Santa Paper Plate Craft, Santa Christmas Countdown, Santa's Suit Book, and FREE printables

My girls and I have so much fun this time of year making fun crafts with each other. Little Blonde and Little Red also love making paper chain countdowns for special occasions. So yesterday we decided to make a fun Santa Paper Chain Countdown to Christmas. So, it is not too late to make one. However, you can also make this cute Paper Plate Santa Craft and simply leave off the paper chains. Either way I have provided a FREE pattern for you below.

 Here are the supplies we used:
* Patterned Scrapbook Paper
*White and Pink Cardstock
*Glue
*Paper Plate
*Scissors
*Crayons
*Twine
*Hole Punch
*Santa Patterns
*Sharpie Pen
To make the countdown part we used:
*White printer paper
*Paper Trimmer
*Staples
I know this list looks a little long, but all of the items I had it my craft closet.

Now I think these Santa's turned out darling, but as a disclaimer I hand drew the different pattern pieces, so they may not be perfectly symmetrical. However, I think that just adds character! Right?
First I had my daughters trace their patterns onto cardstock paper. I also let them choose which patterned scrapbook paper they wanted to use for the hat. Funny thing is, they both chose the same paper. Then I had them cut all of the pieces out as shown above.

Next they glued all of their pieces together. I love to make my craft projects BIG, so lay down all of the Santa pieces down on your paper plate first, before you glue them down. This way you know they will fit correct. Next draw on eyes and rosy cheeks if you want. After your Santa has dried, turn the plate over and hole punch two holes at the top of your plate. Then string some type of yarn, ribbon, or twine through the holes so that you can hang your paper plate Santa up. Aren't the paper plates we used pretty? I almost hated having the pretty side on the back. :0)

Now if you want to make yours a Santa Christmas Countdown, simply make paper chains and then staple them to the back side of Santa's beard. Here are Little Blonde's and Little Red's Santa Countdowns. Didn't they just turn out adorable? I absolutely loved how they drew their eyes and the details they added to Santa's beard, hat, and mustache. This picture doesn't do them justice.

Simply CLICK HERE to download your free patterns to make these Santa Paper Plates.

                                       

After we made this craft we read a bunch of different Santa books. One of the books we read was Santa's Suit by Kate Lee. My girls have loved this book ever since they were little because it is full of fun textures. This is an exert from the book where you can touch Santa's furry white suit, or Santa's scratchy green Christmas tree  suit.

In the book Santa's Suit, Santa is tired of wearing his red suit and wants a different colored suit to wear for Christmas. He tries on a purple suit, but it is too bright. He tries on a blue suit, but it is the color of night (which makes it hard for him to deliver his presents). It is fun to see in the end how Mrs. Claus helps Santa figure out which colored suit would be best.  :0)

I decided that it would be too much fun to make a little mini reader to go along with this book. I can't wait to use this with my daughter and her friend when we have preschool this week. This mini book is a simple reader that uses color words to describe Santa's suits. Each page has your child color Santa's suit a specific color. For instance, "How about an orange suit, to make Santa look like an orange?" I seriously am too excited about having my daughters color this book.

CLICK HERE to download your FREE copy of Santa's Suit mini reader.

If you download the Santa Pattern or Mini Book I would love to hear from you! So don't be shy, leave a comment. :0)

Don't forget to enter my "Merry and Bright" Holiday Giveaway that starts Monday, Dec. 5th and goes through Dec. 10th. There are nine amazing shops participating in this giveaway and you don't want to miss out! CLICK HERE for more details