Right, it’s that time of the year when Santa is starting to get rather busier. So why not give him a helping hand by making him another little helper with this build an elf craft?
This simple activity is great for developing your child’s cutting and sticking skills, and an awesome chance to practice some pencil control and fine motor skills as well!
These cute elf templates are great for preschoolers to use because they’re so simple for them to put together!
And there’s a color and a plain template – so your little ones can choose the colors and decorate their own elves as they wish – standard school green suit – OK – but how about a patchwork elf with a polka dot hat? – Go for it!
This printable Christmas craft could also make a lovely activity for anyone having a Christmas party or an easy craft for the classroom!
Here’s some more Christmas and winter themed printable activities you may want to check out:
- Christmas Phonics Game
- Build A Snowman
- Snowman Craft Templates
- Penguin Letter Matching Game
- Santa Symmetry
- Christmas Tree Templates
- Elf Counting Game
I’ve created quite a lot more Christmas printables which I will be uploading soon – so be sure to check back regularly.
What Skills Can Your Children Learn And Practice?
When using this build an elf template, your children will have the chance to practice and develop some skills such as:
- Cutting Skills – if you feel they’re ready, you can let them have a go at cutting out the pieces all by themselves – they’ll need to be careful and have good scissor control if they want to cut out the pieces neatly
- Fine Motor Skills – when they’re sticking and picking up and moving the parts and placing them where they need to go
- Pencil Control – if you print off the black and white version they can practice their pencil control and develop hand strength through coloring.
This simple Christmas craft will also give them a chance to practice their concentration and perseverance skills as they may find it tricky to place the pieces exactly where they want them to go.
How To Prepare This Build an Elf Craft
First you’re going to want to download the elf templates by clicking on the download box at the bottom of the page – I’ve made a color and a black and white version!
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Other materials you’ll need:
- Safety scissors
- Card stock or Craft paper
- Some good glue
- Some coloring pencils or pens
Once you’ve downloaded the elf templates, you’ll need to print them off onto paper or card.
Then, you can cut them out. Or if you’d like your children to get some cutting practice, you can let them have a go.
Then you can stick all the pieces together to build your Christmas elf.
It can be really nice to let you’re kids have a bit of free rein here and see if they can work it out – kind of like a puzzle.
If they’re struggling, the order I’d do it in is:
- Stick the hair to the head
- Stick the hat to the head
- Stick the ruffle on the body
- Stick the head on the body
- Stick the belt on the body
- Stick the arms on the body
- Stick the boots on the body
(I expect you could have worked that out but I do like to be thorough…)
The finished one should look something like this:
What a cute little elf!
If you want to, you could always laminate the pieces before putting them together and use them as a puzzle. That way the different parts would be kept nice and they can use them again and again.
I’ve also created even more cute characters which I will be releasing in the coming weeks so they could use them together in a mix and match game as well (if you don’t want to miss them you can turn on notifications by clicking on the bell in the bottom right corner).
A few more ‘build-a-‘ characters you may want to check out:
- Build-A-Unicorn Printable
- Build-A-Leprechaun Printable
- Build-A-Pirate Printable
- Build-A-Fairy Printable
After that you’re all done!
Let your kids practice their cutting and sticking skills in a simple and fun way!
But Wait… There’s Also A Black And White Build an Elf Craft Template!
I’ve also made a black and white version which would be an awesome way for your little ones to practice their coloring skills and personalize their elf in their own way!
So why not crack out the pens, crayons, paints or collage (or all of them if you’re feeling adventurous) and let your kids get creative!
I’d love to see what they create!
