New Year Craft Ideas for Kids

It’s that time of the year again! Many of us reflect over the year gone by, and make new resolutions to help improve ourselves and the quality of our lives. What better way to teach our children the value of continued growth and learning than through new year crafts for kids?

Helping your little learner to make and keep resolutions should be upbeat and fun. Below you’ll find some creative and easy ways to teach your child the power of resolutions and the ideal of personal growth and improvement. 

New Year Resolution Calendar

Perfect for the littlest of learners, this seasonal calendar will help your child understand the seasons throughout the year, while learning the value of planning and keeping long-term goals. 

What You'll Need

• 1 paper plate per child
• Crayons or colored pencils
• 1 marker
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Tape or glue

What to Do

• Help your child to draw lines down and across the middle of the plate to create 4 equal sections, which will represent each season: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Label each quarter using the marker in the color of your child’s choice. 

• Have your child shade in each quarter on the plate with crayons. Colors that often represent each season (ex. Pink or green for spring, and yellow for summer) work great! 

• On the construction paper, help your child to decide upon and write down 1-2 resolutions they would like to tackle per season. After writing these down, cut out each resolution. 

• Help your child tape or glue each resolution onto the quarter of the desired season. 

When finished, hang this calendar in your child’s room and refer to it often. Feel free to create a special place on your child’s door, wall, or cork board for their New Year’s resolutions. Encourage them to decorate the surrounding space with new year coloring pages to keep the area designated for their resolutions.

Check off each resolution that has been completed, and encourage your child to continue their good deeds throughout the year! 

Good Deeds Garden

It’s important to instill in children the importance of giving back to the community, or just helping others in our daily lives. This New Year’s craft will inspire your children to think about how they can help those around them every month of the year! 

What You'll Need

• 12 popsicle craft sticks
• 1 permanent marker
• A small cup, or a plastic flower pot
• Over time: construction paper, photos, glue, and scissors

What to Do

• Around New Year’s Day help your child to think of 12 good deeds (one for each month of the year!) that they would like to complete over the course of the year. These deeds could be as simple as donating old toys to charity, or helping out with chores without being asked. Be sure to help your child single out realistic deeds for your family.

• Using the permanent marker, help your child to write each deed on a popsicle stick and place each in the cup or flower pot. Optional: to make it more fun, fill the very bottom of the pot with black tissue paper to represent soil. 

• Each month of the year (you pick the day!), have your child randomly pick one of the popsicle sticks from the pot. Over the course of the month, they must complete that good deed. 

• While completing, snap a picture of your child completing the deed, or the results. Print this out and help your child to cut it into a circle. Using construction paper, help your child to draw and cut a flower-shaped piece of paper, and glue or tape on the picture to the flower, Then, have them decorate the flower with the month of the year the task was completed, and however they wish. 

Attach the flower with the picture to the popsicle stick and put it back in the pot. Repeat this each month until next year! 

By the end of the year, your child will end up with 12 wonderful memories of the tasks they completed over the year, creating a veritable garden of good deeds! 

While New Year’s Day is a great time of the year to stop and reflect over the past, it’s also an awesome time for new beginnings and traditions. Use this new year to teach your child the importance of continued growth and learning, while fostering a love for service to others and an appreciation for goal-setting.

Better yet, your child will have a blast working on these fun holiday crafts for kids, and will be inspired to get started on their new year goals!