MORGAN HILL
– Christmas is the time for crafts and kids.
During the winter season of colder, shorter days when there’s
little daylight after school hours, youngsters 12 years and under
like to keep busy indoors working on fun projects with holiday
themes. And making these projects can create wonderful memories for
family when parents join in.
MORGAN HILL – Christmas is the time for crafts and kids.
During the winter season of colder, shorter days when there’s little daylight after school hours, youngsters 12 years and under like to keep busy indoors working on fun projects with holiday themes. And making these projects can create wonderful memories for family when parents join in.
There are many simple projects kids can complete at costs starting at a couple of dollars. A visit to supply stores such as Morgan Hill’s Jo-Ann’s Fabrics and Crafts, 225 Tennant Station, will inspire you and your children with many holiday craft projects.
Christmas Ornaments
Dean Klinger, stock manager at Jo-Ann’s, recommends creating ornaments for the family Christmas tree. Clear ornament balls start at 99 cents and go up to $2.
“This projects is cool because the kids can decorate the ornaments any way they want,” he said.
To complete this project, buy the ornament balls, acrylic paints in colors of your choice, and glitter, gel markers or metallic paint pens and narrow ribbon.
For each color of paint, squeeze about one tablespoon of acrylic paint into a paper cup and add two teaspoons of water and mix thoroughly. Carefully, take off the top of the ornament (the little wire loop at the top) and pour the paint mixture into the ball using a small funnel.
Swirl the paint around until the ball is completely coated inside. Then pour the excess paint back into the cup.
You can repeat this using up to three colors and let dry up to six hours.
Using the glitter, markers and paint pens, supervise your children in writing their names, ages, the year and simple picture drawings.
Put the cap back on the ornament, tie a pretty ribbon on it and have your kids hang it up on the tree.
Homemade holiday gift cards
Another popular Christmas craft project is holiday cards that kids can make to send to special friends and relatives. Jo-Ann’s sells the material for this project, which costs about $12 for a package of 50 cards and envelopes, Klinger said.
Kids can let their creativity roam free with this project. They can find holiday rubber or foam stamps they like at a craft store, colored ink pads, craft paint, color marker or crayons, cellophane tape, glue or glue sticks, glitter, stickers and foil paper.
Fold the paper to form a greeting card, and simply stamp or write holiday greetings into the front of the card. Decorate with markers, crayons and stickers. Glue on the foil and glitter. Using child-safe scissors, your child also can cut out stars and other shapes out of colored construction paper and glue it on the cards.
Have your child print his or her name inside with a special message. Either deliver it personally or put a stamp and address on the card and mail the one-of-a-kind holiday card.
Christmas Crackers
British and Irish children – and adults – love the tradition of receiving special Christmas “crackers” to open during the holidays. These aren’t the crumbly crackers you get out of a Cheese-It box. They’re a roll of paper filled with special prizes and goodies. Children can learn about another culture’s holiday tradition as they construct this easy-to-make project.
You’ll need a pen, empty wrapping paper rolls, ruler, pencil, child-safe scissors, red or green crepe paper, clear tape, red or green curling ribbon, holiday stickers, a ruler and little gifts such as wrapped chocolate and candy and small plastic toys you can get at novelty shops.
Cut the wrapping paper roll into tubes about six-inches long and stuff with the sweets or prizes. Using safety scissors and a ruler, have your children cut the crepe paper into nine-inch squares and fold over one side of the crepe paper an inch deep. Starting at the side opposite fold, roll the crepe paper around the tube and tape at the center.
Gather the open ends up and tie with the ribbon. Curl the ribbon with the edge of the safety scissor blade, placing the ribbon between the blade and your thumb and pulling up quickly to get the curl (young children might need help with this). Decorate the Christmas cracker tube with stickers and holiday messages personalized for loved ones.
Place at the holiday table at each place setting or hand out to friends and loved ones when they come for a visit.
Craft Kits
Stores such as Jo-Ann’s also sell a variety of kits that are specifically designed for kids to create crafts. For younger kids starting at age 5, Klinger recommends the classic favorite latch-hook rugs which range from $5 to $18 depending on size. Designs include favorite story-book characters such as Winny-the-Pooh.
“I’ve had little kids do this,” he said. “It’s not a tough project.”
For older children, Klinger recommends embroidery kits. It’s a little more detailed and takes more time to do. Craft stores such as Jo-Anns sell the cloth patterns as well as the embroidery floss. A company called Creativity kits sells products with simple craft projects for about $5. Projects are fun for kids starting around 6 years and include a ballerina “music box,” lucky bamboo wind chimes and a rhinestone and rose barrettes maker. Projects take about 45 minutes to do.
For very young kids starting at age 3, craft stores found that Magic Nuudles, a new product, is popular and costs $3.50 a package. They look like the Styrofoam packaging material but are made with cornstarch and are biodegradable. Kids moisten the multi-colored “nuudles” with a sponge and connect them by pressing them against each other. They’re a great way for very young kids to have fun on rainy winter days as they can let their imagination run wild in creating crafts.
Kids can create interesting sculptures of animals or cars or use them to make unique hats, Klinger said.
That old standby, modeling clay, also is a popular craft for kids. For about $3, kids can get a package of modeling clay of 20 colors with which to create fun sculptures to make as Christmas presents. A $10 push mold is available so kids can make the clay into various objects such as animals, bugs and flowers.
