Christmas craft ideas

With 2020 being the year of toilet roll hoarding, perhaps it’s time to make some use of the remaining cardboard tubes!

Smaller children will enjoy making this lovable Santa Claus.

You will need:

Small googly eyes

Pliable red, white, black and gold card

Felt-tip pens

Cotton wool

Glue stick & poster glue

Red poster paint

Firstly, take your cardboard toilet roll tube and cover the outside in a thick layer of red paint. Allow to dry. Then add a black belt using a strip of black card. Cut a small square for a belt buckle from the gold card, folding in half to cut a small square in the middle, then add to the middle of the belt. Glue the belt around the tube, placing about a 1/4 from the bottom.

For Santa’s hat, take your red card and draw a circle using a saucer. Cut out the circle, cut in half, and fold into a cone shape, using poster glue to join the edges together. Use a paper clip to hold together until the glue dries.

Cut a tongue shape from the white card, about 1/3 of the length of the toilet roll tube as a base for the face and beard. Stick to the top of the tube, flat side up, using the glue stick. Add two googly eyes about 2cm down from the top using the poster glue.

Place poster glue on the beard edge of the face, take some cotton wool, shape, and place on the face.

Place poster glue around the top of the tube edge, then press the hat gently and firmly on the top. add poster glue to the lower rim of the hat and add a cotton wool trim.

To finish, give Santa a smile and some rosy red cheeks!

Creating your own Christmas wreath really couldn’t be simpler. It is a great activity to share with children, who can happily make one for hanging in their bedroom.

Collect your old baubles together with an old wire coat hanger.

You will need to separate and shape the coat hanger and shape it into a loose circle, keeping the hook which is handy for hanging the wreath once done.

Then simply thread the baubles onto the coathanger. They will bunch and hold in place naturally as you place them on, so use plenty of different sizes and colours to add variety. you may even wish to add a few sugar paper leaves by taping them amongst the baubles.

Leave some space at the end of the wire to complete the wreath, twisting around below the hook.

Create a beautiful bold red Christmas Poinsettia, ideal for adults and older children.

You will need:

Red, green, and yellow crepe paper

White card

Flower wire stems

Poster glue

Long paintbrush

Red crayon

Create two bract (petal) templates from white card, making a 7x7cm square and a 7x4cm rectangle, as well as one of 14x8cm for the leaves. Cut them all in half and then into a half pear shape, lengthwise.

You will need to create 7 larger red bracts and 7 small ones using the red crepe paper. For the larger bracts, cut seven 7x7cm squares, the smaller ones, seven 7x4cm rectangles.

Take your red crepe rectangle or square and cut it diagonally in half. Place poster glue on one side of the diagonal edge and place the other triangle on top, neatly down along the edge. You may wish to use a ruler in the middle to stop the glue from spreading away from the edge.

Slide the half pear template into the triangles and then cut around it. Take a flower wire, insert and glue into the fatter end of the bract. Trim the bract to emphasize the pointed shape, then use the rounded end of a paintbrush or a red crayon to create natural lines and curl the bract around the paintbrush to shape. Repeat for the remaining bracts.

To create the leaves, cut seven rectangles from the green crepe paper, 14x8cm. Then create the leaves using the same method as the bracts.

For the flower centres, you will need 9 lots of pollen. For one, make two rectangles of yellow and red crepe paper 3cm long and 1.5cm width. Slightly overlap and glue a long edge together. Cut away the surplus yellow crepe not glued to the red, then snip a fringe along the yellow edge.

Take a flower wire, insert and glue it into the flat long edge, then roll the crepe tightly around it, leaving the fringed edge splay open in a small burst.

Take a yellow crepe rectangle sized 3×2 cm, run a line of glue lengthways down the middle and then along this, place a thin, tightly rolled length of yellow crepe. Fold over to create a rounded rim, then glue the ends together to create a tube. It may help to shape the tube around a knitting needle. Add glue to the bottom part and adhere to the base of the red and yellow pollen.

Take a strip of white crepe paper, roll and wrap around the base of the pollen to create a bulbous shape. Then take the green tape and seal around the bulb and the top of the wire stem. Repeat eight more times, before wrapping together at the tops of the wire to create a pollen bunch.

Bind the smaller bracts and then the larger bracts around the pollen using the green tape, creating several layers, then repeat with the leaves.

You should now have your very own, long-lasting Christmas flower! Enjoy your crafting!