by Joan Collins

Created on: November 26, 2009

Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss's 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas?' Though he was a mean one, the story ends with the Grinch growing a heart worthy of love. How fun would it be for kids to create Christmas crafts that remind them of the love behind Christmas? Have your kids try these 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' crafts and you may see their heart grow three times its regular size!

The Grinch movie used over 52,000 Christmas lights so crafting with light bulbs is a good place to start. Give each child a large Christmas bulb. Let them paint a picture on the bulb. Let the paint dry. Tie two thin Christmas ribbons around the metal stem. Use one to form a bow and the second ribbon to form a loop to hang the bulb.

Paint a picture of the Grinch on a regular light bulb. First, paint the body of the bulb green and the metal stem red. Once the paint is dry, trace the face of the Grinch onto the bulb, using a photo from the Internet. Then trace the outside of the face with a black permanent marker. Paint the eyes burgundy and yellow. Use red felt and a white pompom to create a Santa hat and hot glue it to the red stem. Tie a bright Christmas ribbon to the stem. For stability, add a dot of hot glue.

Create a 'Grinch in the Chimney' ornament. Start with an empty film canister that you will paint to resemble a chimney. Use red Christmas ribbon to form a loop by gluing one ribbon to each side of the canister at the top. Add a border of cotton balls around the top of the canister to resemble snow and to cover the two ends of the ribbon. Glue a medium green pompom just inside the canister to form the bottom of the Grinch. Cut two pieces of green pipe cleaners to form this legs and feet. Add dark boots at the end of the legs by coloring the pipe cleaner with a marker. Bend them so them look like feet. Glue them to the pompom and let it dry..

While ornaments are fun, there are other crafts that can be made from this fun story. Everybody loves Max! Use cardboard and create a Max antler. Draw a large, curved half circle and add a few prongs. Cut it out and paint it white. Cut a long thick red ribbon that is long enough to fit around the cardboard antler and the head of the child leaving room to tie it under the chin.

Christmas cards can be fun when Whoville is involved. Locate colorful pictures from the book or the movie on the Internet. Cut them out to decorate cards for Grandma and Grandpa. A cute card can be created by cutting three red hearts, each heart a little larger than the previous heart. Take strips of red paper and fold it to make a spring. Glue the first heart to the card. Attach each of the other two hearts with a spring between until the heart is three hearts high. Close the card. When it is opened, the heart will appear to grow three times its former size.

Using Internet photos like the cards above, decoupage a pressed board heart with pictures of the Grinch. Once the pictures are old glued in place, cover the entire heart with one more coating of decoupage glue and let it dry. Tie a red ribbon through the hole in the heart.

Wrap one-inch Christmas ribbon around a Christmas wreath. Attach 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' ornaments to the wreath with wire. Young kids may need a little help tightening the wire. This simple craft can decorate doors inside or out.

Christmas crafts based on this popular story is fun for kids to create. Inspire them by showing the cartoon or the movie while they are working on their crafts. They may even think of some of their own.

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