Simple Mess Free Christmas and Kwanzaa Arts & Crafts

 Happy New Year!!!!!

I wanted to share some super easy holiday arts and crafts activities to do with the kiddos!

For Christmas, I wanted Langston to make something to give to his dad, uncle, aunt and grammy. 

We used items we already had around the house. We created two cute little reindeer and christmas trees. 

Christmas Tree Art

Supplies...

-cardboard
-construction paper
-paint or marker
-mini candy cans
-hot glue gun




 Instead of cardboard we used these wood boards from an old puzzle. I drew a struggle tree on the board and Langston used paint markers to decorate the tree. You can also have older children glue colored cotton balls, noodles or candy canes on them.


I love these paint markers. They are pretty much totally mess free and non-toxic.


Reindeer Art

Supplies...

-cardboard
-markers or paint
-googly eyes
-candy canes
-hot glue gun


Cut your cardboard into a triangle. Langston colored in the nose red. I applied the hot glue to the eyes and candy canes and allowed him to press them on to the cardboard. He really enjoyed making these. You could also apply string to the top a turn your reindeer into an ornament. 





For Kwanzaa instead of giving gifts for each of the 7 days and principals we decided to do arts and crafts for each day. Langston got way too many gifts for Christmas so we skipped out on gifts for Kwanzaa this year. 

Supplies

-construction paper
-markers or crayons
-glue stick
-hot glue gun
-beans
-macaroni noodles


For day 1 of Kwanzaa-Kuumba we created links to chain. We used Kwanzaa colors and wrote each principles for each day. Since Langston is only two years old  I used it as a good opportunity to review Kwanzaa colors and their meanings.


Ujima fell on a daddy duty day. My husband drew the principal Ujima on cardboard and let Langston color it in. It's simple but still a very good activity for toddlers. It helps develop fine motor skills, it boost confidence, and it gives them time to concentrate on one small task (less screen time).






On the last day of Kwanzaa we created a caterpillar named Imani-Faith. 
This one was a huge hit. I simply cut a circle for each letter for they Day 7 principal. Clued them together and we used black eyed peas for her eyes and macaroni noodles for his smile.



All of these can be easily tweaked to suite your child's age. I also think these are a good alternative to gifts for Kwanzaa. You could even have them give their art to their friends or family as gifts. 

Happy New Year!
Stay safe,

ALW