Children's Yuletide Crafts and Activities

The Story of Yule by Rachel Walker

Meagan and the Yule Solstice by Kathryn Dyer

Read about The Yule Faeries

or A Yule Poem: The Childs' Wonder

Make yummy treats for the birds and other wildlife!

Crafts for Yule

Holda is known throughout Northern Europe as the Goddess of spinners, fertility and vegetation. She is remembered during the winter season, especially during Yule when we make offerings for a new year full of good things such as plenty of food, good health for ourselves and our animals. Here at Mama Moon's farm we ask for a good growing season for our fruits and vegetables that we grow and that our chickens stay healthy and lay plenty of eggs.

This is a lovely decoration that can be done by children of all ages.


Glittering Snowflakes for Holda

Paper
scissors (safety scissors for the wee ones, older children can experiment with the crafty edging scissors used in scrapbooking)
wax paper
craft glue
paint brush
glitter (your choice of color)
paper punch
thread or thin string

With a square piece of white paper fold on the diagonal point to point to make a triangle, fold again in the same way to from a smaller triangle, repeat to desired size. With a pair of scissors cut away at the paper in various designs, the specially edged scissors make a fine design. Then on wax paper smooth out flat and with a paint brush spread on a thin layer of glue. Sprinkle with glitter and let dry. Flip over and repeat with glue and glitter on the other side. When dry poke a hole in one end and run a length of thread or string through the hole and your glittered snowflake is ready to hang.

Goddess Snow Globe

a project ideal for older children or with adult supervision

Almost any jar works for the project. Baby-food, pimiento, and olive jars are good choices. Look for plastic or ceramic figurines or any other item (metal rusted) at a craft store, Wal Mart or other similar store. We used unpainted ceramic figures we found at Michael's. Synthetic evergreen tips are available at many floral-supply stores. If the jar lids are not in seasonal colors already, paint them with oil-based enamel paint. Sand the inside of the lid until the surface is rough. With clear-drying epoxy, adhere the figurine to the inside of the lid, and let the epoxy dry. We let ours dry 3 days. Wanted to make sure it would stay on good.

Fill the jar almost to the top with distilled water; add a pinch of glitter and a dash of glycerin (available at drugstores) to keep the glitter from falling too quickly. Don't add too much or the glitter will stick to the bottom of the jar when it's flipped. Screw on the lid tightly, being careful not to dislodge the figurine. Turn the jar over and back again-and let it snow.

http://members.fortunecity.com/aspellortwo/ml-craft.html

Holiday Sponge Art

White paper
Scissors
Dry sponge
Ballpoint pen
Water colors (red & green)

Draw a yuletide motif on white paper. Then, with your parents help, cut out and place on a dry sponge (one with tiny holes in the sponge are the best). Then trace the pattern with your ballpoint pen and cut out the shape (again, with your parents help). Then, dip in paint, squeeze excess paint out and blot onto either plain white or solid colored wrapping paper. You can stamp each sponge several times before re-dipping in the paint. This even dresses up plain newspaper wrapping! Great for any time of the year!

Make Butter Mints at Gingerbread Grandma's!
Or how about Reindeer Poop!

Salt Dough Ornaments

2c. flour
1c. salt
1c. water

Mix salt and flour add half of the water and mix. Add remaining water gradually and mix. Knead for about 10 min. Roll out, shape or cut out as desired poke holes with a straw or toothpick so they can be hung. Bake at 325* for 1 1/2 hrs or more (thicker pieces will take longer) let cool completely. paint, let dry and seal with acrylic sealer or a glue like Elmers or Mod Podge

Snowflakes: Grow Your Own

The cold weather is clearly here, but where is the snow? I don't mind the cold weather so much as long as there is snow, but I feel cheated when it's just cold! If you feel the same way, you may want to try making your own snowflakes. These are much longer lasting indoors and can be used to decorate windows. It's not the real thing, but for now, it's the next best thing!

To make your snowflakes you will need the following:

string
wide mouth pint jar
white pipe cleaners, additional blue ones might be nice to try also
blue food coloring (optional)
boiling water (with adult help)
borax (available at grocery stores in the laundry soap section, as 20 Mule Team Borax Laundry Booster - NOT Boraxo soap)
pencil

First, a warning for little folk: if you want to try this be sure to have an adult help you with the boiling water!

The first thing to do is make the frame for your snowflake. Take a pipe cleaner and cut it into three equal sections and then twist them together in the middle so you have a six pointed star. Trim the ends of any sides that stick out further than the others. Now tie the piece of string along the outer edges of each of the pipe cleaner ends.

Next, tie a piece of string to the end of one of the pipe cleaner sides and attach it to the pencil so that your snowflake frame can hang freely. You will want it long enough that the frame can hang down inside the jar when you lay the pencil along the mouth of the jar It shouldn't be so long that it touches the bottom of the jar. Don't leave the frame in the jar yet.

Now you boil the water and add it to the jar. Stir in the borax a tablespoon at a time until you have 3 or 4 tablespoons per cup of water stirred in well. Mix it well but don't worry if there is a bit of powder settling to the bottom of the jar. If you want to add a few drops of food colouring, now is the time.

The last thing to do is suspend your snowflake frame in the jar of borax solution and let it sit overnight. By morning you should have a lovely crystal snowflake which you can use to decorate your windows or tree. You can experiment with variations with shape and colour and really have some fun.

Now, the science behind all this is rather simple. Borax is a crystal with a flat side and symmetrical shape. The crystals may vary in size, but they all have the same shape. We use boiling water because it can hold more borax crystals than cold or warm water. We saturated the hot water with borax crystals until it could hold no more. As the water cools and evaporates, the crystals can no longer stay suspended in the water. We gave them a nice snowflake shape to deposit on. Crystals begin to form and build on one another as the water lets go of the excess borax and evaporates.

Source: http://starryskies.com/articles/2002/11/snow.crystals.html
Copyright © 1995 - 2002
Chuck Peters, Systems Administrator, and Kathy Miles, Author
contact@starryskies.com.