Since we are approaching Christmas time (yippee!), I thought it would be fun to do some family-friendly projects. At my workplace today, another girl and I sat down and made paper chains, and yet another girl and I braided garland to decorate our workroom. Last night, via Webcam, a friend of mine taught me how to do origami, which was fun. Being a visual learner, I need pictures or video instruction, so learning via webcam was easy for me. I made some flowers and ornaments, which is about it. I am still learning. I like paper crafts a lot, however, so gather the children! We are making paper Christmas decorations with children!

I am going to try to make my instructions as clear as possible. My scanner needs fixed and my digital camera is out of commission; please forgive me. Oh gosh…lots of reading coming your way!

STAR SANTA

The Santa star was one my first paper ornaments I made when I was younger. My family rarely had money to buy fancy ornaments, so we had hand-me-down ornaments from my grandmother, ornaments that we kids made at school, and random paper ornaments. The Santa star is really easy to make and great for the 3-5 year-old set (parental help suggested).

Materials: Red, black, and pink construction paper, one large cotton ball, two blue beads, glitter (optional), ruler, glue

1) Fold your red piece of paper in half width-wise. Starting from the folded edge, have an adult cut out a star by starting at the top of the star and cutting down and slightly diagonally, making the side about 3 inches in length. Then start cutting toward your hand that is holding the paper, not the scissors for about another three inches. Create a point and go down and diagonally for another 3 inches. Repeat this step once more, except you will cut down and diagonally for 3 inches (toward the right or left, depending on how you are holding your paper), create a point, and go up and diagonally until you reach the fold. Open the star.

2) Cut a quarter-sized circle from the pink construction paper for the face. Cut out two small circles that are smaller than dimes for hands. Cut a quarter of an inch by 6-inch piece of black paper for a belt.

3) Dab some glue on the back of the pink circle and place the circle at the bottom of the upper star-point, in the section where three points meet. Place the black strip across the center of the star body. Glue the two small circles at the ends of the horizontal points for the hands.

4) Take two blue beads and add them to the upper center of the larger pink circle for eyes. You may also take two blue beads and add them to the center of the body slightly above the belt for buttons.

5) Take the large cotton ball and make it fluffy by pulling at it. Next, Take a quarter of the cotton ball and fluff it up and out to create a triangular beard for Santa. Take the remainders of the cotton ball and put “fur” around Santa’s wrists, hat, and ankles. Create a pom pom for his hat.

6) Take a very small piece of pink paper and put it in the center of Santa’s beard for a nose.

7) Take your glue and make a C-shape on the center of the belt. Sprinkle the glue with glitter and shake off the excess. Take the glue and add some to Santa’s feet. Put gold glitter over it and shake off the excess.

Poke a hole in the top center of Santa’s hat and add some string to turn him into an ornament.

That was easy! Within the next few days, I will add more kid-friendly crafts.

Love always,

Marisol