Eco-friendly Activities & Easy Crafts For Kids’ Christmas Break

Looking for something to do with the kids at home when they’re on break from school? Well here’s six eco-friendly activities and easy crafts for a kids’ Christmas break for you to try.

Updated 8/27/2022

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Holiday season usually means a break from school with the kids at home. Are you trying to rack your brain on something fun to do? Well I’ve found these six eco-friendly and easy crafts for kids to be a hit. Some of them are Christmas-y and some are more general winter activities and crafts. A few of them are hands-on with parents and others are great for sitting back and watching (or if you’re like me, get a few chores done!). So try out a few of these easy winter crafts and activities with your kids!

Activities & Easy Crafts for Kids’ Christmas Break

Supplies for All Winter Crafts

We personally are trying to use up all our existing art supplies before purchasing more eco-friendly supplies. It’s always best to use up what you have before buying new eco-friendly products.

Now onto the eco-friendly activities and easy crafts for a kids’ Christmas break!

1. Winter Nature Walks

Where can you get some of the best “art supplies”?! Outside in nature is a great resource for some eco-friendly craft supplies! I’ve always found that getting my child outside and exposed to nature helps his day go better. So even when it’s cold out, get outside! It’s all about dressing for the weather, and at least for me, if my kid is warm and comfortable then he’s more than happy to be outside.

So grab a reusable bag, bundle up if needed, and go wander the backyard, neighborhood, or park. We specifically collect twigs and pinecones during this winter season for some of these activities and crafts. Winter nature walks are a fun winter activity to get some fresh air and prepare for future eco-friendly winter crafts and activities!

2. Twig Trees

If anyone knows me, I love creating things with twigs and branches (there are a lot in our house!). These can make great ornaments or gifts for others! I love to hang them on everything from vases to plants to our Christmas tree. They can also make cute holiday gift tags!

Materials: Assortment of twigs, Twine, Hot glue, Scissors

• Set out all your twigs and sticks and arrange them in largest to smallest like a tree
• Trim twigs to specific lengths if needed
• Cut a twine piece the length of the tree
• Run hot glue along twine and place twigs in the arranged order
• Trim any twine if needed and then use for decoration! You can have extra twine at the top to make a loop to hang from.

3. Ice cube painting

A fun winter craft for kids that I enjoy is painting with ice cubes! It FYI, this can be messy so be prepared!

Materials: Popsicle sticks or any stick really, Paint, Ice Cube Tray, Paper, Tin foil (optional)

• Fill your ice cube tray half full with paint, and fill the rest with water
• Place popsicle stick in each ice cube compartment. You can wrap tin foil over the top of the tray and stick the popsicle sticks through there if you want them to stand up straight. But that’s optional and you can always just let them lean.
• Place tray in the freezer and wait until frozen
• Pop out the frozen cubes, give your kid(s) some paper, and let them paint with the ice cubes as they melt!

If the paper dries well and isn’t too torn up, this can make great little hand-colored wrapping paper or gift tags for Christmas!

4. Ice Soup

Seriously, if I add water to any activity, my kid goes nuts and plays with it for an hour! This is a super simple winter activity that’s not super Christmas-y, but is great fun to do over Christmas break. Things will get wet, so I suggest doing the activity on hard flooring and having towels ready!

Materials: Bucket or Sensory Table, Ice, Bowls, Utensils (spoons, tongs, etc.), and Towels

• Literally dump a bunch of ice into a bucket/tray and fill the rest with water (cool water so you don’t melt it immediately!)
• Give your kid(s) bowls, spoons, colanders or whatever random assortment of utensils
• Sit back to watch them play!

My little one came up to me a few times to dry his hands and warm them for a minute with a towel. After a few minutes, he then went straight back to playing until all the ice melted.

Tip: If you don’t want a toy or something to get wet, make sure it’s not nearby. My little one was using his imagination and created a boat for his Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. It was awesome, but it took the rest of the day to dry which he didn’t like!

5. Christmas Toilet Roll Shadows

It gets dark really early for us in the winter so having a winter craft and activity to do in the dark is fun! These Christmas inspired toilet paper roll shadows are fun for our little one right now as he loves lights and stories. It’s one of the best easy crafts for a kids’ Christmas. I made a little worksheet that pre-sized all the designs to fit within a roll, so feel free to download it down below to make this quick and easy!

Materials: Toilet Paper Rolls, Glue Stick, Scissors, Flashlight or Phone Light

• Print out or draw some fun Christmas inspired shapes (download the ones below or search for Christmas silhouettes on the internet)
• Double-check that the shape isn’t too big and then cutout the shape
• Center the shape on the toilet paper roll tube and glue the little black arms to the tube.
• Shine a flashlight into the end of the tube in a dark room and make up some fun stories!

When you’re done, tuck them away for another playtime. FYI my toddler is a little too young to cut out these small shapes, so I created the craft, but he thoroughly enjoyed getting to play with the shadows later!

6. Salt Snowflakes

Who doesn’t like a cute little handmade snowflake?! Just like real snowflakes, they’re always different. I’ve found my little one always loves to shake things when he’s creating something, so salt snowflakes are a great eco-friendly fun winter craft for kids. Pssst you can also do something besides a snowflake!

Materials: Salt or Sugar, Liquid Glue, Construction Paper, Empty Shaker (optional)

• Take a fun colored piece of construction paper and create a snowflake pattern with glue.
• Place the paper in a bin and have your kid shake salt or sugar all over it.
• Pick up one corner of the paper and shake off excess salt.
• Hang up it up on your fridge or give it as gift to a family member!
• Optional – Funnel leftover salt into an empty shaker to use and repeat this craft!

You could even cut around the snowflake shape, punch a hole in the top, thread with twine, and you have a new snowflake ornament to decorate with! 

Tip: I poured some salt into an empty spice shaker, so that my little one didn’t use ALL my salt. This also let me use a funnel and refill the shaker with the leftover salt that didn’t stick to the glue! Saves you salt!

Well there’s 6 eco-friendly and easy crafts for kids’ Christmas to do over winter break. Activities and crafting are a great way to spend some quality time with your kids!

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Hope this roundup of eco-friendly fun winter crafts and activities gives you a lot of fun options to play and learn with your little ones! Let us know what you think of the winter crafts and activities in the comments below!

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