Kids can follow these easy directions for making fun and unique Christmas decorations. Included are instructions for making chocolate kiss mice and a holiday santa.
The first project is a Santa Claus ornament made from craft sticks and craft foam. To make this ornament you will need five 2 ½ inch wooden craft sticks, a small handful of white stuffing material, a small round wooden bead for the nose, a small sheet of tan craft foam, a small sheet of red craft foam, a 4 inch long piece of 1/8 inch wide satin craft ribbon, acrylic black paint, acrylic white paint, acrylic pink paint, a small paintbrush, water, newspapers, a small hole punch, an old paint shirt to protect your clothing, and thick craft glue.
Begin by putting on an old paint shirt to keep your clothes from becoming stained, and cover your work area with a layer of newspapers. Start the project by painting the wooden craft sticks with white acrylic craft paint. Set them aside to dry. While the paint is drying, paint the wooden bead with tan acrylic craft paint. Set it aside to dry as well.
Draw a square on the tan craft foam that's approximately 2 inches by 2 inches. This will be used for Santa's face. In addition, cut out a triangle from the sheet of red craft foam that's about 2 ½ inches across the bottom. This will be used for Santa's hat. Paint two black dots on the face for his eyes. After the paint has dried, add twinkle to his eyes by painting a small white dot at the side of each one. Give Santa some rosy pink cheeks using pink acrylic craft paint. Allow the eyes and cheeks to dry completely.
Now it's time to begin assembling your Santa Claus ornament. Glue two of the white sticks together side-by-side and glue them to the bottom of the craft foam face. Glue a white craft stick at each side of his face as well, approximately 1/2 inch above the two center sticks. Glue the last craft stick across the top, just above Santa's face. Set this aside to dry before moving on to the next step.
After the glue has thoroughly dried, attach the red craft foam hat to the back of the horizontal white craft stick. Make sure it is centered above Santa's face. Also, glue the wooden nose to the center of Santa's face, just above the white wooden craft sticks in the center. Set it aside to dry once again before continuing.
Next you will need to glue on Santa's white fluffy beard and mustache. Pull off a small amount of white stuffing material, and create a beard and mustache. Glue them to the white craft sticks. Also, glue a ball of white stuffing material to the top of the hat. Allow the glue plenty of time to dry.
Now your Santa ornament is almost ready to hang. Using a small hole punch, make a hole in the top center of Santa's hat. Thread a 4 inch long piece of 1/8 inch wide satin ribbon through the hole, and tie a knot at the top.
The next easy-to-make kid's Christmas craft is an adorable mouse ornament made using yummy chocolate kisses. For this simple project you will need 2 chocolate foil-wrapped kisses, scraps of pink felt, 2 small plastic craft eyes, a 4 inch long piece of 1/8 inch wide satin ribbon, a 1/8 inch diameter pink pompom, thick craft glue, scissors, a fine-tip black marker, and a 3 inch long piece of wax-covered candle wick.
Begin this project by gluing together the flat ends of 2 foil-covered chocolate kisses with about ¼ inch of the ends of the ribbon in between. The looped formed by the ribbon will serve as the hanger for the ornament. Set the ornament aside to dry.
While the glue is drying, draw two mouse-size ears and two feet on the scraps of pink felt. Carefully cut them out, and after the glue joining the body and ribbon dries, glue on the ears and feet. Also glue on the plastic craft eyes. You may need to hold them in place for a short time until the glue begins to set.
Cut out three whiskers, each an inch long, from the wax-covered candle wick. Glue the center of each wick to the pompom nose. After the glue has begun to set, glue the nose and whiskers to the tip of the chocolate kiss. Allow the glue to dry completely before hanging the finished ornament.
