As the festive season approaches, children’s anticipation for Santa Claus begins to soar. It’s a magical time filled with twinkling lights, cheerful carols, and endless opportunities for creativity.
Engaging kids in Santa-themed crafts is a delightful way to harness their excitement while nurturing their creativity and fine motor skills. These crafts aren’t just about creating something cute or festive; they are an opportunity to bond with your children and create cherished memories that will last a lifetime.


From simple crafts that even the youngest hands can manage to more intricate projects that challenge older children, Santa crafts for kids offer a wide variety of options.
Whether it’s making Santa hats, designing ornaments, or crafting personalized Christmas cards, these activities allow children to explore different textures, colors, and techniques. Crafting encourages kids to think outside the box, experiment with different materials, and express themselves uniquely and joyfully.
Beyond the fun and excitement, these Santa crafts can be a great educational tool. They offer a chance to introduce kids to holiday traditions from around the world and teach them about the spirit of giving and sharing.
Incorporating storytelling and history into the crafting process can make it even more engaging and meaningful.
1. Emphasize Storytelling: Incorporate storytelling into your crafting sessions. As kids work on their Santa crafts, narrate a story about Santa’s adventures or his journey from the North Pole.
This not only makes crafting more engaging but also stimulates their creativity and imagination.
2. Use a Variety of Materials: Encourage children to use a diverse range of materials such as fabric, paper, felt, and natural elements. This helps develop their tactile skills and introduces them to different textures and techniques, enhancing the sensory experience of crafting.
3. Incorporate Educational Elements: Turn crafting into a learning opportunity by integrating educational elements. Discuss shapes, colors, and even some basic math concepts like counting the number of Santa hats.
This makes the activity both fun and educational.
Santa Crafts for Kids
17. Paper Plate Santa Claus

This craft project transforms a simple paper plate into a festive Santa Claus with a curly paper beard. Children paint, cut, curl, and glue strips of paper to create the beard, adding details like a red hat, nose, and eyes for a cheerful holiday decoration.
The activity encourages fine motor skills through painting and paper curling, making it suitable for young kids at home or in school settings. With minimal materials required, it offers an engaging way to celebrate the Christmas season while fostering creativity and hand coordination.
16. Festive Santa Handprint Craft

This festive Santa handprint craft offers a fun, hands-on activity for kids using simple materials like paper, glue, and scissors. Children create a charming Santa Claus figure by assembling cutouts and adding handprint shapes to form his iconic beard and mittens, making it an engaging holiday keepsake.
The craft encourages creativity and fine motor skills while providing a personalized Christmas decoration or gift option. It requires minimal supplies and no paint, making it accessible for young crafters with adult supervision.
15. Santa’s Beard Christmas Scissor Skills Activity

This activity offers children a fun way to practice and improve their scissor skills by cutting along various dotted lines shaped like Santa’s beard. It includes eight different beard patterns with varying complexity, allowing kids to progress as they gain confidence and control.
The worksheets come in multiple skin tones and black-and-white versions that can be colored in before cutting. Blank Santa heads are also provided for children to create their own beard designs, encouraging creativity alongside fine motor development.
14. Santa Card

This Santa craft allows kids to create a festive, handmade Christmas card featuring a cheerful Santa Claus. Using simple materials like cotton balls, googly eyes, and red glitter paper, children can assemble and decorate a fluffy Santa face that doubles as a holiday greeting card.
The project includes a printable template to make cutting and assembling easier, making it accessible even for those with limited crafting experience. Kids can personalize their cards by painting Santa’s face and adding a holiday message inside, creating a fun and creative holiday keepsake.
13. Popsicle Stick Santas

These popsicle stick Santas transform simple craft materials into charming Christmas ornaments. Using paint, pom poms, cotton balls, and ribbon, each stick becomes a unique Santa figure with a painted hat, belt, and beard.
The finished Santas can be hung on a tree or used as festive decorations around the home. This project offers a fun, hands-on activity that encourages creativity and results in adorable holiday keepsakes.
12. Painted Stones

Smooth beach stones are transformed into charming Santa figures using simple acrylic paint techniques. The design involves layering colors for the hat, face, and beard, then adding small details like eyes and a pom-pom with a paintbrush handle.
Once painted and varnished, these Santa stones can be used in a variety of festive ways. They make unique decorations, game pieces for holiday scavenger hunts, or thoughtful additions to gifts and place settings.
11. Paper Plate Santa Hats

This craft involves transforming simple paper plates into festive Santa hats using red paint, cotton balls, and glue. Once painted and cut, the plates are shaped into cones, decorated with cotton ball trim, and topped with a fluffy cotton ball to complete the look.
The finished hats can be worn as fun party accessories, making them ideal for classroom celebrations or holiday gatherings. Adding a string through punched holes allows the hats to stay securely on little heads, and variations like green hats can create elf-themed fun.
10. Popsicle Stick Santa

This craft activity invites children to create a festive Santa Claus using popsicle sticks, paint, and simple craft supplies. It includes a free printable template that helps guide the assembly of Santa’s face, hat, and belt, making the process easy and enjoyable for young crafters.
The project encourages fine motor skills and creativity while providing a fun way to celebrate the holiday season. Finished Santas can be used as decorations or ornaments, adding a personal touch to Christmas festivities.
9. Santa Toilet Paper Roll

This craft transforms an empty toilet paper roll into a festive Santa Claus figure using simple materials like paint, foam paper, felt, and googly eyes. The process involves painting the roll red, creating Santa’s face and hat from cut-out shapes, and assembling the pieces with glue to bring the jolly character to life.
The finished Santa makes a charming holiday decoration that kids can proudly display or even hang as an ornament with a simple addition. It encourages recycling and creativity, making it a fun, budget-friendly activity suitable for children of various ages.
8. Santa’s Binoculars

This craft lets kids create festive binoculars using simple household materials like empty toilet paper rolls, felt, and scrapbook paper. The finished binoculars are decorated with faux fur and ribbon, making them a charming holiday accessory for imaginative play.
Once assembled, children can use the binoculars to “spy” for Santa and his reindeer, adding excitement to Christmas traditions. The project encourages creativity and hands-on fun, making it a perfect activity for holiday gatherings or quiet afternoons.
7. Christmas Card

This Santa Card craft lets kids create a festive holiday greeting using simple materials like cardstock, pom-poms, and googly eyes. The card features a foldable Santa beard and a floppy hat, making it a charming and interactive design to personalize with a holiday message inside.
The project is easy to assemble with a printable template, scissors, and glue, making it suitable for home, classroom, or party activities. It encourages creativity and fine motor skills while providing a fun way to share holiday cheer with friends and family.
6. Stuck in the Chimney

This craft lets children create a festive scene of Santa stuck in a chimney using simple cut-and-glue techniques. The template includes large parts designed for small hands, making it ideal for preschoolers and kindergartners to assemble with ease.
By working on this project, kids can develop fine motor skills while engaging in a fun holiday activity. The finished craft captures a playful moment that adds to the excitement of Christmas and encourages imaginative play.
5. Santa Suit Popsicle Stick Craft

This craft involves creating a festive Santa suit ornament using simple materials like popsicle sticks, paint, yarn, and glitter foam sheets. The popsicle sticks are glued together and painted red, then wrapped with yarn to form the base of the suit.
Decorative pieces such as a white strip for the suit’s trim, a black belt, and a yellow buckle are cut from glitter foam and glued onto the painted sticks.
Black foam buttons are added for detail, and a ribbon loop is attached to hang the ornament, making it a fun and easy holiday decoration.
4. Paper Cup Santas

This craft transforms simple red paper cups into festive Santa Claus figures using cardstock, pom-poms, and wiggly eyes. It offers a hands-on activity that encourages creativity while producing charming holiday decorations suitable for home or school.
The finished Santa can also be turned into a tree ornament by adding a pipe cleaner loop, making it a versatile craft for the season. Kids can personalize their creations by adding names or dates, adding a special touch to their holiday celebrations.
3. Santa Paper Craft

This craft creates a playful wiggly Santa figure using paper, cardstock, and simple embellishments like cotton balls and buttons. The arms and legs are accordion-folded strips that move when touched, adding a fun interactive element to the decoration.
The finished Santa makes a charming holiday project for kids, perfect for classroom activities or Christmas parties. It can also be displayed on bulletin boards or given as personalized gifts featuring each family member’s photo.
2. Fun Pop Up Santas

This Pop Up Santa craft allows kids to create a playful, springy Santa figure using a printable template and simple materials like cardstock, glue, and scissors.
The finished Santa sits on a table with outstretched arms and bounces back up when pushed down, providing interactive fun during the holiday season.
The craft includes options for coloring and customizing Santa’s face with different skin tones or a blank version for personal creativity. Building the pop-up mechanism involves folding and gluing paper springs, making it an engaging hands-on activity that combines crafting with a bit of engineering.
1. Santa Slime

How can I incorporate educational elements into Santa crafts?
Incorporate educational elements by using crafts to teach shapes, colors, and counting. For example, when creating a Santa beard from cotton balls, have children count the number of cotton balls used.
Additionally, you can discuss the colors and shapes used in Santa’s outfit to enhance learning.
What materials are safe for kids to use in Santa crafts?
Choose non-toxic materials such as child-friendly glue, washable markers, and paints. For younger children, avoid small parts that could be a choking hazard. Use materials like felt, construction paper, and pom-poms that are safe and easy to manipulate for crafting.
How can I make Santa crafts eco-friendly?
To make Santa crafts eco-friendly, use recycled materials such as old magazines, cardboard, and fabric scraps. Encourage kids to upcycle items like paper rolls or bottle caps to create Santa figures.
This not only fosters creativity but also teaches children about sustainability and environmental responsibility.
What are some tips for keeping kids engaged during Santa craft activities?
Keep kids engaged by incorporating storytelling into the crafting process. Share fun facts about Santa Claus or tell a holiday story while crafting. You can also play holiday music or set up a craft station with various materials to encourage creativity and experimentation.