What crafts can I do the week before winter break?
What crafts can I do the week before winter break?
Good crafts for the week before winter break have few steps, use simple supplies and can be finished in one session: paper garlands, painted winter scenes, peace-themed projects and 3D paper crafts. Check your school's guidance on holiday content before you choose. This page covers what goes wrong that week, a five-day plan for K–4 and a ready set of printable crafts.
Browse the winter craftsChoose crafts that finish in one 30- to 45-minute session and need only paper, scissors, glue and coloring tools. Paper chains and garlands, a peace dove, winter scenes, snowflakes and simple 3D paper projects all work in K–4. Check your school's guidance on religious content before planning, and offer a secular option alongside any faith-based craft. Pair each craft with a short writing or reading task so the week still has learning in it.
Ready-made material
Christmas and Winter Crafts Bundle, Grades K–4
6 resources in one download: $39.99 instead of $59.94 bought separately.
The first cover is the main resource; the others are related options. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
Christmas and Winter Crafts Bundle | 6 Printable Art Activities | Grades K–4
SEL Art Activities Bundle | 6 Calm Drawing and Painting Projects | Grades K–4
Classroom Escape Room Bundle | History, Physics, Data and Math Escape Rooms | Grades 2–10
Back-to-School and End-of-Year Crafts Bundle | 6 Printable Projects | Grades K–4
Why it is hard
Why the last week is hard to plan
The week before winter break has its own energy. Students are excited, schedules fill up with assemblies and parties, and attendance gets patchy as some families leave early. A craft that needs two sessions and a drying day rarely gets finished, and half-done projects end up in the recycling bin. Multi-step crafts cause a different problem: in a room full of kindergartners, step four of nine is where everyone needs you at once. Glitter, paint and hot glue turn cleanup into a second lesson. Content is the other trap. Classrooms include families with many traditions and some with none, and public schools often have guidance about religious holiday activities. A teacher who plans a nativity craft without checking can end up redoing the whole week, while a faith-based school may want exactly that craft. Finally, crafts can push out learning entirely, and the week starts to feel like a holding pattern. Students behave better when the day keeps a familiar structure, so a craft works best as one part of the day rather than the whole of it.
What works
How to make craft week work
The aim is crafts students can finish, take home and feel proud of, inside a day that still feels like school.
- Prepare a finished sample and post each step on the board so students check there, not with you.
- Pre-cut tricky shapes for kindergarten and first grade, and let older students cut their own.
- Keep to one craft per day and attach it to a short writing task, such as a peace wish.
- Offer a secular alternative for any religious craft and tell families about the plan in advance.
- Set up a drying and storage spot so finished work goes home in one piece on the last day.
- Have a quiet early-finisher task ready, such as adding links to a class garland.
Step by step
A five-day plan for the last week
Each day keeps the morning routine and core lessons and places one craft session of 30 to 45 minutes in the afternoon. Swap days around assemblies as needed.
- Monday: Paper garlandStudents decorate and cut garland pieces, then link them into one class chain. It is a gentle start that works at every age and can grow across the week as early finishers add to it.
- Tuesday: Peace doveMake a simple paper dove and talk about what peace means at home, at school and in the world. Students write one wish on the wing before hanging it up.
- Wednesday: Peace wishes pictureBuild on Tuesday with a larger peace-themed picture. Younger students draw and dictate a sentence, older students write two or three sentences about making their classroom more peaceful.
- Thursday: Seasonal or faith-based craftWhere your school's guidance allows, use a Christmas craft such as the Three Kings. Otherwise run a winter scene or a 3D paper project, so every student finishes something they like.
- Friday: 3D cake craft and send-homeBuild a simple 3D paper cake as a celebration piece, then pack up all the week's work. Keep the last half hour for cleanup, a story and goodbyes.
Ready-made option
Six printable crafts for December
The Christmas and Winter Crafts Bundle ($39.99, parts bought separately $59.94) gives you six printable art activities for the weeks before winter break in Grades K–4: Paint the Christ Child, Craft the Three Kings, a Peace Dove Craft Project, a Peace-Themed Art Project, a Printable Garland Craft and a 3D Icing on the Cake craft. Two are clearly Christian in content, so the bundle suits schools where Christmas activities fit, faith-based schools and families crafting at home. If your school prefers secular choices only, the SEL Art Activities Bundle ($39.99) works, and the Classroom Escape Room Bundle ($49.99) covers review days for Grades 2 and up.
Honest limits
What the bundle does not cover
These are single craft activities, not a full art unit, and no paper, paint, glue or scissors are included. You decide which crafts are appropriate for your school and community, and in a public school that may mean using only the garland, peace and cake projects. Ask your administration if you are unsure about holiday content, and compare the projects with your art expectations, since no standards alignment is claimed. The license is for your own class; team use needs a short message to Teach Lessons first. You can exchange the bundle within 7 days for store credit of equal value, not a cash refund.
Good to know
More teacher questions
Can I do Christmas crafts in a public school?
It depends on your district's policy and on how the activity is framed. Many public schools ask teachers to teach about holidays rather than celebrate one faith, and to offer alternatives. Check your district's guidance and talk to your principal before planning. Secular winter crafts, such as garlands, snowflakes or peace projects, avoid the question.
What crafts work with kindergarten?
Keep the steps to four or five and pre-cut anything with tight curves. Garlands, simple paper doves and painted pictures with large shapes work well. Show each step on the board, do it together, then move to the next. Five-year-olds can do a lot when they are not all waiting on one adult.
How do I keep the room calm during craft week?
Keep your usual routines in place: morning meeting, reading, math. Put crafts in a predictable slot, set the voice level before materials come out and use a cleanup song or timer. Excitement before a break is normal, and structure is the best tool you have for it.
What about students who do not celebrate Christmas?
Plan for them from the start rather than as an afterthought. Choose winter or peace themes for whole-class crafts and offer a parallel option for any religious craft. Do not ask students to explain why they are not taking part. A short note to families before the week lets them raise concerns early.
Do these crafts match art standards?
No alignment with state or national art standards is claimed. The crafts practice cutting, coloring, painting and simple 3D construction, but if art grades depend on specific standards, compare each activity with your state's arts standards and add the vocabulary or reflection your school expects.
Can students take the crafts home before break?
Yes, and many families look forward to it. Plan a final packing time, give each student a large envelope or paper folder and keep 3D projects for last so they do not get crushed. Wet paint can need a full day to dry, so schedule painted projects early in the week.
Plan the week before it plans you
Choose your five crafts now, check them against your school's guidance and make the samples before the last week begins.
Browse the winter crafts