Easy Christmas Crafts for Grandparents and Grandkids

The best Christmas crafts with grandkids have three things in common. They use things you already have in the house. They work even when a three-year-old is in charge of the glue. And at the end, there is something to hang on the tree, on the fridge or in the window.

Here are seven that tick all three boxes. Most take less than an hour. Several also work on a video call, with each of you making one at your own table.

Before you start, cover the table with an old tablecloth or newspaper, and put everyone in clothes that can survive glitter. Glitter does not leave. You simply learn to live with it.

1. Salt dough ornaments

The classic, and for good reason. They last for years, and in a decade you will have a tree full of tiny handprints.

You need: 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of salt, about 1 cup of water, cookie cutters, a straw, paint and ribbon.

1. Mix the flour and salt, then add the water a little at a time until you have a smooth dough that does not stick to your hands.
2. Roll it out to about half a centimetre (a quarter of an inch) thick.
3. Cut out shapes, or press a small hand into a circle of dough.
4. Make a hole at the top with the straw, for the ribbon.
5. Bake at a low heat, about 120°C (250°F), for two to three hours, until hard. Let them cool completely.
6. Paint them the next day, and write the year on the back.

On a video call: Make the dough at each end and shape your ornaments together. Then post yours to them, and they post theirs to you. Each tree gets an ornament from the other house.

2. Paper snowflakes

Five minutes, one sheet of paper, and no two ever come out the same.

1. Start with a square of paper. Printer paper cut square works well. Thin paper is easier for small hands.
2. Fold it in half into a triangle, then in half again, and once more.
3. Snip small shapes out of the edges: triangles, half circles, little notches. Cut the tip off too.
4. Unfold slowly. This is the best part.

Tape them to the window or hang them on thread. Young children can fold while you cut. Older ones will want to make dozens.

3. A paper chain countdown

Cut strips of coloured paper, about two fingers wide. Loop the first strip into a ring and glue or tape it shut, thread the next strip through and close it, and keep going. Make one link for every day left until Christmas, and let your grandchild tear one off every morning.

You can write a small job or a joke on the inside of each link before you close it. Our list of 24 Christmas countdown activities has a whole month of ideas you could use.

4. Pinecone Christmas trees

Collect pinecones on a walk, which is half the fun. Let them dry out on a tray for a day or two indoors.

Stand each pinecone on a bottle cap or a bit of modelling clay. Dab a little white paint on the tips for snow, then glue on small beads, sequins or pom-poms as baubles. A paper star on top finishes it off. A row of them looks lovely on a windowsill.

5. Handprint cards

Paint your grandchild’s hand green and press it onto folded card, fingers pointing down, to make a Christmas tree. Add a brown trunk and a yellow star. Or paint the hand brown, fingers up, for a reindeer’s antlers, with a red thumbprint nose.

Make one for each parent, one for you, and one for the other grandparents. Write the child’s age inside. These are the cards nobody ever throws away.

6. Cinnamon-scented ornaments

Mix a cup of apple sauce with about a cup of ground cinnamon until you have a stiff dough. Roll, cut out shapes, make a hole, and let them dry on a rack for a couple of days, turning them now and then. They are not edible, but they make the whole house smell of Christmas for weeks.

7. A gingerbread house that doesn’t need to stand straight

Skip the baking. Use graham crackers or plain rectangular biscuits as walls, and a thick icing of icing sugar and a little egg white or water as glue. Stand it on a paper plate, and decorate with whatever sweets you have.

It will lean. It may collapse. It will still be the best gingerbread house your grandchild has ever made.

On a video call: Build one at each end, then give each other a tour.

Making crafts work with small children

Do the tricky step first, yourself. Cut the shapes, tie the knots, mix the dough. Let them do the parts they can do on their own.

Keep it short. Twenty minutes of crafting with a four-year-old is a success. Stop before anybody gets bored.

Do not fix their work. It is tempting to straighten the star. Do not. A crooked star made entirely by them means much more than a straight one made by you.

Write the year on everything. On the back of the ornament, inside the card, under the pinecone. Future you will be glad.

A craft for every day in December

Salt dough ornaments, paper snowflakes, a paper chain and a gingerbread house are all part of our free printable Christmas Countdown: 24 small activities for December, each with a version for the same room and one for a video call, plus a calendar for the fridge.

Get the free Christmas Countdown

Which Christmas craft do you remember making when you were little?