4 Holiday Craft Ideas for Chicago Families

If you’re stuck inside thanks to the winter weather in Chicago, make the most of it with these easy and fun holiday craft ideas for kids! Make adorable Christmas tree ornaments, fun holiday slime, and sparkly snowflakes.

1. Build sparkly snowflake decorations

2. Make festive holiday slime

3. Make your own stars (and Stars of David!)

4. Create cute tree ornaments

1) Build sparkly snowflake decorations

Here’s an easy craft project that requires just a few materials: popsicle sticks, hot glue, and creative accessorizing.

Materials You’ll Need

• Popsicle sticks in a variety of colors

• Hot glue

• Glitter

• Pom poms

• Rhinestone stickers

• Twine

Instructions

1. Arrange 4 popsicle sticks in a star or snowflake shape. Glue each of them together.

2. Cut a length of twine to use as a hanger and glue it to the back of one stick.

3. Now, let the kids go wild with decorating their snowflakes! They can add glitter, fuzzy pom poms, or shiny rhinestone stickers to their snowflakes. 

4. Not enough room for your snowflakes on the Christmas tree? Create a garland by stringing them together and hang them on your mantle, or on a wall!

2) Make festive holiday slime

A fun sensory activity that kids little and big will love! Remember to wash your hands before and after making your slime. You can put wax paper down on your work surface to protect it from food dye and gooey slime, too.

Psst...try these holiday-inspired color combinations for your slime:

• Clear slime with red, white, and green sequins

• White slime with gold star confetti

• Red slime with silver glitter

• Blue slime with snowflake confetti

Materials You’ll Need

• One 6 oz bottle of Elmer’s glue

• Bowl

• Food dye (optional)

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• 1 ½ tablespoon of contact lens solution (must include boric acid)

• Wax paper

• Sequins, glitter, or confetti

Instructions

1. Add glue to the bowl. If you want your slime to be a holiday-inspired color, add a couple drops of your chosen food dye to the glue. 

2. Add ½ tsp of baking soda and mix well. For stretchier slime, add 1-2 tablespoons of water. You can add up to ¼ cup of water to get the consistency you want.

3. If you’re using festive sequins, glitter, or confetti, add it now and stir.

4. Add 1 ½ tbsp of contact solution slowly to the bowl, mixing and kneading as you go along.

5. Transfer the slime to a flat surface and continue to mix and knead until it reaches a slime consistency.

6. Have fun! Store your slime in an airtight container when you’re not using it. 

3) Make your own stars (and Stars of David!)

Celebrate Hanukkah or create your own starry nights with this cute popsicle stick craft! Add rhinestones or shiny stickers for extra sparkle.

Materials You’ll Need

• Popsicle sticks in many different colors (or paint to choose your own colors!)

• Glue

• String

• Decorations like shiny gems or sequins

Instructions

1. Pick out six popsicle sticks. 

2. Paint them if you don’t have colored ones!

3. Glue three popsicle sticks to form a triangle. Glue the remaining three into a triangle. 

4. Put your two triangles on top of each other to make a Star of David shape and glue the popsicle sticks in place.

5. Decorate with glitter, sequins, stickers, etc.

6. Hang each star on a string or create a chain of stars!

4) Create cute tree ornaments

We love this quick and easy craft project that creates festive Christmas trees out of yarn and cardboard!

Materials You’ll Need

• Green yarn

• Spare cardboard

• Scissors

• Glue

• Pom poms, sequins, or stick on gems

Instructions

1. Cut triangles out of your cardboard to create Christmas tree shapes. 

2. Tie the yarn in the middle of a triangle. Add lots of glue to one side of the triangle.

3. Wrap the yarn all around the triangle, covering the glue and the cardboard. When you’re finished, tie the yarn and cut off any excess.

4. Add “ornaments” to the tree by gluing on pom poms or sequins, or adding stick on gems!

5. Tie an extra length of yarn to the top of your tree so it can hang as an ornament.

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