Craft Santa Hats: A Holiday Art Craft For Preschoolers
Why Buy Hats? Make Your Own!
Need a fun holiday craft? Santa hats can be bought very cheaply at stores today. However it’s a lot more fun making your own Santa hats
and wearing them. So if you teach children or you are homeschooling your own children, here’s an activity you can introduce as the December holidays draw near. Making Santa hats lets the children practice fine motor skills, and the hats can be used later for games or a Christmas party. Here are step-by-step instructions to follow.
Materials Required:
- A ruler or measuring tape
- Pencil
- Craft glue
- Thick card paper, large enough to make a Santa hat
- Red paint, paintbrush
- Cotton
Instructions:
- Use a ruler or measuring tape to decide the exact length of the hat that you want.
- Decide on the height of the hat and draw one horizontal line of that length.
- From one end of the horizontal line, draw a vertical line perpendicular to it, of the same length.
- Draw a curved end from the end of one line to the end of the second line
- Cut out this shape. It should look like the shape in the picture shown below.
- Apply glue along the edge of one of the straight lines that you drew, curve the paper and glue this end to the other straight line that you drew.
- Allow it to dry. If required you can add additional reinforcement with tape on the inside, or a staple pin that can be removed after it is dry.
- Help the children try on the hat to see if it fits. If it is too small, cut out an inch or so at the bottom of the hat to make it wider.
- Help the children paint the hat red in color, and allow it to dry.
- Punch two holes near the bottom of the hat at opposite ends that can be used for ties of your choice (ribbon, yarn, string).
- Tie two pieces of ribbon in the two punched holes so that it can be used to tie the hat to the head.
- Apply glue around about one-inch from the bottom of the hat and glue cotton onto it.
- Make a cotton ball and glue it to the tip of the hat.
Preschoolers will enjoy making this holiday craft. Santa hats can also be used for decorations by hanging them in different places in the classroom, or having all the kids wear them at the school’s holiday celebration. These hats will also be good to wear if the children are presenting a special song, or any other presentation for Christmas in front of their parents. Ask the children to coordinate their clothes to the Christmas theme by wearing red pieces of clothing, and use the hats with it. You can use the same idea for making little elf hats by painting the hats green instead of red
Keeping your students busy with these crafts will help control their excitement during the holiday season. For more craft ideas related to a Christmas theme, read Ms. Kitchen’s Three Christmas Ornaments and Decorations to Make With Your Preschool Class.
Photo courtesy of the author.
