Paper Plate Santa Claus

Here is another Santa craft that Mia and I did last year when she was 2 1/2. She really enjoyed using all the cotton balls!

Materials:

• paper plate
• peach colored crayon (or colored pencil or paint)
• red construction paper
• scissors
• glue
• cotton balls
• 2 googly eyes
• pink pom pom
• red crayon (or marker or colored pencil)

Directions:

1. Using crayon, color a paper plate a peach color (or whatever "flesh" color you want Santa to be.) You could also use colored pencil or paint, however, if you use paint you will have to wait for it to dry.
2. Cut a piece of red construction paper to form Santa's hat. Ours is curved, but you could make a simple triangle if you prefer. Glue the hat onto the top third of the paper plate.
3. Glue on 2 googly eyes and a pink pom pom nose.
4. For Santa's beard, we glued on two rows of cotton balls. (I spread the glue and Mia applied the cotton balls.) We pulled one cotton ball gently to make Santa's mustache and glued that below the nose.
5. In the space between the mustache and beard, use a red crayon (or colored pencil or marker) to draw a mouth. (You may want to do that before gluing on cotton balls if you are concerned about placement.)
6. Add a row of cotton balls to the brim of Santa's hat and glue one more onto the tip. Allow all of the glue to dry and display your paper plate Santa Claus.

Hand Print Santa Claus

Here is a project Mia and I did last year, when she was 2 1/2. I don't remember where I found the idea originally but here is one example I found online. Another cute idea is found here.

Materials Needed: 

• green construction paper (or any color)
• pink construction paper
• white paint
• paint brush
• red pom pom
• 2 googly eyes
• red craft foam (or paper or felt)
• red crayon (marker or colored pencil)
• cotton ball (or white pom poms)
• scissors
• glue

Directions:

1. Cover child's palm with white paint. Foam brushes work well for this. We used washable paint, and it looks somewhat transparent. Acrylic paint may look better.
2. On green construction paper (or any color) press child's hand down to make a hand print. We used 1/2 sheet of paper since Mia's hand was small. Allow paint to dry.
3. Cut a circle out of pink construction paper. Ours was about 2 inches in diameter. Then, cut away about 1/3 of the circle, curving it slightly. Glue onto the paper above the white hand print to make Santa's face. (You could use another color of paper if you don't want a pink Santa.)
4. Glue on 2 googly eyes.
5. Glue on a red pom pom to make the nose.
6. Using a red crayon, colored pencil, or marker, draw a small mouth in the white beard, leaving a small section of white above it to be the mustache part of Santa's beard.
7. Cut a hat from red craft foam, felt, or paper and glue on top of Santa's head. Ours is curved, but you could make a simple triangle if you prefer.
8. Take a cotton ball and gently pull it apart, making a small ball to glue at the tip of Santa's hat and some fluffy trim to glue down on the brim of the hat. You could also use white pom poms.
9. Allow all glue to dry and then display your hand print Santa or give it as a gift. Grandparents love kid-created stuff!