You can turn everyday paper into Christmas trees, snowflakes, ornaments, and keepsakes with these 20 Christmas craft ideas with paper. Construction paper and reused gift wrap keep your supplies affordable, while cardstock gives your hanging decorations a sturdier finish.
For relaxed family crafting, you have plenty of room for crooked stars and unexpected color choices. Your youngest helpers get satisfying jobs with torn paper or fingerprints, while confident crafters get more detailed folding projects.
Keep your Christmas crafts for kids manageable with washable supplies and age-appropriate scissors. You’ll also want adult help available for tricky cutting and small fasteners.
1) Layered Construction Paper Christmas Trees
Get a recognizable Christmas decoration from familiar triangle shapes with layered construction paper trees. Overlapping branches give your artwork depth, even when your younger helpers prefer broad shapes and generous glue.
Your paper scraps have a useful role as tiny ornaments, and different shades of green give each tree its own character. For a simpler variation, your preschooler gets plenty of decorating freedom with prepared shapes. A flat finished tree also fits neatly into your holiday card or classroom display.
2) Fold-and-Cut Paper Snowflakes
With paper snowflakes, you get the surprise of a new pattern each time you unfold your work. Lightweight white paper suits this project because your scissors have fewer thick layers to work through.
You have a natural opening to explore symmetry with older children, while younger helpers enjoy describing the revealed shapes. Keep your designs broad if small cuts feel frustrating. For your window display, a mixture of large and small snowflakes gives you variety without extra decorating supplies.
3) Christmas Paper Chain Garlands
Make a classic Christmas decoration with colorful paper chain garlands. Choose festive papers, cut them into strips, and loop each strip through the last to create a cheerful chain for your tree, mantel, or doorway.
Mix patterns and colors for a playful look, or keep to a simple palette for a coordinated display. Use lightweight paper so the garland hangs easily, and ask an adult to help with cutting if needed.
4) Handprint Paper Christmas Wreath
A handprint paper wreath gives you a holiday decoration that also records your children’s growing hands. The finger shapes suggest leafy greenery, so your finished wreath has plenty of texture with ordinary construction paper.
You can give your handmade Christmas wreath a family connection through a mixture of adult and child handprints. Red paper berries or a paper bow keep the main materials consistent. Your lightweight wreath suits an indoor door, where you’ll protect it from damp weather.
5) Paper Santa Faces
Give Santa plenty of personality with a curly paper beard and an expressive face. The springy paper adds dimension, making this a satisfying choice when your children enjoy decorations that lift away from the page.
Your Santa might have a sleepy smile or rosy cheeks, with a choice of skin tones for the face. Younger children have an accessible variation with broad beard strips and adult help with curling. Leave your finished faces some space on display so the beards keep their shape.
6) Striped Paper Ball Ornaments
Striped paper ball ornaments bring rounded shapes to the tree while keeping paper as the main material. Alternating colors give you a candy-striped look, and leftover patterned gift wrap adds variety.
You’ll get a firmer ornament with cardstock strips, while lightweight paper needs gentler handling. Among your DIY Christmas ornaments, these suit older children who enjoy lining up pieces and adjusting a shape. Keep small paper fasteners under adult control, and store your finished balls in a shallow box to protect their curves.
7) Handprint Reindeer Christmas Cards
Turn a familiar hand outline into a personal Christmas greeting with a handprint reindeer card. Your child’s hand shape gives the reindeer its character, making each card a small record of that year.
As with other handprint crafts, you get keepsake value from an ordinary sheet of paper. Drawn features keep your card flat enough for an envelope. Your younger helper’s dictated message adds a personal touch even before independent writing feels comfortable.
8) Torn Paper Snowman Collages
Torn paper snowmen give you a textured winter craft with very little cutting. Your younger children get useful finger practice as they tear paper, and the uneven edges suit the snowy subject.
A blue background helps your white scraps stand out. Your collage has room for an oversized scarf or a wonderfully lopsided snowman, so neat circles have little importance here. Larger scraps suit your youngest helpers, while older children might enjoy smaller pieces and more detailed winter backgrounds.
9) Folded Paper Star Ornaments
Get crisp shapes and raised surfaces with folded paper star ornaments, making them a satisfying project for more confident crafters. Lightweight paper is a forgiving choice when you’re practicing folds.
Your finished stars suit tree branches or a hanging mobile. For sparkle, your glitter paper crafts work well with a small accent, since thick glitter-backed sheets resist tight folds. A larger star gives your hands more room while you get comfortable with the design.
10) Paper Advent Calendar
Paper advent calendars combines Christmas anticipation with a display full of individual designs. You get 24 small spaces for family notes, with each stocking representing a day from December 1 through Christmas Eve.
A flat-paper version keeps your preparation manageable and suits activity messages written on the reverse. Pocket-style stockings offer space for lightweight notes. Your children have plenty of scope for different patterns, and large handwritten numbers keep the countdown easy to follow across the room.
11) Accordion-Fold Paper Angels
With accordion-fold paper angels, you get pleated wings and dresses from a repeated back-and-forth fold. The fan-like texture gives your decoration movement without a large collection of supplies.
Your children get practice matching edges, with wider folds offering a more manageable variation for less experienced hands. White paper gives your angels a traditional appearance, while patterned gift wrap makes each one distinctive. A paper face keeps your decoration lightweight enough for a small hanging loop.
12) Layered Paper Poinsettia Flowers
Bring bold Christmas color to your paper decorations with layered poinsettias. Broad pointed shapes give the flowers their recognizable appearance, while overlapping layers create depth.
Your red construction paper works well here, with green leaves and small yellow centers providing contrast. Cream or pink paper gives you another seasonal color choice. Larger shapes suit younger helpers, and your older children have room to explore more detailed layers. A finished poinsettia makes a substantial accent for a handmade card or gift package.
13) Mini Paper Christmas Village
A mini paper Christmas village gives older children a longer project with room for imaginative details. Small houses introduce three-dimensional thinking, especially where walls meet roofs.
You have space for a snowy shop or a house modeled loosely on your own. Cardstock helps your buildings hold their shape within your DIY Christmas decor. Younger helpers have a useful role designing flat scenery. A tray gives your village a defined footprint and makes moving the display easier.
14) Paper Reindeer Masks
Paper reindeer masks give you a craft that carries into pretend play. Your children choose their reindeer’s expression and antler shape, with brown cardstock providing a sturdier base for handling.
A handheld version gives you a useful alternative if face coverings feel uncomfortable. For wearable masks, your eye openings need to allow clear vision, and adult help is appropriate for cutting them. Keep your antlers lightweight, and reserve mask play for a clear space where your children have room to move safely.
15) Paper Candy Canes
Paper candy canes offer a relaxed way to explore red-and-white patterns with small paper pieces. The curved outline gives your collage a clear Christmas shape while leaving room for uneven edges.
You have a useful destination for scraps left from other projects. Bigger pieces suit younger children, while smaller squares give confident crafters more control over stripe patterns. Your finished candy cane works as flat artwork, and a cardstock backing gives it extra support for hanging.
16) Paper Gingerbread People Garland
Get a cheerful shared decoration with a paper gingerbread people garland, where each figure has its own outfit and expression. Brown construction paper gives your characters a cookie-like appearance.
Your children have room for paper buttons and white crayon “icing,” with each person taking responsibility for a figure. Separate characters suit mixed ages because your helpers work at their own pace. A garland also gives you a practical display for several small artworks without needing individual frames.
17) Christmas Paper Lanterns
Christmas paper lanterns add an open, sculptural shape to a shelf or hanging display. Repeated slits give your older children a focused cutting activity, with adult help appropriate for younger crafters.
Red and green paper gives your lanterns a familiar holiday palette, while reused gift wrap brings ready-made patterns. For illuminated displays, use only battery-powered LED lights and keep battery compartments secured from children. Your unlit lanterns also work as decorations, especially when several sizes share the same display space.
18) Embroided Christmas Gift Tags
Add a handmade touch to your presents with Christmas gift tags decorated using simple yarn shapes. Create festive designs (like trees, stars, or candy canes) on sturdy tags for a colorful detail that makes each gift feel personal.
Keep the shapes simple so they’re easy to follow, and secure the yarn ends neatly on the back. Use a hole punch and ribbon or string to attach each tag to a gift.
19) Paper Nativity Scene
Paper Nativity scenes gives your family or faith-based classroom a hands-on way to explore the Christmas story. Your paper figures create a setting for conversations about Mary, Joseph, and the birth of Jesus.
You have an accessible option in a flat scene, while standing cardstock figures offer older children a more involved project. Your younger helpers might focus on the animals or star. A modest number of figures keeps your display manageable and leaves space for children to describe the story in their own words.
20) Toilet Roll Christmas Lantern
Turn cardboard toilet rolls into festive little lanterns with colorful felt roofs and cheerful embellishments. Add an LED fairy-light strand inside to give your creation a cozy Christmas glow.
Decorate the outside with lightweight materials, and make sure the lights fit comfortably without overheating. Use battery-operated LEDs rather than real candles, and have an adult help with cutting.