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First things first, don’t let the lack of Christmas content so far over here on Jodetopia throw you off – I am SO excited for Christmas this year! 2020 has been a sack of coal with lockdown, that’s for sure, so I’m throwing myself full pelt into the festivities to spread joy. If you’ve got a toddler at home that you’re trying to entertain throughout December then this post is for you, because here’s something you can get started on NOW for Christmas – cards! Cards are always my go to when my son is in a crafty mood or wants to colour in. They’re quick, easy, and your family all secretly love a good homemade DIY Christmas card from their precious little bundle of joy! Here’s 3 easy DIY Toddler Christmas card ideas.
P.S – why not ask your recipient to open their card on Zoom, and pair it with a virtual scavenger hunt to make more of a day out of it?!
My toddler loves doing handprints! This toddler handprint Christmas card idea is super quick and easy, and lets your child get covered in paint, which means it’s lots of fun for them (even if the tidying up is not so much fun for us adults!).
Firstly, you’ll want a paper plate, plastic chopping board or some kind of flat tray. Pour a small amount of non-toxic, ideally washable, brown paint onto your surface, and allow your child to get stuck in and get their hand covered in paint. Alternatively, you could paint their hands yourself with a paintbrush, or use a giant ink pad and press your child’s hands onto that.
You then want to press their hand gently onto a piece of plain card or paper, carefully lifting it away to create a handprint. If your child moves, the handprint will be smudged – but that’s all part of the joy of homemade cards, they’re never perfect!
When the handprint is dry, you can then turn it into a reindeer by using PVA glue to apply two wiggly eyes and a red pom pom, or red piece of card, for the nose. You will be left with a simple but effective and fun handmade toddler handprint Christmas card, that acts as a great keepsake – everyone loves looking at how small children’s handprints are!
A great way to expand this play for older children is to use this as an opportunity to learn about colour mixing. There are a few different ways to mix brown paint – can you and your child explore all the different options? Let your child physically mix the colours themselves and watch in fascination as the red, yellow and blue all mix and change into brown!
READ NEXT: My top tips to reduce the mess and stress of messy play!
Footprint Christmas cards are the easiest idea for younger babies who can’t yet paint and colour themselves, or if you don’t like the mess of traditional crafting. We chose to do footprint Christmas cards for my son’s first Christmas last year when he was about 9 months old and they were so popular with the recipients! We tried a few different footprint designs, but the mistletoe Christmas card design was by far my favourite!
For our mistletoe baby footprint Christmas card design, you’ll need green paint; choose from non toxic washable paint or an ink pad, and you’ll also need plain card or paper.
Creating the footprint is simple – cover your baby’s foot in paint, or gently press their foot onto the ink pad, and then place your baby’s foot onto the paper, applying gentle pressure to transfer the paint. Be careful when lifting baby’s foot off the paper, else it might smudge! You want to do two footprints, both with the heel in the same place but rotated slightly. If you have older babies or toddlers who are walking, you could let them stomp their feet down themselves – this could be great fun!
Once the paint is dry, add your decorations! I drew holly leaves above the footprints and wrote ‘Arthur’s mistletoes’. You could decorate the ‘mistletoes’ however you want – if you have an older child, you could let them add glitter, pom poms or even a real sprig of mistletoe! You’ll be left with some truly great footprint Christmas cards.
My top tip: let your toddler paint without clothes on, use washable paints (these are our favourites!), and then just plonk them straight in the bath when you’re finished!
If handprints and footprints are a bit too precise, and you need something a bit more freestyle: I’ve got you covered. One of my favourite things to do with Arthur is let him scribble or paint away to his heart’s content, and then use his scribbles to make it into a shape afterwards!
Simply use your green paint sticks, paint or pens and let your child at it. When their masterpiece has dried, you can use a black marker to draw the outline of a Christmas tree on top of their green mess. Afterwards, you can then decorate your Christmas tree with stickers, glitter, pipe cleaners... whatever you like!
The great thing is – this works for any shape, not just Christmas trees! Why not use red paint and draw Santa’s hat? Or a present? If it’s someone’s birthday, draw balloons!
Looking for more toddler Christmas card ideas? Look no further, I’ve got you covered!
Why not try making a mono print Christmas tree card with nothing more than paint and a calpol syringe?! This is a great way of utilising an everyday piece of equipment from your home and turning it into a fun stamp for your little one!
If you loved the reindeer handprint card design above, you’ll love these fingerprint Christmas card ideas from Mum Savvy Savings!
Got any spare bubble wrap lying around that you’re not sure what to do with? Why not try out these bubble wrap printed cards?!
Is your little one obsessed with stealing your hole puncher? There’s even a toddler Christmas card idea for that!
