It's getting chilly, the leaves have fallen, the hot cocoa is on the stove, and we got our fuzzy socks on, so it's time for some winter crafts! Let's turn our classrooms into a beautiful winter scene with fun art projects that improve your students' motor skills and fill the room with DIY winter decorations, crafts, and smiles.
From snow globes and ornaments to arctic animals and a gingerbread house, we have simple ideas for art projects, as well as winter-inspired treats, and winter science experiments. Here are 25 of our favorites to get your students in the spirit of the season!
1. Polar Bear Cups
This adorable winter animal craft is super simple to make with your kids and they will love the results. Use recycled paper cups, construction paper, and white glue to create your winter bear. Make hands, feet, and a face using black marker.
Learn more: Crafts on Sea
2. Silhouette Winter Tree Art
This winter landscape craft is very kid-driven focusing on creative expression! Go outside, look at bare trees, and collect some tree branches for inspiration. Then give your students their paper and tape to make a tree design. They can paint all over the paper with none getting on the parts covered in tape. Then take the tape off to reveal their masterpieces!
Learn more: Inner Child Fun
3. Winter Hat Craft
Time for one of our favorite classroom winter crafts to get your kids in a cozy mood. You can use a printable link for the beanie outline or help your kids draw their own. Then have them make designs in their hat using a white crayon, paint using watercolors, and cut out! You can get extra crafty and put pom poms or cotton balls at the top.
Learn more: One Little Project
4. Snow Ice Cream
If you live in an area where it snows, this delicious winter treat is perfect for you! Get some freshly fallen snow, mix it with condensed milk and any other flavors your kids love, and dig in!
Learn more: Little Bins for Little Hands
5. Sparkly Ice Mobile
This beautiful winter mobile idea is so creative and simple your kids will love forming their own icicles with aluminum foil and glitter. Help them cut the foil and fold it into a long cone shape they can then decorate with blue glitter for a sparkly shine! String them up together and hang them as a winter-themed classroom decoration.
Learn more: Kids' Craft Room
6. Snow Candy
Time for some winter science experiments, and this is a tasty one. This candy recipe uses maple syrup but you can use another sweet syrup if you prefer. The process couldn't be easier, you get a big pan of fresh snow and drip your syrup in indents you make so it hardens and becomes candy.
Learn more: Little Bins for Little Hands
7. Painting Salt Snowflakes
Did you know snowflakes always have 6 arms? They are little wonders, and now we can make them with just a few simple supplies. First, draw a snowflake design with white glue and pour salt on top. Shake off the access salt and let dry, then you can use an eyedropper to drip food coloring on the snowflake to make it blue!
Learn more: Little Bins for Little Hands
8. Winter House With Candy
Not all holiday houses need to be made out of gingerbread! There are so many cute and delicious alternatives you and your kids can get super creative building. This version uses cookies or crackers for the walls and icing for the glue and decoration.
Learn more: A+ Teaching Resources
9. Clay Pot Gingerbread House Craft
This winter art activity is great to get your little ones in the holiday spirit! Transforming mini clay pots into gingerbread house ornaments or decorations is simple and fun. You can use paint pens, acrylic paints, ribbons, stickers, bells, and any other art supplies you have around.
Learn more: Projects with Kids
10. Ice Fishing
This is one of those winter crafts for kids that is so perfectly elegant and simple, you wish you'd thought of it yourself! It also teaches your kids about salt and water freezing temperatures. Get some string and a glass of water with ice cubes inside. Sprinkle salt on the ice and string and wait a few minutes, then put the string out to see how many cubes you caught!
Learn more: Little Bins for Little Hands
11. Mason Jar Snow Globe
This snow globe craft is inventive and a lovely winter season decoration to give someone as a gift or display for holiday cheer. Pick out one of your favorite ornaments and glue it to the inside of the jar lid with hot glue. Then mix white glitter, clear glue, and hot water in the jar for your winter wonderland skies and shake!
Learn more: Messy Little Monster
12. Pinecone Snow Winter Owls
Aren't these some of the cutest little things you've ever seen? To make your owl collect some pinecones from outside, break up cotton balls, and cut out the wings and face features from felt.
Learn more: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls
13. Marshmallow Igloos
This cute winter craft not only helps students with their coordination and motor skills, but it also uses delicious marshmallow snow piles they can eat in the building process. You can get creative with what you use for the igloo shape (styrofoam or plastic) and what you use to stick your mallows on.
Learn more: Campfire Marshmallows
14. DIY Fake Snow
This fun winter craft is great for sensory play and hands-on learning for your kiddos. To make your snow you just need to mix baking soda with white hair conditioner. It will blend to create a cool ice-like texture your kids can form into snowmen or any other winter creations they desire!
Learn more: Mas & Pas
15. Popsicle Stick Walrus Craft
Here's a fun winter animal craft your kids will love to put together. Glue some popsicle sticks together for the shape, paint them dark brown, and glue on some facial features and flippers for the cutest walrus craft ever!
Learn more: Simple Everyday Mom
16. Doily Snowman Winter Craft
Time for an adorable doily snowman winter with this cute craft you can make at home or in the classroom. Give your kids blue construction paper to glue their doilies on. They can use colored construction paper to cut out his features and clothes.
Learn more: Hub Pages
17. Mixed Media Winter Tree Landscape
This gorgeous winter art project uses a variety of supplies including newspaper, sponges, bubble wrap, different paints, and glue. Give your kids all the materials they need, a reference for inspiration, and then let them bring their own winter wonderland to life!
Learn more: I Heart Crafty Things
18. Winter Footprint Art
Now here is a messy one that's bound to leave your kids paint-covered and giggling. See what they can come up with using their footprint as the base for winter characters. Give them different colors of paint and watch them go!
Learn more: Kate Wilson
19. Watercolor Snow Paint
Perfect winter project idea right here, with so little setup and endless possibilities. You can have this activity outdoors or indoors depending on the weather. Give your kids watercolor palettes and a container of snow (or a pile of snow outside) and see what pictures they create.
Learn more: The OT Toolbox
20. Melting Snowman Craft
We all know that snowmen never last. Here is a cute snowman activity to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring! You can use felt and foam to make these adorable, melting little fellows.
Learn more: Glued to My Crafts
21. Recycled Classroom Igloo
Turn your classroom into an inspiring winter wonderland with this amazing DIY recycled milk container igloo! Stick your jugs together using hot glue and shape them into a round structure big enough for a few kids to sit in at once.
Learn more: Surviving a Teacher's Salary
22. Cork Snowman Ornament
These are the cutest little snowmen I have ever seen, they are super easy to make with your kids and great to hang on your tree or give as gifts to friends and family. You can use some old wine corks or corks from other bottles, paint, pipe cleaners, and eye screws to hang them up.
Learn more: Made with Happy
23. Egg Carton Penguins
Time to repurpose our egg containers into these adorable penguin buddies with a few art supplies and some love. You'll need black and white paint along with some glue and googly eyes to assemble these tiny arctic animals.
Learn more: One Little Project
24. Snow Slime
DIY slime is all the rage right now with sensory play for kids, so it's fitting we give you a recipe to make your own that looks like snow! This slime can be used for fantasy play with arctic toys, making foot or handprints, and many other creative and artistic endeavors.
Learn more: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls
25. Paper Cup Luminaries
Make your own beautiful winter decoration great for candle-lit nights of storytelling and hot chocolate. You can reuse paper cups and cover them with pretty scrapbook paper or paint them, and punch holes all over. Then place a small regular or battery-operated tea candle underneath and light up your room.
Learn more: Little Bins for Little Hands
Master List of 40 Literacy Centers Ideas and Activities