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Elf On The Shelf Card Craft For Kids [Free Template]

Soon our friend from the North Pole will be here to keep an eye on things for Santa! To get your little ones excited for the return of their elf, we have the perfect craft for them to do.

The kids can write a note to their elf welcoming him back or even send a holiday greeting to a friend or family member with this adorable elf on the shelf card!

They can customize the card to make it look like their own elf, and practice handwriting when they personalize it on the inside. They’ll hone their scissor skills and learn how to follow instructions with this fun holiday craft!

We always have the best time doing Christmas crafts together as a family! Break out the crafting supplies, turn up the Christmas tunes, and make memories with your kids when you make these cards together.

Your elf will love to report back to Santa all the holiday fun your kids are having this season making all sorts of Christmas crafts. These crafts are fun, easy, and festive, plus they’ll keep the kids busy creating!

Fun Elf On The Shelf Card

elf on the shelf text with craft displayed in background

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Supplies

  • Colored cardstock or construction paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Markers
  • Black pen (optional)
  • Elf on the shelf template (enter your email in the form at the end of this post to have the link sent to you)

Directions

Download the elf on the shelf template, print, and cut out the pieces you need.

text over paper template reads "download the template on the blog"

Fold the card base in half along the dashed line and cut it out, leaving the top, flat part uncut.

hands folding elf face paper craft

Color in the eyes, then glue one on each side of the face, just below the eyebrow. Optionally, use the black marker to draw eyelashes on each eye.

hands gluing eyes onto face of paper elf
hands drawing eyelashes on elf face

Use a marker to draw an oval nose on the elf’s face, just below the eyes, in the middle of the face.

Next, glue the hair to the top of the head.

hands gluing hair onto face of paper elf

Place the elf’s collar on the back of the card and glue it in place.

hand assembling elf face onto collar

Create the hat by gluing the hat band to the bottom of the hat.

hands gluing santa hat together

Position the elf’s hat on the top of the hair and glue it in place.

hands assembling elf hat

If you’re making a girl, glue the girl’s hair to the back and lower portion of the elf’s head.

hands gluing back of hair to elf card craft

Open the card up and write a special message inside!

hands writing a note on the inside of elf card craft

We’re sure your kids loved creating this card. Be sure to write a note and set it out so that the elf on the shelf can have a warm welcome when he or she arrives this year!

elf on the shelf paper craft being held to display

Christmas Ideas For Kids

If you’re looking for some more Christmas projects and ideas for your kids to do this holiday season, we’ve got you covered!

From more Christmas-themed crafts to our favorite Christmas books, we’ve compiled some of our favorites so all you have to do is pick the ones your kids will love most and get to crafting! Read on below for some great ideas that are sure to be a hit with your kids.

Christmas Books For Kids

Christmas break is the perfect time to curl up with your kids and enjoy some quality reading time together. Not only is reading a great way to bond with your children, but it also has some real benefits for their development.

Reading helps kids to improve their language skills, expand their vocabularies, and develop important critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Additionally, reading can help to nurture a love of learning in your children that will stay with them throughout their lives.

So make sure to schedule some time for reading over Christmas break – your kids will be glad you did!

Below are some of the top Christmas books to read to your kids!

Dasher: This wonderfully illustrated Christmas book for kids gives you the back story on one of Santa’s favorite reindeer, Dasher! Girls will especially love to read this since Dasher is a girl.

Construction Site On Christmas Night: Fans of the fun characters of the construction site books have to add this Christmas-themed story to their collection. See how the trucks get ready for Christmas!

How To Catch An Elf: Kids everywhere love the silliness of this Christmas story. The rhymes and the illustrations will draw the kids in as well. This is a Christmas book kids will want to read every year!

two elf on the shelf paper crafts

Kids’ Christmas Crafts

Crafting is always so fun this time of year! It’s a great way to build memories with your child. Crafting also helps them gain so many skills such as fine motor skills, scissor skills, problem-solving and being creative.

Plus, they’re doing this all while having a good time. Check out some of our favorite Christmas crafts below to inspire your kids to get crafting!

Snowman Headband Craft – You wanna build a snowman? The kids can stay warm inside and pretend to be one this winter with this cute headband craft. It’s a great activity that’s perfect for young kids.

Gingerbread Man Paper Craft – Make some sweet memories and a keepsake with this gingerbread man featuring your little one’s face. This photo craft is so cute you’ll want to eat it up! Your gingerbread boys and girls will love customizing their own sweet craft!

Christmas craft ideas image collage

Popsicle Stick Grinch – This is a great craft for elementary kids to do that features one of our favorite Christmas characters! Instead of stealing Christmas, the Grinch will want to hang out on your Christmas tree as an ornament.

Yarn Wrapped Reindeer Craft – On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, and Blitzen! Let’s dash away to make this super cute reindeer craft with your little ones! They’ll work on their fine motor skills by wrapping the yarn around and around to make this fun craft!

Kids’ Christmas Activities

elf on the shelf being held in hand to display

Ho, ho, ho! Santa has sent some free Santa do a dot printables for you! These pages are an engaging activity that your kids can use to work on fine motor skills, letter recognition, counting, and more! They’ll have so much fun they won’t even notice they’re learning!

Take a simple activity and turn it into a fun holiday memory with these fun Christmas coloring pages. Grab the crayons or markers, turn on the Christmas music, put some cookies in the oven, and color while they bake! Once the kids are done coloring, you have some pretty precious Christmas decorations for the fridge!

two elf on the shelf paper crafts

Do your kids love pattern blocks? Then you’ll definitely want to print out these Christmas pattern block mats. Your kids will love all the holiday-themed scenes and will get into the holiday spirit when playing with their pattern blocks. These block mats are a great way to introduce kids to math skills and concepts like patterns, symmetry, fractions, and more!

Rudolph sent us these fun and engaging reindeer worksheets! This holiday-themed activity will be a great way for kids to learn about the letter R, work on their handwriting, scissor skills, and more! Whether you’re looking for an activity to do at home or in the classroom, we think these will be a hit.

Christmas Fun

Share With Us

Did you make this craft with your kids or students? We’d love to feature them on our social media!

For a chance to have your child’s craft featured, simply snap a picture of the completed project and post it to our Facebook page, email it to us directly by clicking here, or use #simpleeverydaymom on your social media!

More Christmas Ideas For Kids

two elf on the shelf paper craft

Elf On The Shelf Card Craft For Kids

Prep Time: 8 minutes
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 23 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

The kids can write a note to their elf welcoming him back or even send a holiday greeting to a friend or family member with this adorable elf on the shelf card!

Materials

  • Colored cardstock or construction paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Markers
  • Black pen (optional)
  • Elf on the shelf template

Instructions

  1. Download the elf on the shelf template, print, and cut out the pieces you need.
  2. Fold the card base in half along the dashed line and cut it out, leaving the top, flat part uncut.
  3. Color in the eyes, then glue one on each side of the face, just below the eyebrow. Optionally, use the black marker to draw eyelashes on each eye.
  4. Use a marker to draw an oval nose on the elf's face, just below the eyes, in the middle of the face.
  5. Next, glue the hair to the top of the head.
  6. Place the elf's collar on the back of the card and glue it in place.
  7. Create the hat by gluing the hat band to the bottom of the hat.
  8. Position the elf's hat on the top of the hair and glue it in place.
  9. If you're making a girl, glue the girl's hair to the back and lower portion of the elf's head.
  10. Open the card up and write a special message inside!

Did you make this craft?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

Elf On The Shelf Card Template

Elf Template

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Denise

Thursday 1st of December 2022

Thank you!

Sam

Thursday 1st of December 2022

You're welcome!

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