Need a super easy Christmas craft that you can make with your child? Our cotton ball Santa craft is here to save the day!
Not only is this cute Christmas activity easy enough for young children to make but using our free printable Santa template means that it’s quick and easy for parents to set up too.
We love this classic Christmas craft and I hope that you do as well!
What You'll Find on This Page
Cotton Ball Santa Craft
Making a Santa craft with a cotton ball beard is a bit of a Christmas classic and it’s one that you’ll find all over the place, I have no idea who started this but I suspect it was a mom or someone working in a preschool.
Either way it’s a great craft to make with kids because the cotton balls really do look like a big fluffy beard!
When I share craft templates on this site I always talk about ideas for activities that you can do with them but I quite often don’t get round to sharing actual photos of how the craft would look.
I mentioned this idea a while ago alongside our Santa template and I thought it would be fun to showcase how it would actually look.
As a parent I know that I sometimes need to have an idea of what the finished craft would look like but I also find it really helpful for my kids as I can enthuse them a bit more about an idea if they know what it is they’re making.
What I love about this craft is that it’s one where it’s pretty impossible to go wrong.
Not only does it use purse friendly basic materials but if your coloring goes a bit all over the place it doesn’t matter because you can just put another bit of beard on there to cover it up.
If Santa’s beard ends up everywhere on the page well, you know, Santa just has a really big beard?
Either way your Santa Claus craft will look just perfect.
Santa Craft Supplies
- Santa template (see below)
- White paper or cardstock
- Coloring materials – coloring pencils, markers or crayons
- Glue
- Cotton balls
Free Printable Santa Template
We share loads of free printable craft templates as they’re a really fun way to help you get creative with your kids, so if you’d like to grab our free Santa template to make this craft with make sure that you do!
You’ll find two different designs (one with a beard and one without) and they’re both free to download.
Plus you can print as many copies as you like, perfect if you want to make this Santa craft with a group.
Santa Craft
This craft is so easy that it doesn’t need a lot of instructions, making it perfect for creating with preschoolers and toddlers as well as kids in the early years of school.
Start by printing your Santa template onto white printer paper or cardstock. You can use either of these, I’ve opted for paper, but cardstock does cope a bit better with large amounts of glue and cotton balls stuck to it.
Color in your Santa. You don’t need to be perfect here as one of the joys of this craft is that you can pop a cotton ball over any mistakes.
Using a glue stick or school glue (PVA glue) cover around the bottom half of Santa’s face and start to place your cotton balls on this.
You can place the cotton balls straight onto the template as I have or you might like to try unrolling them and sticking them onto to make Santa’s beard in that way.
Once the bottom part of Santa’s face is covered in fluffy cotton balls your craft is finished.
More Santa Crafts for Kids
If you’d like to make some more Santa crafts, or if you have different aged kids that you’d like to do an activity with then why not check out our printable build a Santa craft?
It’s free to download and is perfect for the holiday season.
Or for a Santa paper plate craft with a difference check out this paper plate twirler that’s a great way to practice scissor skills and that you can hang up as a decoration too.

Equipment
- Coloring pencils or markers
- Glue
Materials
- Santa template Printed onto white paper or cardstock
- Cotton balls
Instructions
- Print your template onto white paper or cardstock.
- Color the picture of Santa in using markers, crayons or coloring pencils.
- Spread glue around the bottom of Santa's face and then stick on the cotton balls to form Santa's beard.
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