Winter crafts that are non-holiday can be difficult to find! Especially if you are a teen and in charge of leading activities at family night. Oriental Trading Company sent me $75 of crafts that we tried and are donating to church for just such an occasion. First, here is a very nice and quiet activity that took quite a while for the children to complete (so lovely for parents to relax, have coffee, and wait). There were many glitter dots to go in circled areas on a Welcome Winter craft which was great for fine motor coordination as well as giving everyone time to gather.
This craft required almost no explanation, took no glue (yeah!) and was so pretty when complete. It is from Oriental Trading Company’s winter resources at this link. I love the fact each project is individually packaged and that no counting is required. There are no sad faces when someone doesn’t have all the stickers, for instance, as the projects are ready to go. It is nice for the teen leaders who have busy lives with school and activities as little preparation is required. See the free printable near the bottom of this post.
First the dots should be looked at so the correct colors are matched to the circle areas.
Of course, white dots were placed in the snow areas.
Another project was making one of each of four kinds of gingerbread people. The story about the gingerbread boy has a good lesson for any time of the year. Snowmen and the gingerbread boy are familiar to children and made it easy for them to work on the crafts. Here is an individually packaged craft ready for use.
Opening the package, it is easy to begin by placing all the items on the “cookie” before peeling and sticking the items in place. This preparation prevents tears and upset! See the cute craft people on the directions page? There were two girls in sundresses, so this is easily used anytime.
This is a finished gingerbread man project. It looks good enough to eat!
The kits are complete with magnets to put on the back of the gingerbread people so these will stick on the fridge.
Of course, the dots on the welcome craft reminded me of dabbers and I thought of a few dabbers and coloring pages for the free instant download for this post. If you don’t have dabbers on hand, the pages could just be colored.
Another fun craft that night was a sock snowman. The “secret” is to have a rock in the bottom so it will stand. After the rock, it is stuffed with fiberfill. Scraps of cloth made nice scarves, and sharpies finished the features.
After finding a sock, stuff it so it will be fluffy and filled.
Finally, add facial features and buttons by drawing with Sharpie markers. Tie cloth scraps for scarves and at the top of the head. Fold down the sock ribbing part to create a nice hat!
Thank you for reading, Carolyn
You might also like the back to school blog post with a Constitution Day and class organizing freebie.
The birthday party bingo game freebie is at this post.
