Reindeer Reindeer Ornament Craft	Tree Painting Christmas Tree Handprint Painting	Pointsettia Pointsettia Christmas Craft	Santa Ornament Santa Printable Ornament
Snowmen Ornament Snowmen Family Ornament	Angel Handprint Angel Craft	Christmas Tree Handprint Christmas Tree Craft	Santa Handprint Santa Card Craft

Check out all of our handprint crafts and the rest of our Christmas crafts and activities, too!

I silently said to myself, “Seriously? Nesting paper dolls? I’m drawing nested paper dolls?!”.

I thought I would want to draw pretty farm scenes, or cute illustrations trying to be a Helen Dardik wannabe. Nope, I drew out paper dolls, put my markers away, and haven’t felt like drawing since. I don’t think I’ll ever have myself figured out.

So today I broke out my ancient copy of Adobe Illustrator and put these Santa nesting dolls together. I thought they were cute in the drawing, but I have to say I think they are pretty dang adorable once you put them together!

Christmas Paper Craft Santas

How to Make These Christmas Paper Craft Santas

These couldn’t be easier to make – print out one of each of the following 4 nesting dolls, then cut out each of them.

Santa Nesting Doll - X Large	Santa Nesting Doll - Large
Santa Nesting Doll - Medium	Santa Nesting Doll - Small

Nesting Santa Doll Tower

Then I’m going to recommend a step that you will probably be inclined to skip. Trust me on this, don’t skip the following step – it makes it SO MUCH EASIER to assemble them. So what is this mystery step?

Score your folds

You don’t need a fancy bone folder, I just used a pen with no ink and a small ruler (though I’ve decided I’m sticking this bone folder into my own Christmas stocking this year!). When you score these folds, your fold lines are effortlessly crisp and exact. I never thought the extra step was worth it, until I tried it. Now I never fold paper crafts without scoring first! And actually, it makes the folding easier and faster, so it doesn’t really seem like an ‘extra step’ at all.

Next, make all of your folds before you add any glue. And using a glue stick is the best route for this project – instant stickiness with no mess. Then when you go back to add glue to the white glue tabs, the whole nesting doll almost naturally assembles itself.

Do this to all of the dolls and get playing with them!

More Printable Christmas Crafts

You might also want to check out these printable Christmas pinwheels or these Christmas mandala coloring pages (print them on Shrinky Dink ink jet plastic!).

Christmas Bubble Letter Set

More Christmas Printables

Christmas math worksheets

Christmas coloring pages (plus Christmas animal coloring pages)

Gift box templates

Christmas word puzzles

Paper Snowflakes

Paper Snowflake Craft	Paper Snowflake Tutorial	Snowflake Mobile	10 Printable Snowflake Templates

Snowflake Crafts for Kids

String Snowflake Craft	Beaded Snowflake Bracelet	Polymer Clay Snowflake Ornaments	Pretty Snowflake Decorations
Pipe Cleaner Snowflakes	Easy Q-Tip Snowflake Craft	Preschool Snowflake Painting	Cute Button Snowflake Ornament

More Winter Crafts

You might also like my paper plate penguin craft, printable snowflake pinwheels or these easy Christmas handprint crafts, too. I also have a lot of Christmas coloring pages over on Animal Jr.!

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Here’s a really cute Christmas craft of a paper plate penguin that is easy enough for preschoolers to make.

Paper Plate Penguin Preschool Craft

What You Need to Make a Paper Plate Penguin:

• Two paper plates
• Scissors
• Glue
• Orange and black paint, crayons or markers
• Googly eyes (optional)

How to Make a Paper Plate Penguin:

1. Cut up a paper plate as shown. This craft uses every piece you cut out so don’t throw anything away!

Paper plate penguin craft template

2. Paint the two wings black and the three triangles orange.

3. Paint a black v-shaped ‘hairline’ on the penguin’s head as shown.

4. After the paint has dried, glue the two wings onto the top rim of second paper plate, the big orange triangle onto the penguin face for it’s beak, and the two small orange triangles onto the bottom rim of the plate for it’s feet.

5. Glue two googly eyes above the penguin’s beak, or just color them onto the face if you don’t have any googly eyes laying around.

For more preschool Christmas crafts, try these easy Christmas handprint crafts, or the penguin coloring page in this set of winter bird coloring pages.

But these Christmas letters could be used for just about anything – Christmas cards, stencils, signs, embroidery initials… you name it. And I even went the extra mile on this set and included lowercase letters in addition to a captial letters set. Kind of a pain, but worth it for Christmas projects!

Christmas Alphabet Letters

More Christmas Printables

You might also like these printable gift box templates, Christmas coloring pages, Christmas pinwheels or all of our Christmas crafts for kids!

I absolutely love this craft I did last weekend with the family. Technically you could also use it for a Hanukkah craft, too. It was super simple and easy to paint, and took very little time as well. This is the kind of thing that I am going to bring out every year with a warm smile on my face, remembering when our thumbprints were these sizes:

Family Keepsake Plate Craft

What You Need to Make This Christmas Family Plate

Like these Thanksgiving painted plates, all you need are Folk Art Enamel paints in blue, white, orange and extra dark purple (or black), a plain white plate from your local dollar store, and paint brushes. Oh, and thumbs. Make sure you get the Enamel paints, they get baked onto the plate.

How to Paint the Penguin Family Christmas Plate

First, mix the light blue paint together with a tiny bit of blue paint in some white paint. I left them slightly unmixed for the streaked effect in the background. Paint the area shown in the example plate above in light blue. Since it would be hard to get a clean edge by hand, I just left the brush strokes on the outside to transition the painting to the plate.

Next, paint the bottom ’snow hill’ with straight white paint in a wavy line, then feather the edges like you did for the blue paint.

Next get the family lined up and start painting thumbs! I went from largest to smallest (Dad, Mom, Big Sis, Brother, Little Sis). You do need a generous amount of paint for the thumbprints, but don’t let it glob up on the plate, otherwise it will crack while baking.

Penguin Family Plate Detail

Next, with a small detail paint brush and the dark purple (or black) paint, put two wings, a ‘V’ shaped hairline, and eyes on each penguin. Then dot two feet in place and a tiny triangle for the beak.

I thought the plate looked a little plain at this point, so I dabbed snowflakes randomly all over the background with the white paint. Then I put a ring of dark purple polka dots around the rim and added “2009″ at the bottom. I could have also labeled each penguin with a name, but liked it enough just as is.

Let it dry for about an hour, then bake according to the Enamel paint directions.

You can’t eat off of this plate, but if you cover it with a cute napkin, I’m sure that Santa would LOVE to eat cookies off of it every year! Mine is probably going into a plate holder and onto my mantel.

Be sure to also check out our Christmas recipes, more Christmas crafts, or our huge amount of Christmas coloring pages!

For more Christmas crafts, check out this penguin keepsake plate, Christmas handprint crafts, and our snowflake crafts!

Pinecone Gnome Ornament	Pinecone Snow Bunnies	Elegant Pinecone Ornaments	Pinecone Placecard Holders
Pinecone Gift Tags	Pinecone Votive Craft	Christmas Pinecones in a Pot	Pinecone Christmas Tree
Fabric Button Pinecone Trees	Pinecone Christmas Carolers	Pinecone Christmas Angels	Christmas Pinecones

Check out all of our Christmas crafts, coloring pages and activities for kids from Woo! Jr. Network sites!

Paper Cone Advent Calendar	Christmas Ornament Advent Calendar	Star Garland Advent Calendar	Magnetic Kids Advent Calendar
Recycled Christmas Card Advent Calendar	Paper Envelopes Advent Calendar	Embroidered Advent Calendar	Paper Craft Magnetic Advent Calendar
Christmas Origami Advent Calendar	Matchbox Advent Calendar	Scrapbook Tins Advent Calendar	Old Halloween Candy Advent Calendar

Be sure to also check out these snowflake crafts, Christmas handprint crafts, or this paper plate penguin craft!