The holiday season is here, and in many schools and kindergartens that means holiday crafts! In case you are running out of ideas for what to do, we have a cute little handprint Santa craft for you that trains the children’s fine motor skills. And if Christmas isn’t celebrated where you are, or you are simply over all things Christmas, fear not – we also have a nice winter art project that you can do with your students (with added support for critical thinking, if you’d like).
Handprint Santa Claus
For this activity, you will need:
- White cardboard sheets
- Pencils
- Watercolors & brushes (or coloring pens)
- Scissors
- Red tissue paper
- Glue
- Cotton balls
- Googly eyes, buttons, or similar for the eyes
Start by tracing your handprint onto a white cardboard sheet. Keep the thumb separate and the other fingers together so the print looks like a mitten. When the print is ready, flip it upside down. Paint or color the print in your skin color. If you want, you can paint the top part (thumb and the bottom of their palm) red – that will make the hat’s color pop later. Let the watercolors dry before continuing.
Once the watercolor has dried, cut out the handprint. Rip pieces of the red tissue paper and glue them to the “hat” of the Santa Claus. Then pull pieces of cotton from the cotton balls and glue them to Santa’s chin, as well as the rim and tip of his hat. Glue the eyes for Santa, draw a little nose, and you’re done!
This crafts activity is great for children’s fine motor skills as they draw, paint, rip, and glue. Let the children do as much as they can by themselves (although you may need to help with the scissors). You can also give them tissue paper in different colors in case they would like to choose the color of Santa’s hat, and see what kinds of masterpieces the children come up with!
Winter scenery with glue resist art
For this craft activity, you will need:
- White cardboard sheets
- Glue
- Watercolors and brushes
This is a very simple but fun activity. Take out a white cardboard sheet and some glue. You can use glue sticks or runny glue and brushes (or your finger!). Draw a landscape onto the cardboard sheet with the glue. Use thick strokes of glue. If you can’t see what you’re drawing, try tilting the cardboard sheet and looking at it at an angle when light hits it. When you are done, let the glue dry.
Once the glue has dried, paint over the glue picture with watercolors. In our experience, the best results come when using dark colors so the contrast is bigger, and lots of water so the paint has a harder time staying where the glue is. Let the paint dry and get ready to admire your wintery landscapes!
This activity helps children practice their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. To add some support for critical thinking, ask the children questions before you begin. What do you think will happen when watercolors are painted over dried glue? Why? How is it different from painting over paper? Come up with a hypothesis of what will happen and test it! Create your sceneries and observe what happens. Was your hypothesis correct? How would you explain the result? With questions like these, you encourage children’s critical thinking and introduce them to the scientific method.
Your turn!
If you try out these crafts with your students, we'd love to see them! Share them on social media with the hashtag #moominls so we can admire the work of your students.
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