Keep the kids off Santa’s naughty list with these cool crafts from the art experts at CIS
Sleigh bells are ringing people! Before you know it, the kids will be off for their December holidays, decking your halls with chaos and folly. But never fear, the awesome artsy experts at Canadian International School (CIS) are here once again with their cool Christmas craft activities to try out with the little ones. Here’s the deets:
Celebrate Christmas with an arts party at CIS!
Join CIS for a morning of festive arts fun at their Lakeside Campus. They’ve got plenty of Christmas treats for the whole family including Christmas carolling by the CIS primary students and a special performance by the CIS drama students. When you’re done watching all the performances, you can take the kids to create their own Christmas decor at the arts and crafts station or let them meet a very special guest from the North Pole! It’s a great way to check out CIS’s awesome arts programme and also learn more about CIS in general. Sign up here!
Creating future artistes
If there’s one thing we know about CIS, it’s that it takes pride in making learning fun. That’s why it’s got an awesome primary school arts programme (music, drama and visual art) that offers opportunities to students of all abilities. For kids who want to take their arts learning to the next level, CIS also offers extracurricular arts activities such as music ensembles, choral groups and drama productions.
The benefits of a solid primary school arts programme
The folks at CIS know that it takes more than a solid academic programme to raise well-rounded kids. The arts programme doesn’t just focus on developing specific artistic skills, it also gives students the ability to collaborate, persevere and think creatively along with giving them a strong understanding of the history and culture behind their learning – pretty important stuff for the real world!
CIS’s primary school visual arts teacher, Ms. Hernie shares with us two cool Christmas activities that’ll keep your kids busy as bees (and off Santa’s naughty list) this holiday season:
WARNING: Some of these activities include small objects that require adult supervision, so keep an eye on the kiddos at ALL times!
Activity: Christmas Photo Wreath
What you need:
- 3 x pipe cleaners of at least two different colours.
- Ribbons
- Sequins, buttons (or anything else you’d like to decorate your wreath with)
- Yarn or string
- Photos (we suggest laminated photos so they’ll last longer)
- All Purpose glue or Glue Gun (for adult use only!)
What to do:
- Twist the pipe cleaners together to make the base of the wreath
- Form a circle or a heart with the pipe cleaners
- Cut the ribbons and tie them on the wreath
- Glue on the sequins and buttons
- Let the glue dry
- Tie a loop with a piece of yarn or string on top of the wreath (you’ll use this to hang the wreath on your Christmas tree)
- Cut your photo slightly bigger than the wreath
- Gently glue the wreath on top of your photo
- Let the glue dry and it’s ready to hang!
Why Ms. Hernie loves it: This is a fun activity for kids of all ages and a great Christmas gift for grandparents and loved ones to cherish. It also helps younger children work on their fine motor skills and creativity. It’s a great child-sibling-parent bonding time that encourages self-expression and spirit of giving.
Activity: Christmas Santa bowl
What you need:
- Air dry clay
- Acrylic paint
- Bowl (to use as a template)
- Rolling pin (if you don’t have one, a bottle could work too)
- Plastic knife
- Clear spray lacquer
- Black permanent marker
What to do:
Make the bowl
- Roll the clay out (make sure it’s about one centimetre thick) with the rolling pin until it’s flat
- Press your child’s hand firmly onto clay
- Ensure each fingerprint and finger is visible
- Use the knife to cut around the edge of handprint
- Smoothen out all the rough edges
- Place the cut out handprint inside the bowl. This will create the shape of the bowl. (Use a smaller bowl for small hands)
- Leave the clay to dry
Painting the bowl
- Once the bowl is dry (this usually takes 1-2 days), paint the bowl with the acrylicpaint. No water is needed with acrylic paint.
- Let the paint dry
- When the paint is dry, use black permanent marker to add eyes onto the bowl
- Spray on a coat of clear lacquer for a shiny effect
Why Ms. Hernie loves it: This is a wonderful sensory integration activity for kids of all ages. It makes a cute gift and a fun Christmas treat bowl. It also helps children turn a two-dimensional idea into a three-dimensional piece of art. It is also a fun yearly parent-child-Christmas activity to ‘show’ the child’s hand size as they grow.
At CIS, you can always expect fun, hands-on, authentic activities that not only encourage kids to learn but also make them more well-rounded individuals. And thanks to Miss Hernie, we’ve found new ways to keep the kids entertained as we frantically prepare for the Christmas holidays ahead.
Don’t forget to register here to enjoy a magical Christmas morning at the CIS Lakeside Campus!
This post is sponsored by Canadian International School.