Simple Childhood Christmas crafts

One of my favourite things about Christmas is all the crafting that goes along with it. I remember lots of Christmas crafting fun when I was growing up, and I'm having a great time re-visiting it all with my little ones. These are some of the favourite crafts that I remember from when I was little, all really simple and can be done with things that you have around the home.

Paper snowflakes

Use something circular, like a small plate, to draw a circle onto some white paper and cut it out. Fold in half a couple of times, then use scissors to cut out shapes from the folded paper. Unfold to discover a beautiful snowflake! You can experiment to see what types of cuts work best, and you might like to try folding the paper into six instead for a more authentic snowflake. Harry loved this activity, and produced a blizzard of snowflakes to stick up around the room.

You can try using different coloured paper, and then decorating with with felt pens, glitter or sequins. You could also make snowflakes from a dark coloured paper, and stick tissue paper on the backs to make sun catchers for the window. As a bonus, the tiny triangles all over your living room will make it seem as though it is really snowing! And if you want to take your paper snowflakes to the next level, try this fantastic paper snowflake tutorial.

Toilet roll and cotton wool snowman

I loved making these when I was little. Simply take an old toilet roll and cover with cotton wool. Use a larger ball for the head, or cover a ball of scrumpled up newspaper with cotton wool, then decorate with buttons, googly eyes, pom poms pipe cleaners or scraps of card.

Paper chains

We always made our own paper chains at Christmas when I was little. I think that we used to buy packs which came with a gummy edge to stick together, but I've also made them with old wrapping paper, stapled or sellotaped together. If you can't remember how to make them there is an easy tutorial here - how to make paper chains, they look so festive strung around the room!

Stained glass window decorations

When I was growing up, our front door was made up entirely of glass panels. Every year my Mum would lead us in creating a stained glass window display. There must have been at least twenty panels, and each one would have it's own design cut out from card and backed with coloured tissue paper. It looked fantastic when the light from the hallway was shining out! Our front door is entirely solid with just some frosted glass so it doesn't work in our house, but you can easily make stained glass patterns and pictures for any window in the house. Just use a craft knife to cut out your design, and scraps of tissue paper to cover it on the back.

Gift tags made from old Christmas cards

I always save my old Christmas cards and cut them up to make gift tags for the next year. I even bought a pair of pinking shears especially to add a little bit more interest. Since having the children I've also used old Christmas cards to make new cards and collages.

What Christmas crafts do you remember from your childhood? I recently asked some of my friends to share their favourite Christmas crafts and you can find lots more ideas here - Classic Children's Christmas crafts.