{25 Homemade Gifts for Preschoolers}

25 Homemade Gifts for Preschoolers

Are you the crafty type? Looking for some ideas for making a DIY gift for your preschooler for Christmas, stockings, a birthday or just because? 

25 Homemade Gifts for Preschoolers:

Very Hungry Caterpillar button threading counting game on Mama Pea Pod

Magnetic peg dolls from Frog, Goose and Bear

Scratch-off tickets from Teach Mama (I made these for all our stockings a couple of years ago and they turned out great!)

No-knit knitted Christmas stockings from Red Ted Art (I'm still trying to find the perfect sweater for this!)

Magical treasure-filled walnuts from Here We Are Together

Cozy car caddy from Homemade by Jill

Freezer paper stencilled t-shirts with your child's favourite picture on it, on Mama Pea Pod

Recycled DIY crayons from Frog, Goose and Bear

Jingle bell ribbon rings from Make and Takes

Personalized I-spy bottles from Lalymom

DIY play kitchen from The Boy and Me

Holiday straw toppers from Fireflies and Mudpies

Easy-sew personalized pillows from Mama Pea Pod

Felt quiet time book from Babes in Deutschland

Fort in a bag from Saltwater-Kids

Superhero cape from Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!

Toddler-friendly sewing basket from Childhood 101

Snowman kit from Make It Do (we got one of these as a gift and it was a huge hit!)

Mermaid Waldorf doll from Taming the Goblin on Mama Pea Pod

Felt ABC mat from Oopsey Daisy

Ribbon wands from Frog, Goose and Bear

Fairy house kit from Inner Child Fun

Puppet making kit from Childhood 101

Gingerbread play dough from Sweet Sugar Belle


There are lots more adorable ideas on my Homemade Gifts for Kids Pinterest board!

For more simple ideas for kids, subscribe to Mama Pea Pod.

{12 Christmas Traditions With Preschoolers}

12 Christmas Traditions With Preschoolers:

Christmas is a magical time, but that's never more apparent than when you are celebrating Christmas with preschoolers! Their excitement is contagious! I find myself going out of my way to create new, special holiday traditions that we can continue year after year as they grow. If you're also looking for ideas for creating new Christmas traditions with your little ones, here's a good selection to start with. Some are our own family's traditions, and others are ideas from other bloggers. Hope you find just the thing to make your family's Christmas magical, too!

Christmas Around the World: Christmas Traditions in Hungary by Mama Pea Pod

Saint Nicholas (Szent Mikulas) Tradition in Hungary from Mama Pea Pod

Christmas Market by Night from Mama Pea Pod

Writing A Letter to Santa (free printable) from Picklebums

Christmas Traditions Ideas from Powerful Mothering

Filling a Box for Operation Christmas Child from JDaniel4'sMom

Plant Magic Elf Seeds from East Coast Mommy

Hot Cocoa Bar from Connecting Family and Seoul

Advent Traditions from Life At The Zoo

DIY Elf on the Shelf from Teach Me Mommy

Christmas Bucket List from Nothing If Not Intentional

Feast of Saint Nicholas from The Chirping Moms

{Cute Reindeer Crafts for Kids}

 

 Cute Reindeer Crafts for Kids

These cute little reindeer ornaments are easy and fun to make for the Christmas tree or to decorate a gift. Or kids can make them as teacher gifts! The ones you see here were made two ways:

Reindeer 1: The one above was made by wrapping a sparkly tinsel pipe cleaner (all product links in this post are affiliate links) around an empty narrow tape roll! I imagine you could also use a tiny craft wreath. Before wrapping, thread a jingle bell onto the pipe cleaner and slide it along to the middle (you could also glue on a pom pom if you prefer). Then wrap. It turned out great, and the hard middle makes it sturdier. 

Then use cut pieces of beige pipe cleaners to make the antlers (we used 1/4 of an extra long pipe cleaner for each antler; probably 1/2 of a regular 12 inch pipe cleaner would do). Place it so that there is a longer and shorter end and wrap around the center piece - twist tightly to attach. Then either fashion each end into an antler 'hook', as we did with the ones below (I actually like those antlers better), or simply twist the ends together and leave a little sticking out in each direction, as we did with the one above (easier for little kids to do). Then glue on some googly eyes (I used hot glue, but regular white school glue would also work.) Finally, tie on a loop of sparkly ribbon for hanging your reindeer ornament.

Reindeer 2: For the ones just above and below, we made them almost the same way as above, but without the tape middle. Instead, they just formed an oval shape with the tinsel pipe cleaner and twisted the ends together. Then made the antlers as described above. I prefer this style of antlers, as I think they look more like antlers, but my daughter needed a bit of help.

Then we used them to decorate their teacher gifts - homemade bath salts for one teacher, and specialty beer for the other!

Before you go, you might want to check out these similar posts:

Two Christmas Cards Preschoolers and Toddlers Can Make

Reindeer Growth Records 

35+ Christmas Crafts for Preschoolers

And be sure to check out Mama Pea Pod's Christmas Ideas Page and Christmas Pinterest board! 

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{Cooking With Kids - 10 Christmas Recipes for Preschoolers}

10 Christmas Recipes To Make With Preschoolers:

Preschoolers love to help in the kitchen, and Christmas is the perfect time to make some recipes that your little ones can help make and proudly serve to guests! Try these this year:

Christmas Cookie Pops from Nurturestore

Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies from Bakergirl

Red and Green Layered Jello Dessert from JDaniel4'sMom

Edible Christmas Ornaments from Red Ted Art

Easy 'Gingerbread' Houses from Red Ted Art

Molasses Crinkle Gingerbread Cookies from Nothing If Not Intentional

Spritzgebäck German Christmas Cookies from Glittering Muffins

Christmas Peanut Butter Blossoms from We Made That

Nutella Christmas Smores from Pint-Sized Treasures

Cookies in a Jar For Santa from Make It Do

You might also be interested in:

Princess Pops - party treats

Fruity Strawberry Banana Creamsicles - healthy, sweet treat

Gruffalo Crumble - kid-made, cozy weeknight dessert

Easy, Homemade 'Candy Canes' - great little gift for classmates

{10 Christmas Advent Calendar Ideas for Preschoolers}

10 Christmas Advent Calendar Ideas for Preschoolers:

This round up of 10 of our favourite ideas for advent calendars that are suitable for the preschool crowd may be just what you're looking for, or may inspire you to come up with a unique idea of your own! If you have a great advent calendar for your preschooler, please share it on the Mama Pea Pod Facebook page! I love to see what you've made!

DIY Advent Calendars Round-Up from Mama Pea Pod

Paper Bag Advent Calendar Activities (with printables) from The Connection We Share

Santa's Beard Countdown to Christmas from Paper Creations by Kristin

Matchboxes Advent Calendar from Write.Click.Scrapbook

Recycled Christmas Cards Activity Advent Calendar from Octavia and Vicky

Kid-Made Festive Christmas Countdown from Creative Play Central

Book Tree Advent Calendar from Reading Confetti

Around the World Advent Calendar: Merry Christmas in 24 Languages from Glittering Muffins

DIY Cone Advent Calendar from Glittering Muffins

Book a Day Countdown to Christmas from The Chirping Moms


You might also be interested in Mama Pea Pod's Christmas Ideas page over there on the right --> (scroll down a little)

{35+ Christmas Crafts for Preschoolers}

35+ Christmas Crafts for Preschoolers:

I was going to share a Ridiculously Huge Round-Up of Christmas Ideas for Preschoolers. I still am. But for the sake of getting these brilliant Christmas-themed ideas for preschoolers to you sooner, I'm breaking it up into themes. First up: Christmas Crafts for Preschoolers! Once all the themes are posted, I'll compile one Ridiculously Huge list so you can find them all in one place.

If you count them, there are exactly 35 ideas here for Christmas-themed crafty things for preschoolers to make. So why '35+'? Because I'm leaving room to come back and add more whenever I find another one that you absolutely must see! I'm good to you that way ;-)

So, here goes: 35 wonderful Christmas crafts for the preschool crowd:

Christmas Angel Tree Topper from Mama Pea Pod

Curled Paper Hanging Christmas Tree Decoration from Mama Pea Pod

Standing Paper Christmas Tree from Mama Pea Pod

Paper Christmas Tree Forest Craft from Mama Pea Pod

Three Preschool Christmas Crafts (a bell, a pine cone elf, and a Christmas napkin holder)  from Mama Pea Pod

Two Christmas Cards Preschoolers and Toddlers Can Make from Mama Pea Pod

Classic Christmas Paper Chain Garland from Mama Pea Pod

Handprint and Footprint Reindeer Growth Record from Mama Pea Pod

Craft Stick Snowman Ornaments from Happy Hooligans

Handprint Reindeer Craft from The Imagination Tree

Christmas Bauble Kids' Art Keepsake from Creative Play Central

Yarn wreath ornaments from Christopher & Tia

Homemade Christmas Cards made with kids' artwork from Dilly-Dali Art

Classic Snowflakes Craft from Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Snowflake Curtain from Paper & Stitch

Homemade Natural Holly Advent Wreath by Sun Hats and Wellie Boots

Button Tree Ornaments from UK Lass in US

Shaving Cream Marbled Snowmen (would make lovely garland) from Simple Fun For Kids

Pom Pom Window Garland from Noodlehead (I recommend these plastic kids' needles (affiliate link) for threading)

Stained 'Glass' Ornaments From Recycled Plastic from Housing a Forest

Icicle Ornaments from Happy Hooligans

I-Spy Christmas Baubles from Craft Goodies

Toilet Roll Snowman Craft from Red Ted Art

Pom Pom Pine Cone Trees Ornaments from Red Ted Art

Simple Christmas Wreath Ornament from Red Ted Art

Handprint Christmas Wreath from Learning to Play and Playing to Learn

Reindeer Tree to Decorate from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots

Recycled Model Christmas Town from Nurturestore

Handprint Santa from Learning to Play and Playing to Learn

Paper Cup Reindeer from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots

Paper Tube Nativity Set from Pink and Green Mama

Tinfoil Trees Ornaments from Happy Hooligans

Paper Plate Christmas Wreath from Glittering Muffins

Felt Christmas Tree from Buggy and Buddy

Popsicle Stick Snowflake Ornaments from Cheap Crafty Mama

{Classic Christmas Paper Chain Garland Craft For Preschoolers}

This simple Christmas paper chain garland is a classic craft for preschoolers - though I must tell you that I loved making it with them, too! There's something very relaxing about uncomplicated paper crafts.

There's just three easy steps and all you need is:

• Christmas-patterned paper (even better if it's got patterns or colour on both sides - I recommend double-sided Christmas scrapbook paper [affiliate link], but you could use gift wrap or even magazine pages)

• Glue (I find that glue sticks or glue pens [affiliate links] are much easier for preschoolers to manage for this craft than liquid glue.) 

1. Cut the paper into strips (depending on your preschooler's age and cutting skills, you may want to do the cutting part yourself. I cut them for my 2 1/2 year old, while my 5 year old cut her own strips.)

2. Bend each strip into a circle and link it through the one before.

3. Glue the ends together to hold the circle.

Sometimes preschoolers forget to link it through before glueing, but no biggie, it's easy to link the two parts together with a new strip.

The finished paper chains look so sweet and festive around the Christmas tree or draped over doorways or shelves.

Simple and classic, but I love this craft!

 

{Stars Book and Simple Star Craft}

Stars Book and Activities: 

Book by Mary Lyn Ray and Marla Frazee

We borrowed this book from our school library and had such a hard time returning it that, ahem, we may have hogged it for most of the school year! Full of hope and wisdom, this sweet, inspiring book helps children to embrace their creativity by noticing the stars all around us (not only the ones in the sky), and to use them to gain strength when they need it.

Stars activities

Sweet Pea's favourite song is Twinkle, Twinkle, which we must sing every night before bed. She decided that it would help her sleep better if she had her very own Twinkle Twinkle Star in her room to watch over her and keep the bad dreams away (she also has a dream catcher and Gruffalo toy [affiliate link] for this purpose, but they must not work all that well since she often visits us in the night!)

So we made her very own Twinkle Twinkle Star!

You need: 

Some stiff cardboard

Some aluminum foil

Some Sharpie markers

Shiny ribbon

A sharp pencil

Optional: printable star template

I just drew a star freehand (it took a few tries to get the shape I wanted, but no matter). Then I cut it out for her and poked a hole in one of the points with the sharp pencil.

I gave Sweet Pea some squares of tin foil and she wrapped her star. Then she used the permanent markers to draw on the foil. She wanted a face on hers, smiling down at her in the night, but you could decorate it any way you like. (You could also add some stick-on 'jewels' for extra bling, like in these tin foil trees from Happy Hooligans.)

Then I used the pencil to repoke the hole through the foil (not sure that it was really necessary to do it twice, it might have sufficed to just do it after it was wrapped), and then strung some shiny ribbon through it to hang up. 

She's so proud of it!

It would also make a lovely Christmas decoration for the tree, or make it a 6-pointed star and you have a Hanukah craft for little ones.

Some more Stars to Make:

• Sparkly star decoration from popsicle sticks
• Spinning star pinwheel craft
• Star wishing wands
• Star wishing tree

Stars to Eat:

• Star rice krispie treat wands
• Star cookies
• Make a star-themed bento lunch
• Coconut star treats

Stars to 'Do':

• Have your own Japanese Star Festival

Stars to Read:

• Starfish (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science) [affiliate link] - another one we borrowed from the library, and we learned so much about the stars in our seas and oceans - and it has a fun starfish craft in the back that we made but I never got around to blogging about. Maybe one day...
• How to Catch a Star [affiliate link] by the ever-popular Oliver Jeffers. We haven't read this one yet, but it's on our wish list.

And, if you're not the crafty type, Stars to Buy [affiliate links]:

• Glow in the dark stars
• Peel and stick star mirrors
• Sterling Silver Stars Pendant Necklace (ok, so I really want this one for myself!)