I love the lead up to Christmas. One way to make this season more meaningful to our children is to involve them in practical hands-on ways. Children can be involved in decorating, baking, choosing or making gifts for others, writing cards and of course wrapping!

We decided to try some child-made Christmas wrapping paper. I love these ideas as they make the gifts look and feel extra special and show that we've given some extra care and thought into the wrapping. 

We tried as much as possible to use craft materials we already have at home. With some of these ideas we could decorate the paper after the gift has been wrapped, for example using the Christmas stickers, the child could add these to the gift once it has been wrapped in the kraft paper.

For all of our wrapping paper we started with the base of brown kraft type paper (similar). However white easel paper could work just as well. We could also use some of these ideas to decorate gift bags or plain gift boxes.

Adhesive metallic dots. I used a large hole punch to punch circles out of some metallic adhesive paper. The child needs to remove the paper backing from each dot and stick it in place.

This result is a bright coloured wrapping paper. This feels Christmassy but we could also use only gold dots or a red and green theme.  

Glue on acrylic stars. We could also use a star hole punch on cardboard to make card stars to glue on. Here the child needs to apply the glue and stick the stars to the paper.

It might be a little difficult to wrap items with this paper, so we will need to be careful that we don't need to fold the paper where the stars are. The glue dries clear and this looks like really special wrapping paper. ✨

Christmas stickers. The child peels the stickers and puts them onto the paper. Remember for some stickers it's easier for the child if we remove the backing of the sticker sheet.

This looks fantastic and it's good for developing fine motor skills. 🎄

Gold star stickers. Gold star stickers (similar) are easy to find in our stationary stores. I love how they look when used en masse.

My four-year-old had so much patience putting all these star stickers on. 🌟

Free drawing with gold marker. I tried to teach my child how to draw a star but he wasn't interested, so this turned into free drawing. 

The gold metallic marker makes this look special. It doesn't matter what the children draw!

If you don't like the idea of using a gold marker, Stockmar has gorgeous metallic gold and silver block and stick crayons, often available separately at Waldorf style toy and craft stores.

Christmas stamps. My children love using stamps and we usually have some Christmas stamps in our craft supplies. Here I've only presented two stamps and one stamp pad. If only one colour is used the stamp pads stay nice and clean. We can always add pencils or markers for the child to colour in the stamp prints to add more colour. 

We can use different stamps and different colours on another sheet of paper. 

Gluing eco-glitter. I know glitter is not for every one. It's important to use glitter somewhere that is easy to clean up. The child applies glue to the paper using the glue stick. We can ask the child to make dots, stripes or allow them to apply the glue as they wish. Then we sprinkle the eco-glitter over the glue. We can move the paper around, pour the glitter back into the tray and back over the paper, until most of the glitter sticks to the paper.

Eco-glitter is more expensive than regular glitter however we are still using jars we bought three years ago, because it's more expensive we are more mindful of how we use it.

Thumb print reindeers. This is mostly adult led unless you have an older child to help. We used the brown stamp pad to print my child's thumb print all over the paper. Then I drew eyes and antlers with a black pen, and a red marker to make the red nose, to make each thumb print looks a like a reindeer. 

It looks super cute and still child made. 🦌

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