December Holiday Crafts for Everyone

By Nancy A. Cavanaugh

    December is filled with several fun holidays, from Hanukkah and Christmas to Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve. Here are some crafts you can make with the kids to help celebrate each holiday. Go to the library, or look it up on the Internet, to find out a bit more about how each of the holidays is celebrated.

Hanukkah: Milk Carton Dreidel

What You Need:
    Pencil
    Glue
    Paint
    Paintbrush
    Small clean milk carton
    Newspaper

What to Do:
    1. Create a box from the milk carton by folding down the tops.
    2. Cover the work area with newspaper. Mix some white craft glue with the paint and paint the box. Allow to dry completely. Decorate the dreidel with the letters: shin, hey, gimel and nun. Allow to dry completely.
    3. Take the pencil and poke it through the box from the top so the point of the pencil is on the bottom.

Christmas: Pinecone Christmas Tree

What You Need:
    Fully opened, dried pinecone
    Assorted beads, small silk flowers or other small embellishments
    Soda bottle or metal bottle cap
    Green acrylic craft paint or green spray paint
    Paintbrush
    Craft glue
    Tweezers
    Newspaper
    Optional: glitter or glitter glue

What to Do:
    1. Cover the work area with newspaper. Paint the pinecone green. Add sparkle by dusting the pinecone with glitter while the paint is wet. Allow to dry completely.
    2. Glue the bottle cap to the bottom of the pinecone. Allow to dry completely.
    3. Add beads, small silk flowers or other Christmas embellishments. You can use tweezers to dip each piece into a small puddle of craft glue. Push each embellishments firmly into place. Allow to dry completely.

Kwanzaa: Kinara Centerpiece

What You Need:
    3 Red short taper candles
    3 Green short taper candles
    1 Black short taper candles
    7 Small terracotta pots
    1 Large terra cotta dish (the dishes that go under the pots)
    Black, red and green craft paint
    Paintbrush
    Gold "painters" marker
    Artificial gourds and other harvest items
    Clay
    Newspaper

What to Do:
    1. Cover the work area with newspaper. Paint the terracotta dish black. Paint three terracotta pots green, paint three red and paint one black. Paint another coat, if needed, after the first coat is dry. Allow to dry completely.
    2. Use the Gold paint marker to write along the outer lip (or side) of the terracotta dish the principles of Kwanzaa. The principles are: Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumaba and Imani. Allow to dry completely.
    3. Add the tapers to the small pots, matching the color of the taper to the color of the pot, and add a small clay ball in the bottom of the pots to aid the taper in standing straight.
    4. Arrange the pots on the dish. Fill in the area around the pots with the artificial gourds and other harvest items.

New Year’s Eve: Decorative Noisemaker

What You Need:
    Small paper plate
    Colorful paper streamers or tissue paper
    Craft jewels, large and medium
    Paint
    White craft glue
    Scissors
    Beans or beads
    Newspaper

What to Do:
    1. Cover the work area with newspaper. Paint the bottom of the paper plate. Allow to dry completely.
    2. Fold paper plate in half to find center. Make a crease that you can see and unfold.
    3. Place paper plate onto work surface, white side up. Cut streamers or tissue paper into thin strips about 4-5” long. Glue the strips to the rim of the plate in an alternate pattern, leaving most of the strip sticking out. The glued end of the strips will be on the inside of the plate once folded.
    4. Fold the plate and place a handful of beans or beads inside. Glue the plate closed. Allow to dry completely.
    5. Decorate the outside of the plate with craft jewels or other embellishments. Allow to dry completely.