Top 10 Educational Holiday Kids Crafts

The holidays are a time for snowflakes, celebrations, and holiday foods and crafts. There are many great projects and activities for kids at this time of year, but it’s especially helpful if you can find fun handicrafts that are educational, too! To that end, we’ve rounded up 10 of our favorite educational holiday kids crafts, broken down by educational subject so there’s something for every interest and category.

Science Holiday Kids Crafts

Courtesy of Life Over C’s, used with permission

A Christmas sensory book is a fun, hands-on way for children to use all five senses to explore the holiday season.

Via Little Bins for Little Hands

As parents, you can play an active role in teaching your kids all about STEM. Whether you’re familiar with the ASCII Binary Alphabet or not, making ornaments with coding is a great way to stimulate the budding scientist in both you and your child.

Art Holiday Kids Crafts

With just a few pieces, you can make clothespin snowman ornaments, perfect for creating fun holiday mementos. Add some character with scarves, hats, or even some fun buttons or noses—whatever your heart desires.

Making ornaments is a perfect activity to do as a family during the holidays—and the creations will stay with your kids into their adulthood! These peppermint candy ornaments are a great place to start. They’re easy to make: simply place the candies in metal cookie cutters and bake. And they don’t have to be ornaments. Try putting them on top of presents as a decoration, or even in a candy dish for others to enjoy.

Math Holiday Kids Crafts

Practice symmetry, counting, comparing, and more with this fun candy cane activity. If your child hasn’t learned about symmetry yet, try this interactive activity to introduce the concept first.

Create a simple, fun, and educational game for your student to explore. This snowman counting and number recognition game is quick to put together and uses easy-to-find household objects.

History Holiday Kids Crafts

Courtesy of Lia Griffith, used with permission

Make a paper poinsettia from a napkin, and learn about how the flower became the official plant of Christmas as a fun fact. Another holiday kid craft you can use for decorations around the house or as a gift topper.

Your kids will love creating these snowflakes! Add in a lesson on the science of snowflakes, and you have yourself a well-rounded holiday kid craft.

Literary Holiday Kids Crafts

A good book can ignite a child’s imagination, and there are so many favorite holiday books to choose from. My personal favorite is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and you can make this slime to accompany the holiday story.

There are plenty of holiday books that incorporate snow. From The Snowman to The Christmas Miracle, snow is a fun part of the holiday season, even if you live someplace warm. Along with reading one of your favorite holiday books, why not make your own play snow? Only two ingredients, and your kids will be in for hours of fun.

What crafts are you making for the holidays? Tell us in the comments!

This post originally published December 2014 and has been revised and republished.