Twenty-five Christmas crafts for children aged two to twelve using what you have at home or in the forest: pine cones, toilet rolls, salt dough, paper and cotton wool. Sorted by age and by what they are for: tree decorations, Christmas cards, presents, windows and an Advent calendar.
December is the loveliest month for crafts. It is dark by three, there is a deadline everyone understands, and everything you make gets to hang on display for four weeks. Here are the crafts our nannies do with the families every December, the ones that actually get made and that the children want to keep for next year.
What to have at home in November
Most Christmas crafts can be done with a box you pack once. Put it on a shelf the children can reach, and the crafting can start without anyone hunting for the glue.
- Paper in red, white, green and brown, ideally some card too
- Cotton wool, pipe cleaners and pompoms
- Glue, glue stick, tape and some string
- A bag of pine cones, sticks and conkers from autumn walks
- Salt dough, mixed on the day
- Gold paint, a felt tip and a little glitter
- Gingerbread cutters, old newspapers for the table and an apron
2 to 4 years: feel, stick, hang up
- Handprint tomte. Hand in red paint, press, cotton wool as a beard on the fingers. Eyes with a felt tip.
- Salt dough stars. Roll out, cut with a gingerbread cutter, make a hole for string, dry in the oven. Paint gold the next day.
- Torn-paper garland. Tear red and green paper into strips, glue into rings, link together. The tearing is the craft.
- Cotton wool snowman. Three circles of cotton wool glued onto blue paper, a carrot of orange paper.
- Pine cone tomtar. A pine cone, a felt ball or pompom for a head, a piece of red paper for a hat. Your child glues, you hold.
- Window stars. Cut stars out of white paper, your child sticks on tissue paper, tape to the window so the light shines through.
5 to 7 years: cut, fold, decorate
- Seven-pointed paper stars. Fold, cut, unfold. Hangs in the window for four weeks.
- Toilet roll tomtar. Paint the roll red, white beard of cotton wool, hat of paper. One for each member of the family.
- Gingerbread house made of biscuits. Square biscuits, royal icing of icing sugar and egg white as glue, sweets on the roof. Eaten on Christmas Eve.
- Stamped Christmas cards. A potato cut into a tree or star, printed in green and gold. Your child writes their name inside.
- Cotton bud snowflakes. Six buds in a star, glue, glitter on top. Hang on a thread.
- Pipe cleaner Christmas tree. Green pipe cleaners wound round a paper cone, pompoms for baubles.
- Advent calendar of socks. Twenty-four small socks or bags on a string, a note with a little task in each: a hug, a Christmas craft, a book.
- Orange with cloves. Press cloves into an orange in a pattern. Scents the whole room and takes half an hour.
8 to 12 years: crafts that get used
- Embroidered Christmas cards. Draw a star on card, prick holes along the line, sew with gold thread.
- 3D paper star. Five points folded separately and glued together. Takes an hour, turns out really lovely.
- Tin can lantern with a pattern. Fill a tin with water and freeze, punch a pattern of holes with a nail, tea light inside. With an adult.
- Salt dough tree decorations with names. One figure per guest at the Christmas table, with the name carved in. Doubles as place cards.
- Popcorn and cranberry garland. Thread onto string with a needle. Hang in the tree, give to the birds in January.
- Homemade wrapping paper. Big brown paper, stamps, white dots with a cotton bud. The parcels look better than shop-bought.
- Christmas wreath of sticks. Sticks from the forest tied in a circle with wire, decorated with pine cones and a ribbon.
- Advent candle holder of glass jars. Four jars, sand in the bottom, a candle in each, string and a number on each one.
- Santa's workshop. The children make small presents for siblings and parents out of things they already have: a drawing, a stone, a salt dough figure. Wrapped in their own paper.
- A real gingerbread house. Ready-made dough, a paper template, royal icing. A whole afternoon, adult at the oven.
- Jar snow globe. A small figure glued inside the lid, water and glitter in the jar, screw on, turn over.
Two basic recipes that keep coming back
Salt dough
Two parts plain flour, one part salt, one part water. Mix, knead for five minutes until the dough is smooth, and let it rest for a while under a tea towel. Roll out to half a centimetre, cut out shapes, make holes for string with a straw. Dry in the oven at 75 degrees for two to three hours with the door ajar, or on a radiator for a few days. Paint with ordinary craft paint the next day. Figures meant to last until next year get a coat of clear varnish.
Royal icing
For gingerbread houses and biscuit houses: icing sugar stirred with one egg white until it becomes a thick, white mass that holds its shape when you lift the spoon. If you would rather avoid raw egg, icing sugar with a few drops of water or lemon works fine, it is a little less strong but enough for a biscuit house. Put it in a small plastic bag with one corner snipped off, and even a five-year-old can pipe.
Siblings of different ages at the same table
| Craft | The little one does | The big one does |
|---|---|---|
| Torn-paper garland | Tears the paper into strips | Glues the rings and hangs it up |
| Salt dough decorations | Cuts out the shapes | Makes the holes, paints and ties the strings |
| Pine cone tomtar | Chooses the cones and glues on the head | Cuts the hats and draws the faces |
| Biscuit gingerbread house | Puts the sweets on the roof | Builds the walls and pipes the icing |
| Christmas cards | Stamps with the potato | Writes the greeting and addresses them |
The December schedule
| Weekend | Make | Then |
|---|---|---|
| First Sunday of Advent | Advent calendar, Advent candle holder | Make the things that need to last the whole month |
| Second Sunday of Advent | Tree decorations: salt dough, stars, garlands | Hang in the window until the tree arrives |
| Third Sunday of Advent | Christmas cards, wrapping paper | Post the cards in time |
| Fourth Sunday of Advent | Gingerbread house, presents for the family | Eaten and opened on Christmas Eve |
When it does not turn out like the picture
It never does. The tomte gets three eyes, the star cracks in the oven and the biscuit house collapses before the sweets are on. That is not a failed craft, it is a child who made something themselves. Do not fix it afterwards while your child is asleep, children notice and stop crafting. Hang it up as it is, and keep it. The lopsided salt dough tomte from when your child was three is the decoration that comes out first when your child is twelve.
How we do it with our families
December is the month when the nannies craft the most. It is dark when preschool ends and there is always something to finish for the weekend. Esther has a family in Järfälla with a three-year-old and a seven-year-old, Tuesdays three to six. On the first Tuesday in December they made salt dough stars at the kitchen table: the three-year-old cut them out, the seven-year-old made the holes. The stars dried on the radiator until the next Tuesday, when they were painted gold. On the third Tuesday the strings were tied and they were hung in the window, just in time for the tree. Having the same nanny every week means a craft can take three Tuesdays, and that the Advent calendar she made with the children is filled by her all month long.
Would you like a nanny who comes on the same days every week and whom your children know? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home, and we will work out a plan around your hours.
Read more: Crafts for kids · Bedtime stories for kids · Things to do with kids in Stockholm · FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Which Christmas crafts suit preschoolers?
Salt dough figures, paper garlands of torn strips, handprint tomtar, cotton wool snowmen and gingerbread houses made of biscuits. Anything that can be done without scissors and with glue on the fingers. Count on fifteen minutes of focus, then your child wants to play with the result, and that is part of the craft too. Put aside what did not get finished and complete it the next day.
What do you need for Christmas crafts?
Red, white and green paper, cotton wool, pipe cleaners, pine cones and sticks from a walk, salt dough, glue and string. Gold paint and glitter are the only things that might be worth buying. Keep a box with everything together so the crafting can start within five minutes one afternoon, instead of half an hour going on hunting for the glue.
How do you make salt dough?
Two parts flour, one part salt, one part water. Knead, shape, make a hole for string, dry in the oven at 75 degrees for two or three hours, or leave the figures on a radiator for a few days. Paint the next day when they are completely dry, and varnish with ordinary clear varnish if they are to last until next Christmas. The dough keeps in the fridge for a week in a sealed container.
How long before Christmas should you start crafting?
The first Sunday of Advent. That gives four weekends for decorations, cards and presents, and the crafts get to hang for four weeks before they come down. Start in mid-December and it gets stressful, start in November and the children are tired of tomtar before lucia (13 December). The Advent schedule in the guide gives one thing per weekend, and that is enough.
What do you do when siblings are different ages?
Choose crafts where the same materials give different jobs: the two-year-old tears paper for the garland the seven-year-old glues, the three-year-old cuts out salt dough stars the nine-year-old paints. Give the eldest responsibility for a step of their own, or she will take over the little one's. And expect the youngest to be done after fifteen minutes, have something else ready for her.