Keeping little ones amused can be a tough job when it’s cold and wet outside. Help is at hand though! From dinky little pine cone Christmas trees to paper penguins, here are 10 of the Cutest Winter Crafts for Toddlers to Make. So, with plastic tablecloths at the ready…off we go.

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Winter is here and having more indoor activities up your sleeve is a good idea, particularly for toddlers and preschoolers. We love these easy winter crafts for toddlers because they are perfect for short attention spans!

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Our Favourite Winter Crafts for Toddlers

#1. Glitter Star

Create a pretty glitter star using just contact paper and some gold, sliver or white glitter.

To Make:

• Simply cut a square of contact paper (sticky back paper used to cover books)
• Fold in half and cut a star shape
• Open and peel off backing
• Cover in Glitter and use a hole punch to create a hole for string to hang.

In the same way you could also create Glitter Snowflakes or a Glitter Tree, using green glitter instead of sliver.

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#2. Potato Stamping

A fun and quick idea for winter crafts for toddlers! Cut potatoes in half (let Mum or Dad do this bit) and then cut out an indented shape on each half. For example a leaf or a star or flower shape. If you have a large enough potato and small enough cookie cutters they are easier to cut with than free hand.

Then dip your new stampers into paint and onto your paper to make fun prints.

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#3. Pine Cone Christmas Trees

Aren’t these Pine Cone Christmas Trees from Elementary Art Fun just so cute! And so easy to make too! Just colour your pine cones green, and then decorate. You could even make a whole forest of them!

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#4.Collages

Keep old magazines for making collages or collect some leaves and petals the next time you are outdoors to create a nature collage.

Draw your main design for your collage. It could be a tree or a house or a dinosaur. Let your imagination go wild but just make sure whatever you choose is big enough for sticking things onto.

Then start to fill in your design with either cut out pieces from magazine pages or, if you’re using leaves and petals, stick those on.

You could also add some cotton wool for clouds.

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#5. Salt Dough Ornaments

One of the most popular winter crafts for toddlers is to make up a batch of salt dough and then let your toddler transform it into fun shapes.

Bake it in the oven until it has hardened, then allow it to cool. Now it’s time to get creative –you and your toddler can now paint and decorate the salt dough however you like!

These make ideal Christmas decorations too!

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#6. Paper Heart Penguin

These Love Heart Penguins from Crafty Morning are simple to make using some construction paper and stick on googly eyes!

You could make other characters too including Santa, Reindeer, Snowman, Polar Bear and use cotton wool balls to make soft woolly finishes.

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#7. Toilet Paper Roll Bowls

These fun bowls from Thrive 360 Living are easy to make and will provide hours of indoor fun for both toddlers and older kids.

Best of all they won’t cause any damage if the ball gets thrown too hard!

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#8. Cardboard Christmas Tree

Preschoolers and toddlers will love these little cute cardboard Christmas trees, which are simply made using toilet rolls, rolled up crepe paper, and cardboard. You could draw on the eyes or glue on some googly ones.

These make perfect little Christmas crafts and decorations for younger kids too.

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#9. Christmas Characters

We love this craft project from Kixcereal.com, which shows how you can make your very own little Santa Claus, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.

What a great idea to use tinsel for their noses – it gives a real Christmas flair! Try cotton balls for Santa’s beard and maybe even real twigs for Rudolf’s antlers

#10. Rudolph Hanging Decorations

This one is really easy to do with young children too. It’s another of our favourite winter crafts for toddlers, because it is made with your child’s own footprint and handprints – making it a keepsake to treasure for years to come.

We’ve made them a few years in a row, and it’s lovely to see the decorations getting bigger over the years!

What you need:

• Brown paper (you can use craft paper or just recycle a brown paper bag)
• Pen or pencil
• Googly eyes (available at most craft outlets)
• Red pompom (availabe at most craft outlets), or glitter.
• Glue
• String
• Tape

What you do:

• Trace the child’s footprint on the paper – this will be the reindeer’s head
• Trace the child’s handprints on the paper (both hands) – these will be the antlers

(Note: if you are doing this craft with more than one child, make sure to write their names or initials on the reverse side of each handprint and footprint.)

• Glue the antlers to the back of the head (at the top)
• Glue the googly eyes to the face.  If you don’t have googly eyes, it’s easy to make them from paper – just cut circles from black paper and glue onto ovals cut from white paper.
• Glue the nose (red pompom/glitter) with glue.  If you don’t have a pompom/glitter, you can make the nose from a circle of red paper, felt, etc.
• When the glue is dry, loop the string and tape it to the back of the head between the antlers.
• The reindeer decoration is now ready to hang on the tree.

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What other winter crafts for toddlers do you enjoy with your kids? Leave a comment below and let us know – we’d love to hear from you!