No Mess Paint Christmas Card Craft

As the holidays quickly approach I can’t help but start to think about all the things I need to get done, including making Christmas cards for all our friends and family. While I send out ones with our yearly family picture on them, this year Little Miss and Little Man will be making some no mess paint Christmas cards for their friends.

Now I love a good messy activity; however, there are times when you need a quick no mess activity your little one can do on their own to buy you a couple minutes to eat a snack or go to the bathroom. Moms do you feel me? These kid made no mess Christmas cards are one of my favorites and they can be created in many different ways and even with the littlest of babies.

SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED: (affiliate links have been added for your convenience)

-Cake pan with or without lid (can use disposable ones for even quicker cleanup)

-cardstock

-paint

-marble or golf ball or jingle bells

-washi tape or sticky tac

NO MESS CHRISTMAS CARD CRAFT

One of my tricks for keeping this completely mess free is to use a Wilton cake pan with a lid. You can choose to use disposable pans (many come with lids as well) if you want to be able to just toss the mess in the trash. My frugal side is ok with washing out a little bit of paint when we do these types of activities so I use a metal pan. If your kids are older you can leave the lid off which requires your kids to be more cautious of how they are moving the tray around. 

Start by taping the paper down in order to keep it from moving around while your little ones shake the pan all around. I have used both washi tape and sticky tac. I prefer sticky tac only because I am able to hide it on the back so the entire front can be covered and not leave any weird marks on the paper.

Next take some paint-we used tempera, but have used acrylics and washable finger paints in the past-and add little drops all over the paper inside the pan. I always ask Little Miss 2.5 what colors of paint she wants to add when we do no mess art which is a great practical way to practice colors. We discussed Christmas colors so she chose red and green for some of them and then asked for a combination of colors for the other ones.

Next you will add your ball, whether it be a marble or golf ball, or you could even add a fun sensory experience and add jingle bells. You can check out our no mess jingle bell paint we did last year. Add the lid and let your little ones start shaking and moving the ball all around.

Once the papers dry there are so many options for creating the cards.

You can choose to just fold the paper in half and let your little ones write inside.

Or you can trace different Christmas shapes onto the page (trace on the back of the art in case you accidentally mess up) and then cut them out and have them glue them to some prefolded cards and then decorate the inside. I used some Christmas cookie cutters to trace the shapes.

Taking kids art and turning it into other things is a great way to reuse the art instead of tossing those precious treasures your little ones accumulate at rapid rates. Again moms anyone else with me? Little Miss is only 2.5 and if we didn’t repurpose things I would be swimming in art projects and coloring pages.

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Are you looking for more Christmas card ideas? This craft is part of a kid made Christmas card series hosted by 'Mum in the Mad House'.  Click on the image below for more ideas. Maybe you are thinking about or even seeing snow where you live. Be sure to check out Pippa’s adorable snow globe card.