Christmas Crafts for Middle School Children

Christmas is a time of year when most children don't need any help getting excited, but adding a Christmas craft to the holiday festivities enhances the Christmas spirit! Get your middle school students or children together to create festive and useful Christmas crafts.

Santa is on his way, and the holiday season is in full swing. That means you're searching for Christmas activities and lesson plans. If a plain ol' printable just won't do, and your middle school students are asking for high school-level DIY holiday-themed interactive craft ideas, we've got you covered.

Forget about a blah bah humbug winter break-themed art lesson or tutorial, and check out the fun activities and holiday crafts that will get middle schoolers into the ho-ho-ho holiday spirit.

Show the middle schoolers how to decorate glass ball ornaments to take home and adorn the Christmas tree. Give each student a package of clear glass ball ornaments. Usually, you can purchase the ornaments at the craft store in four packs. Give them acrylic paint, craft glue, glitter, self-adhesive rhinestones and other similar items for decorating their ornaments.

The students can drip a few drops of paint inside an ornament with a popsicle stick or brush and swirl them around to create a marbled ornament. Use white paint to make snow globe Christmas tree ornaments.

Another idea is to coat the outside of an ornament with craft paint before rolling it around on a plate of glitter to create a glitter-coated ball ornament. Self-adhesive rhinestones stuck to the outside of an ornament in a fun design combined with a bow of ribbon tied around the top make for a Christmastime tree embellishment. The possibilities are almost endless!

Another fun Christmas idea for middle schoolers is to get them together to create fun holiday T-shirts to wear to a Christmas party or as they party in their pajamas during a Christmas Eve countdown. Give each child green fabric paint and a foam brush. Have them paint a Christmas tree on the front of the shirt. The tree should be large enough to take up most of the front of the shirt.

Show the students how to hand-sew buttons and beads onto the Christmas trees to make up Christmas tree ornaments, lights and the star on the top of the tree. They may use square buttons to place gifts beneath the tree on their shirts. Write a Christmas-themed saying across the shirt with fabric puff paints. Allow the shirts to dry for 24 hours before wearing or washing them.

Christmas art projects can double as practical interactive activities. One inexpensive yet useful Christmas craft that middle schoolers can make is hand-decorated wrapping paper. Give the students a few ideas on how they can begin to transform sheets of brown packaging paper, usually used to wrap items for shipping, into lovely wrapping paper for concealing Christmas gifts. Provide foam stamps, acrylic paint, fine-tip permanent marks in a variety of colors, stencils, stickers and even candy wrappers for the students to use in decorating the paper.

This is a useful Christmas gift that kids will enjoy giving to each other. Cut a bookmark from an empty cereal box. Make it about 7 by 2-1/4 inches. Cover the bottom of an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with shaving cream about 1/4 inch thick. Drip drops of paint here and there onto the shaving cream. Swirl the paint through the shaving cream with a toothpick, creating a marbled melted snowman look.

Lay the bookmark on the marbled shaving cream and press on it lightly. Remove it carefully and lay it on a paper towel. Scrape off the excess paint with a window squeegee or cake knife, using a single sideways motion.

Allow the bookmark to dry. Repeat on the other side if you wish. When it's dry, punch a hole in the top and thread a pretty piece of ribbon through the hole. Tie the ribbon securely. Embellish with bright beads if you wish. It's fun to give this with a favorite book the recipient has been wanting.

That's it! Now you're ready to celebrate Christmastime with enough craft projects to keep your middle schoolers busy for days.