Don’t you just love this time of year? The decorations and lights make it feel so enchanting and magical.
Speaking of enchanting, have your kids watched The Nutcracker ballet or movie? They’ll love seeing the nutcracker come to life as a prince to take Clara on a journey through the magical lands of snow and sweets!
The kids can make their own adventurous nutcracker with this nutcracker handprint craft. They’ll have fun putting this cute craft together, and our free template will make it come together really easily.
Continue the fun with more Christmas crafts that your kids will love to make this holiday season. Be sure to scroll through and save the ones you’d like to create with your kids!
Easy Nutcracker Craft

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The kids will give it their own personal touch with their little handprints as the nutcracker’s hair! We love handprint crafts because they make wonderful keepsakes of how little they were when they made the craft.
This is a great craft to do at home or in the classroom to have an army of toy soldiers ready to fight the Mouse King!
Supplies
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Pencil
- Nutcracker template (unlock the image at the end of the post to go to the download page)
Directions
Start by downloading the template and printing it out. Once the template is printed, gather the materials for this fun activity. Get those scissors ready, and let’s help the kids bring the Nutcracker to life!

First, guide your child to glue the hat band nearly at the bottom of the hat and glue it in place.

Take the hat top and glue it to the top and back of the hat.

Next, glue the hat to the top of the nutcracker’s head.

Place the eyebrows, one on each side of the face, right under the hat.

Position the nose in the middle of the nutcracker’s head and glue it in place.

Glue the eyes, one on each side of the face, under the eyebrows.

Now, help your child to take the teeth and glue them in the middle of the head, near the bottom of the face.

Place the mustache at the top of the teeth and glue it in place.

Glue the cheeks on either side of the mustache.

Finally, encourage your child to trace your child’s hand two times onto a piece of paper the same color as the mustache, then cut it out. Position the handprints with the fingers pointing outward and slightly angled downward and glue them to the back of the nutcracker’s head.

We’re sure your kiddos had a blast making this cute handprint craft.

Christmas Ideas For Kids
We have lots of Christmas ideas for kids to make this time of year special and fun while they’re also learning! Keep reading below to check out some of our favorite Christmas crafts and activities to do with them this holiday season.

Christmas Books For Kids
In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it can be easy to forget the true meaning of Christmas. One way to help keep the magic of the season alive is by reading Christmas stories to your kids.
Not only are these stories a great way to spend some quality time together, but they can also help teach important lessons about giving, sharing, and compassion!
Additionally, reading Christmas stories is a great way to get kids excited about the holidays and get them in the festive spirit. So if you’re looking for a fun and meaningful activity to do with your kids this Christmas, be sure to add some Christmas story time to your list.
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!

Christmas Crafts For Kids
Crafting is a fun and educational activity for kids. They’re able to develop important skills such as fine motor skills, problem-solving, following directions, scissor skills, and more.
Related: Grinch Worksheets
This creative outlet boosts children’s self-confidence and may even reduce stress for them. Get your kids inspired to craft today with some of our favorites below.
Gingerbread Man Tissue Paper Craft – No oven is needed to make this adorable gingerbread man. The kids will love creating this iconic Christmas treat with tissue paper. Tearing the tissue paper and gluing the pieces into place are great tasks to refine children’s fine motor skills.
Plus, this craft will make an adorable decoration once completed!
Handprint Manger Craft – Away in a manger…With this sweet craft, children will recreate the manger that baby Jesus laid in with their little handprints! While the little ones make this fun and meaningful craft, they can learn about Jesus’ birthday. We make it easy to get started with our free template.

Grinch Headband Craft – We are huge fans of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and this craft goes perfectly with the movie or book. The kids will love creating and wearing their Grinch headband! Pretend play and headband crafts are a great pair, so grab the free template to get to the fun!
Toilet Roll Santa Craft – Ho, ho, ho, Santa is on a roll…a toilet paper roll. Take the humble toilet paper roll and recycle it into a fun and festive craft with the kids. This craft is super easy, especially since we provide a free template. Get to crafting with the kids, and they’ll have a cute tabletop decoration in no time!
Christmas Activities For Kids
Need to keep the kids occupied for a bit? It’s so convenient when you can just pull a game out wherever the kids have time and space to play. This free printable Christmas matching game takes up little space and the kids love to play it.
Try this Handprint Reindeer Craft
They won’t even realize they’re developing important skills when they play!

These fun reindeer worksheets feature our favorite red-nosed reindeer. They’re filled with activities designed to help with letter recognition, handwriting, scissor skills, and more! The kids will love learning with Rudolph, so grab the free printables to get started!

The kids will love to color in these gingerbread man color by number pages! They’ll also work on number recognition and colors when they complete these sheets. Turn up the Christmas tunes and grab the crayons for a festive coloring session!

Keep the kids learning with these festive Christmas do a dot printables. These pages are filled with different areas for kids to work on such as the alphabet, counting, identifying objects, and more. Your kids will have fun and stay engaged for hours with these holiday-themed pages.
The best part is they are virtually no-prep, since all you have to do is print and grab the dot markers!
Gingerbread Man Paper Bag Puppet Craft
Share With Us
Did you make this activity with your kids or students? We’d love to feature them on our social media!
For a chance to have your child’s project 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!

Nutcracker Handprint Craft For Kids
The kids can make their own adventurous nutcracker with this nutcracker handprint craft. They’ll have fun putting this cute craft together, and our template will make it come together really easily.
Materials
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Pencil
- Nutcracker template
Instructions
- Download the nutcracker template, print, and cut out the pieces you need.
- Begin by gluing the hat band nearly at the bottom of the hat and glue it in place.
- Take the hat top and glue it to the top and back of the hat.
- Next, glue the hat to the top of the nutcracker's head.
- Place the eyebrows, one on each side of the face, right under the hat.
- Position the nose in the middle of the nutcracker's head and glue it in place.
- Glue the eyes, one on each side of the face, under the eyebrows.
- Now, take the teeth and glue them in the middle of the head, near the bottom of the face.
- Place the mustache at the top of the teeth and glue it in place.
- Glue the cheeks on either side of the mustache.
- Finish off by tracing your child's hand two times onto a piece of paper the same color as the mustache, then cut it out. Position the handprints with the fingers pointing outward and slightly angled downward and glue them to the back of the nutcracker's head.
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Sam is the crafter and founder of Simple Everyday Mom. She has been featured in Oprah Mag, Good Housekeeping, The Spruce Crafts, Country Living, The Bump and more. Read more.
Tara
Tuesday 26th of November 2024
I'd love the Nutcracker handprint template!
Sam
Wednesday 27th of November 2024
Of course! To access the template, please follow these steps: 1. Locate Locked Image: Look for the “Click To Unlock!” button on the locked image. The image will be located under the subheading that starts with “Get Your….By Signing Up or Logging In” 2. Sign Up or Log In: Click the button to create a free SEM+ account or log in if you already have one. 3. Access Content: Once logged in, the image will be unlocked. Click it to go to the download page.
Ashley
Sunday 24th of November 2024
Love this! Will use it for a group of girls that are going to be in the play!
Sam
Monday 25th of November 2024
That’s awesome! Hope the girls have so much fun with it and break a leg in the play!
Audi Alex
Wednesday 30th of November 2022
Very unique area and craft for the kids!
Sam
Wednesday 30th of November 2022
Oh, thanks!
Paula Williams
Sunday 20th of November 2022
This is very cute, and such a different craft idea for Christmas. Thank you
Sam
Monday 21st of November 2022
Thanks, Paula! We have more nutcracker crafts coming :)