by Leslie Moon

Created on: October 30, 2009

Wine corks are a great inexpensive item that can be used for holiday crafts with children.

Fortunately my friends who drink wine save up their corks for me during the year as I do crafts with a large group of children.

Cork Reindeer:

One simple (all age) craft I have made is a reindeer. The supplies you need are: 2 cork, chenille (brown or black preferred but any color works), small google eyes, small pom poms (black, red or gold are fun but again any color works). The first cork becomes the head of the reindeer. Eyes can be glued (hot glue or Alene's glue) to the side of the head and the (pom pom)nose can go on the front (circle part of the cork). Kids can make their reindeer Rudolph by using a red pom pom). Kids can be creative and draw a smile with a sharpie. They could also use small pieces of brown felt or craft foam to create ears. One Chenille becomes the antlers that wraps under the cork and the comes around twists and forms the 2 antlers(pom poms could be glued on ends for fun). One chenille (or half a chenille) can twist into the bottom where the antlers connect to the cork and become the neck and connect to the body (the second cork). Either use 2 chenille or cut one in half and make 2 upside-down v shape which will be used ad the legs. You could also make a tail with felt or craft foam if you want to get fancy. Black pom poms could be used as hooves. Let the kids be creative. A string can be attached to the body for hanging this ornament on the tree.

Cork Trivet:

A more advanced craft (10 and up) is creating a trivet from your cork. This can become a creative project where kids can try to make a snowflake form or stay basic. Start with corks in the middle hot gluing them together ( you could line 4 up like logs or create a circle effect) The hot glue will help keep the structure together. Again let the children use their creativity to make a trivet that is personal. They can't "mess-up."

Manger Scene:

Another easy craft is to create people for the manger scene out of cork. The body of the wise men is the cork and a colorful remnant of fabric could wrap around the wise men to make a garment. A dart pom pom can be glued to the top of the cork to act as the head or you could use a wooden bead. If you use the wooden bead, you can draw faces. An angel can be clothed in white and a gold chenille wire can be glued on top of the angel's head. Baby Jesus could be made of of felt with a tiny pom as a head and then laid on a manger (cork cut in half). Felt works great for making the different garments and a chenille wire or hemp string can act as a tie around the waste.

I've used Popsicle sticks to make the stable. Make an upside down V for the roof (hot glue) then have the supports glued off of the roof beams. What you will see, when it is glued, is a stick figure house. Once that layer is dry, you can glue another layer on top of that layer until they are about 8 to 10 layers deep. Then the people can stand under your stable.

Have fun doing crafts with children this holiday time.

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