Some of our favourite Winter Craft ideas & inspiration
Australian-Inspired Nature Crafts
• Gumleaf & Twig Collage: Take a brisk winter walk around our neighbourhood or your local park to collect fallen eucalyptus leaves, banksia pods, and twigs. Glue them onto dark blue or black cardboard and use white paint to mimic a frosty or starry night.
• Pine Cone Critters: Collect pinecones from local pine trees and paint them. Add felt wings or googly eyes to turn them into native birds, koala’s or winter owls.
Mess-Free Kids’ Crafts
• Sock Snowmen: Fill a clean white sock with uncooked rice, tie off sections with rubber bands to create a head and body, and use spare buttons and markers to give your snowman a face and scarf.
• Splatter-Paint Winter Scene: Cut out silhouettes of pine trees or local wildlife from coloured paper. Glue them onto black cardstock, then use a stiff paintbrush flicked with white acrylic paint to create a magical “snow” effect across your artwork.
• Bubble Wrap Painting: Paint white acrylic onto bubble wrap and press it onto dark paper to create unique, textured snowflakes or icy landscapes.
Snow & Ice Crafts
1. 3D Puff-Paint Snowmen
Mix equal parts white school glue and shaving cream in a bowl. The mixture dries puffy, looking just like real snow!
How to make it: Have the kids paint snowman shapes onto blue cardboard using the mixture. While it’s still wet, they can press in googley eyes, a paper orange carrot nose, and button details.
2. Symmetrical Coffee Filter Snowflakes
A classic with a colorful twist.
How to make it: Flatten a round coffee filter and let the kids color it completely with washable markers. Lightly spray it with water (or use a paintbrush to drop water onto it) to watch the colors bleed together like tie-dye. Once dry, fold it into a triangle and cut small shapes out of the edges to reveal a vibrant snowflake when unfolded.
3. Watercolor & Salt Winter Landscapes – like a set from ‘Frozen’
This craft uses a fun science trick to create a gorgeous textured ice effect.
How to make it: Kids paint a winter sky on thick paper using blue, purple, and pink watercolors. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle coarse table salt or rock salt over the top. As it dries, the salt absorbs the water, leaving behind beautiful, crystal-like frost patterns. Use it as a back drop and create your very own set for frozen, make a cotton wool floor, and throw in some of our favourite frozen characters and let them play in the snow’, or help them act out a scene.
Winter Animals & Nature
4. Pinecone Snowy Owls
If you can go on a quick nature walk to collect pinecones, this is a fantastic upcycling project.
How to make it: Pull apart cotton balls and stuff the fluffy cotton into the gaps of the pinecone to look like soft white feathers. Cut out felt or paper circles for eyes and a small triangle for a beak, then glue them to the top of the pinecone.
5. Paper Plate Penguins
A simple, low-mess craft perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.
How to make it: Paint the outer rim of a paper plate black, leaving a large white oval in the centre for the penguin’s belly. Cut out orange paper feet and a beak, and black paper wings, then glue them in place.
6. Cardboard Tube Polar Bears
Don’t throw away your empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls!
How to make it: Wrap a cardboard tube in white paper or paint it white. Use a black marker to draw eyes and a nose. Glue two small white paper circles to the top for ears, and use a scrap of real fabric or ribbon to tie a tiny “winter scarf” around the bear’s neck.
Cozy Home Decor
7. Mason Jar Winter Lanterns
These make beautiful nightlights for kids’ bedrooms during the dark winter evenings.
How to make it: Tear white tissue paper into small pieces. Paint a clean glass jar with Mod Podge or watered-down school glue, and stick the tissue paper pieces all over it to create a “frosted” look. You can cut out a black paper silhouette of a winter tree or a deer to stick on the outside. Drop a battery-operated tealight candle inside.