecracking joke or homemade trinket (beaded bracelets are a treat), a small treasure found in a thrift store or something as simple as a few sweets.

What you need

• Toilet paper rolls
• Homemade wrapping paper (see above)
• Ribbons
• Enough small surprises to give one per cracker
• Cracker snaps (available at most craft stores)
• Elmers Liquid Glue

Instructions

• Cut the wrapping paper into rectangles, ensuring they are large enough to wrap around the toilet paper rolls and have enough over-hang on either side.
• Place a cracker snap in the centre of the paper and put a toilet paper roll on top of it.
• Fill the roll with a little surprise.
• Roll the paper around the toilet paper roll, securing it with glue.
• Twist each end of the cracker and tie it with a ribbon.

Read Art holiday activities

Visit www.elmers.co.za for more ideas. 

Have you done Xmas crafts with Elmer’s liquid glue? Tell us in comments.