Christmas Lights Craft for Kids – Mess-Free Paint Option too!
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Christmas Lights Craft for Kids – 25 Days of Christmas Activity
We’re always looking for new activities to do with kids for our 25 Days of Christmas countdown that we do every year. We try to vary our Christmas countdown activities so that we have special events, fun Christmas games, but also some fun Christmas crafts so we can all have fun expressing our creative sides. The whole family gets involved – not just the kids, too! It could be just something for us to hang in our home as part of our Christmas decorations or we might even make extras to give to the grandparents as personalized gifts for Christmas.
We found a few new activity to try out & got our craft on early this year, so we could share it with you all as an idea for the 25 Days of Christmas. We made cute canvas paintings with Christmas lights with the title of “Merry and Bright”. I have seen different variations of Christmas light crafts on Pinterest over the years (sometimes around porcelain frames like this cute idea) & have always wanted to try it out with my kids, so we decided to make our own variations of Christmas light strings on our canvases. We will use ours for decorations at Christmastime, but these would have also made some cute grandparent hand-painted gifts, too, for Christmas.
Here’s what you’ll need::
Paint or Mess-Free Tempura Paint Sticks (we used Kwik Stix – you can find these at Michaels, Amazon. and Target in the arts/crafts section)
Sharpie Marker
Canvas – we used the 4×6 and the 8×10 size (you can buy these at Michaels and use coupons they frequently offer to pay less for a multi-pack)
Directions for Making the Christmas Lights painting::
Take your canvas & use the Sharpie marker to draw out a string of Christmas lights. Depending on the age of your child, either you can do this or you can let your child draw the string.
Use the Sharpie marker to place where the light bulbs will go by drawing the base of the bulb in random spots along the Christmas light string.
If you’d like, you can add a title with the Sharpie marker. We used “Merry and Bright” but it could also just say Merry Christmas & the year to remember it by.
Now it’s time to add your light bulbs and make it festive looking. There are a few options::
Use fingerpaint & kids can dip their thumbs in the finger paint to get the lightbulb shape for the Christmas lights along the string. I would suggest that you stick with one color at a time & add all of the same color lightbulbs before moving to the next color. Have wipes on hand to switch between colors
Use Kwik Stix for a mess-free option to make the Christmas light bulbs – these are solid tempera paints that come in a stick (the size is similar to a typical glue stick) and they made the perfect shape for lightbulbs. The color was bold & bright on the canvas & it really stood out as a pretty painting. However, they were so easy for the kids to use & switch easily between colors to create their different colored Christmas lightbulbs. Even better, they dried in 90 seconds or less, so that we didn’t have to wait long between the colors. {More info about Kwik Stix below}
That’s it – this is a super simple craft to make for Christmas, but I think your kids will love it – even us adults had fun making our Christmas light strings, too. It’s fun to let your creativity shine while you’re doing a fun Christmas craft activity together as a family. With the simplicity of this craft, any age child could do this and make it unique, while also showcasing something fun, bright & festive for your walls!
More about Kwik Stix::
As I mentioned in our craft directions, using Kwik Stix solid tempera paint sticks is an excellent option in place of paint for different craft projects you do with your kids. They are so nice to use as they dry in just 90 seconds. With the Christmas season soon upon us, they are a quick & almost mess-free option for kids to use when you are short on time & don’t want to get out a full paint set. Kwik Stix work well on paper, wood, canvas, cardboard, and even windows {they will not work well on fabric as the paint would wash away}. Watch Kwik Stix in action with this short video on YouTube.
When we did our Christmas craft this week, this was an easy after-dinner craft as I didn’t need to pull out all of our paint sets, paintbrushes, old craft tablecloth or water. My girls love to paint, but it’s definitely a bit time-consuming to set up & clean up all the paintbrushes when you’re done. Plus, deal with any messes that might happen.
Using the Kwik Stix, all we used was some construction paper under their canvas to protect the table from messes & that’s it. We have one gal who is always a bit messy & ends up with paint, markers, etc somewhere on her clothes or body – and I was amazed to see that there was no paint anywhere on her after using the Kwik Stix. So, that’s a huge bonus with Kwik Stix is that you have the look & brightness of paint but the set-up and clean-up are so quick & easy. If child can twist the glue stick up & down, then they can use the Kwik Stix easily on their own. You don’t have to worry about washing out all the brushes after you’re done either.
Amount of solid tempera paint in a Kwik Stix stick – a little goes a long way
Kwik Stix are AP certified, which means they are non-toxic and perfectly safe for young kids. Once kids pick them up, they will find they are so easy to use, as the color comes out so easily & smoothly. They are nice & thick too, which makes it nice to color things in at a much faster rate than markers. Markers will stain little fingers, too, but the Quik Stix can just be wiped off easily before it dries if you do get any on your fingers.
My husband brought up the idea that these are so easy to use & mess-free that you could even use these when traveling. Now they are still paint, so you’d have to be careful with the finished products but considering the paint dries in 90 seconds, this is very doable. {I’d just make sure these are older kids who use them while traveling & that you supervise to make sure they don’t end up on the car seats, doors, etc} . They’re definitely an easy craft to bring on the go for a fun paint day at a friend’s house or to take your paints to the park & sketch out some pictures of the nature you see – just fill a small bag with some of your favorite paint stick colors.
Where to Find Kwik Stix::
Kwik Stix can be ordered online, where they have a large variety of different Kwik Stix colors, including Neon colors & metallic colors (these are so pretty with the glittery sheen).
But even easier, you can now find Kwik Stix paint sticks in Target stores nationwide. They offer the 6 packs of Basic colors & metallic colors in Target stores. Look for the shorter gondola-like display in one of the craft/stationary aisles to find the Kwik Stix in most stores. They are close to the wooden craft items. You can also find some larger sets on Target.com.
As you can see, the Kwik Stix were a big hit in my house – even us adults had fun using these because they are so smooth & glide on so easily to paper, canvas, you name it. These would make great additions to your craft supply when you are wanting to whip up a quick paint project or let the kids show off their creativity with paint without all the mess & easy set-up & clean-up.
These are the best!