Easy Christmas Crafts for 3 Yo

Thanks for posting this! I was going to ask the same question and there are so many great ideas here!!

Good luck and happy crafting!

:)
M.

You can buy plastic clear ornaments at Michael's. Just fill them up with paint or get little beads, glitter or anything you can put in them. I bought some for my kids and they loved making them. My kids are 6.5 & 3.

How about a pine cone bird feeder or another bird feeder crafts.

How about a framed picture of himself- he can create a frame using a foam or cardboard rectangle larger than the photo, glue the picture in the middle, and he can decorate the border with glitter, stickers, etc. He can also make snowmen using styrofoam balls of different sizes, toothpicks to hold them together, and paint or pieces of things for the face, etc.

you could buy some felt at the craft store and cut them into christmas shapes (mittens, bells, trees, whatever) and he could glue on rhinestones or paint on it or something. Hot glue on some ribbon and viola, instant homemade ornament.

My son is 3 years old as well and we also wanted to do lots of homemade presents.

I bought white mugs from the Xmas tree store and my son painted them with acrylic paints for each of his aunts and grandparents. They are very funky and cool and I am going to ask him to paint me one as well.

We also made flour/salt dough and made Xmas ornaments for family and friends. We rolled the dough out and used Xmas cookie cutters to make the shapes, baked them, and then painted them with acrylics and decorated them with lots of glitter. We used a straw to make holes at the top of each one for a ribbon. You could create lots of other things with this mixture that is non-Santa related for people. I also sprayed the ornaments with an acrylic glossy spray when he was done.

SALT DOUGH RECIPE:
2 cups of Plain Flour
1 cup of table salt
1 cup of water

OPTIONAL
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (makes it a little easier to knead)
1 tablespoon of wallpaper paste (gives the mixture more elasticity)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (makes the finished product harder)

Peace.

You can buy cups and plates at the dollar store and then special paint at the craft store, he can put his hand print on the cup, mug, plate... and write his name. Then you just coat it with something... they can give you that info at the craft store, i dont know it off hand. ive received those special cups and plates and I love them. make sure you put the childs name and year of the print on the bottom of the cup or plate.

My 2.5 son made placemats for his grandparents. I had him draw on both sides of the paper. I rounded the edges of the paper and used contact paper to laminate. I wrote the month and year on his art work prior to laminating :) My parents LOVED it! It is a daily reminder of their grandson. Another idea, is to purchase small canvas' at Michaels and have him paint the canvas. I then put his hand and foot prints on the canvas -- he gave that to my husband for his 50th birthday and it now hangs in his office. Hope these help!!

My daughter came home from school the other day with a craft that made me LOL. Take a paper doily and fold it in half and then in half again (so it's a wedge shape, ruffly on the bottom). Then give him a photo of himself (face shot) and have him cut out the shape of his head. Glue the photo at the top point of the doily. Then glue a wooden clothes pin to the back of the doily. Take a length of metallic pipe cleaner, secure it through the hinge of the clothes pin, then run it up the back of the doily and make a circle around the head (it will look like a "halo"). Voila! Your son, the little angel. Like I said, when my daughter brought that home, I couldn't help but laugh. What a cute craft, and easy enough for a preschooler to do.

Target was carrying a lot of cute craft kits for about $5 each. I bought my 2-1/2 year old a sand art one, where you pour the colored sand into the bottles. I think it comes with 3 bottles, so that's three gifts he can make. It has nothing to do with the holidays but would make a nice gift for someone.
There are also those hand print kits where you mix up some plaster and he can press his hand into it. That would be a nice gift too and fun. He can paint it once it dries.
Have fun!

Bead bracelets or necklaces. Get the big beads though, not the ones with small holes. What I do, is cut the string or elastic, tape one end to the table then let my kids put beads on. (My 3 year old just made one, so I know 3 year olds can do it.)

Painting picture frames, is another fun and easy thing to do,

We have taken my son to a paint-your-own pottery store a few times- he loves it! He has did magnets for the fridge last year, and tree ornaments this year. We have also done little plates with his handprints on them. The stores are really great at coming up with cute, inexpensive ideas, and the little ones have so much fun painting!!

How about letting him help you bake some cookies and decorate them?
Little kids love doing that.
Sugar cookies are super easy and you can give him sprinkles or tubed icing to make designs.
All you need is a platter from the dollar store and some colored Reynold's wrap with a ribbon.
Kids love any little thing that kids make and it sounds like you've done cards and pictures.
He might like making gingerbread boys. Those are always cute and tasty.
Things kids make give them such pride.

I hope you get some great ideas.

Last year we found a few recipes - for soup, and spices for a chicken dish (when using, you add the chicken and veg), you could even do the dry ingredients for your favorite cookie recipe - which required some measuring/pouring into a mason jar. We added the ingredients in layers, and then covered the top of the mason jar with some holiday fabric and ribbon, along with a card describing how to prepare the food. My kids really enjoyed the measuring/pouring, and with supervision it is a 3yr old activity.

Do you live in an area that has pinecones? Along with the pinecone bird feeder idea (pinecone smeared with softened suet and rolled in birdseed), you could also have him dress up some cones with glitter glue* to use as ornaments, tie a ribbon on top for hanging, voila!

You can also make bird feeders with juiced orange halves; fill with a mix of suet and seeds and poke holes on each side of the orange to attach a pipecleaner/chenille stem for hanging on a tree branch near a window.

What about sachets? Using a saucer, cut a circle from a piece of fabric. Place a heaping spoonful of cloves in the middle, gather into a little pouch and use a rubber band to close tightly. Then, wrap top with a decorative ribbon (rick-rack or something pretty), add a cinnamon stick and tie tightly closed. Smells great. If you don't want to use cloves or cinnamon, consider buying dried lavender flowers or rose petals from your favorite health food store's bulk section. Mmmmm...

If you live near a craft store, they often have little 'birdhouse' type ornaments made of craft paper. Kids love painting these and adding a little glitter; if you don't want the mess of glitter, buy some glitter glue and mix it (liberally) with a small amount of paint, so the glitter shines through, or let him glue some sequins onto it when the paint has dried.

Also at the craft store, you can pick up some modeling clay and taper candles, as well as some large star beads or some 'gem' glass stones. Form a ball of modeling clay big enough to safely keep a taper candle stable/upright. Press taper into center of clay, then let your son press beads, 'gems' or buttons into the clay to decorate. Let clay dry and harden.

You can also get some Mod-Podge decoupage compound and some flat brushes, some different colors of tissue paper--cut or torn, some small glass jars with tea lights or some tall glass votives. Spread a layer of mod-podge onto the glass, stick on the tissue paper, and cover with another layer if you choose. I've done this project with older kids and they added snowflakes they had cut out to the decorations.

Does he have friends who would like beaded necklaces? Most craft stores sell the larger beads that are perfect for 3 year old fingers, and don't require needles. He can either use yarn with masking tape on one end to keep it from fraying/make poking it through easier, or you can purchase some leather cord, which is also easy to work with.

I hope this gives you some ideas. All of these are things I have done/do now with my preschool group, so they are within his range of ability.Have fun!

H.
*if you decide to buy glitter glue, get the Elmer's brand instead of the Crayola. I've found they usually are easier for the children to use, the caps don't unscrew and make a big mess like the Crayola ones, and the kids can get more of the product out. Oh, and they're usually less expensive. *However* the '3-D' effect they advertise doesn't quite hold up on any glue pen...the glue always flattens out. Just FYI.

When my kids were about that age I bought plain white notecards with envelopes and had them draw pictures on the front. Then I wrapped them up with the envelopes and people could actually send them to others. (Is that what you already meant when you said he'd drawn a bunch of cards?) Anyway, it was cute - and people used them!

Make a reindeer out of his hands and one foot. We traced our son's on foam, but you could trace it on paper. A messier option would be to paint his hands and feet then place them on the paper.

Then we put the foot face the direction of the toes pointing down. Added the hands on the top for antlers. Then we took other pieces of foam to make the eyes, nose, and mouth.

He had a great time doing this last year at 2 1/2. This is one you could do every year and see how much he has grown over the year.

Have fun. That is so great that he wants to make presents for everyone. Great job on teaching him the importance of giving, and it's not all about getting.

Make sugar cookies and let the kids help you. They can help measure flour and sugar (etc), help stir, use cookie cutters, sprinkle sugar on top, frost them once cooked and cooled......it's an activity AND cookies at the same time! You can also make Rice Krispies Treats, with measuring help of course!

There are LOTS of crafts here: http://bit.ly/gPNsR4 I love the handprint art - tree, wreath, and reindeer are all too cute!! Scroll down for more coloring pages, cards, books, worksheets, activity pages, and MORE!!

Check out http://familyfun.go.com/ for crafts, recipes, activities, printables and more.