Crafts for Christmas and winter with cotton wool: cute ideas for children and as decoration

Are you looking for creative craft ideas for the holidays? Take a look here at what you can make with cotton for Christmas. The ideas are kid-friendly but fun for the whole family!

Foto: Shutterstock / Fedrick Tan

Christmas is just around the corner and we're starting to get into the real festive spirit. My family spends Christmas almost the same way every year - we go on trips into the city, drink hot chocolate at home, listen to Christmas music and do crafts. I taught the children how to do crafts as an activity at an early age and we constantly try out new projects together.

For Christmas I like to make crafts with simple materials. For example, I recently wrote an articleChristmas craft ideas with toilet paper rollspublished. Another material that we almost always use is cotton wool. Whether normal cotton wool, cotton pads, cotton balls or cotton swabs, everything has embellished our Christmas crafts. The white color and structure of the cotton wool are perfect for recreating snow. You can also use it to imitate Santa Claus' beard. Below I've collected a collection of great Christmas cotton craft ideas that you can try with your kids over the holidays. Have fun!

Hand outline of Santa Claus making crafts with cotton wool

Foto: Shutterstock / Zzzenia

When my daughter was 5 years old, she loved making her hand outlines. Back then I received many colorful hand outline pictures as gifts. The first idea in this collection would definitely appeal to children of this age. The outlines of the hands are decorated to look like Santa Claus. You will need cotton wool for the beard and the pompom of the hat.

Foto: Shutterstock / Zzzenia

The craft instructions are really simple. After drawing the hand outline with part of the wrist, cut it out and rotate it so that the fingers point downwards. Round the wrist area with the scissors and connect to the thumb outline. This is how the hat is made. Then paint the hat red and decorate as you wish. Draw mouth, cheeks and eyes or glue googly eyes. Then apply a good amount of glue to the four remaining finger outlines and stick cotton wool on them. The more, the better. It should be a full beard. Then glue a cotton ball to the end of the hat and you're done.

Tipp: For this project, using salt dough instead of paper for the outlines makes for some great oneshomemade Christmas presentsfrom the children to the grandparents.

Funny snowmen made of cotton balls

Photo:@early_years_steph/ Instagram

Children love snowmen! And if there is no snow, you can conjure up some with cotton wool. The white cotton balls are best suited for this craft idea. Glue two to three of them together to build the snowmen. Then glue googly eyes and add noses and scarves made from pipe cleaners. So simple, but so sweet!

Also interesting:Make a penguin with cotton wool, toilet roll, paper plates and cups

Make your own cotton pad angel + video

Foto: Shutterstock / Natalia Lebedinskaia

Another popular craft idea for the holidays is angels. The Christmas angel is a symbol of the festival and can becraft in numerous variations. This is one of the simplest of them. All you need is cotton pads (2 per angel), wooden beads and string. You can watch the individual steps in the video below.

Make snow garlands with cotton wool

Foto: Shutterstock / woodpencil

If you want to add a few final details to your Christmas decorations, you can make these dreamy snow garlands. They can be hung anywhere, but are a great decoration for the window. If you already have some Swedish stars at your disposal, they will shine in a new light thanks to the garland.

The crafting method is simple. You will need cotton balls again, as well as fishing line and a needle. And I'm sure you already know how to do it: thread the needle, string the cotton and make as many garlands as you need. To hang, tie a loop at the end of the garland.

Make a snow globe out of paper with children

Foto: Shutterstock / shine.graphics

Making a snow globe is a really fun activity for the kids during the holidays. You can make classic snow globes or...popular motifs such as Disney's Frozento include. A much quicker idea that the little ones will also find interesting are DIY paper snow globes. I recommend using colored paper. You need blue for the ball, brown for the base and other colors of your choice for the decoration inside the ball. Motifs such as Christmas trees, snow-covered houses, snowmen and reindeer are best suited. Glue the selected motif in the middle of the ball and make the falling artificial snow from small pieces of cotton wool. Glue these with glue and the paper snow globe is ready.

DIY snow crystals from cotton swabs

Foto: Shutterstock / Elena Chevalier

Oh, these snowflakes are so pretty! It's hard to believe they're just made out of cotton swabs. We already have some for youbeautiful craft ideas for paper snowflakesshown, but these delicate ice crystals certainly give them a run for their money. Here's how you can do it with your children:

Foto: Shutterstock / Elena Chevalier
  • Cut the cotton swabs into pieces of different sizes. Sometimes just the cotton part, sometimes half of it, sometimes just the sticks in smaller sections.
  • Use the larger pieces for the base of the snowflake and the smaller ones for the details.
  • Arrange the pieces on the table first until you are happy with the design of the snow crystals, then glue everything in place with the hot glue gun.

Tipp: The snowflakes are perfect for decoration! Add hangers and decorate branches, windows or the Christmas tree.

You might also like these winter decoration ideas:Winter decorations with fairy lights: Beautiful craft ideas for January