Easy Candy Cane Reindeer Craft That Kids Can Make Themselves

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Moms everywhere will be excited to find that kids can easily make this candy cane reindeer craft themselves. If your kid can figure out how to play with stickers, they can do this craft. Pour yourself another cup of coffee (or glass of wine), set out the supplies for candy cane reindeer, and let your kids entertain themselves for 30 minutes while they make gifts for friends and neighbors!

A Candy Cane Craft That Doubles as a Gift for Classmates

I love this craft for several reasons.

One- it’s easy enough for my kids to make themselves.

Two- it doubles as a gift for classmates.

I don’t know about you, but during the holiday season, the last thing I want to do is make 20 little presents for each of my kids’ classmates. If I did that, I’d have to make 60 little goodie bags. Or buy 60 little presents.

I don’t have the time, money, or headspace to do that.

But my kids do have the time. And the energy.

Enter this easy candy cane reindeer craft that kids can easily make themselves.

What makes this reindeer candy cane craft so easy for kids?

The hack to making this craft kid-friendly is to buy stick on googly eyes and glue dots or rhinestone stickers for the nose.

The person who invented these stick on wiggle eyes below is my hero. Seriously. My hero.

If your child can play with stickers, he or she can easily make this craft (thanks to the creator of googly eye stickers). If you don’t have sticker loving kids, this still only requires minimal help from you.

Oddly enough, my 4 year old made his batch without my help, while my 6 year old needed help. Each kid is different! I can’t guarantee that your child can make them all start from finish, but I can be pretty certain that they will enjoy doing as much of the work as they can before asking for your help.

No, your reindeer candy canes won’t look perfect

That’s the beauty of a kid made craft!

The candy cane reindeer that my kids made do not look nearly as good as the ones you see on Pinterest. However, I didn’t spend hours making them or feel stressed figuring out how to help my kids give a little gift to their friends. In fact, I made dinner in peace while the kids did this. I don’t get many peaceful meal preps so I will gladly take this win.

How kids can make their own candy cane reindeer

First, buy your supplies.

You can easily find all of these supplies at a craft store. Personally, I prefer to buy these things at Michaels or Joann Fabrics with a good coupon. It’s way cheaper than buying through Amazon. I’ve provided Amazon links below to make it easy for you to purchase or see the products I like. However, I suggest you check out the craft stores first. The pack of red pom poms that I bought at the craft store was 99 cents compared to the pack on Amazon for over $4.

Then again, if you buy using Amazon Prime everything is delivered right to your door in 2 days or less with no shipping charges. Sometimes convenience is worth the price.

Deal alert: Don’t have Amazon Prime yet!? Get a 30 day free trial here.

Reindeer candy cane supplies

Candy canes (personally I like these brown ones)
Mini glue dots
Stick on googly eyes– this brand works like a charm!
Brown pipe cleaners
small red pom poms or red rhinestone stickers

How to make reindeer candy canes

Gather your supplies- you need half a pipe cleaner, 2 eyes, one nose with one glue dot (or red rhinestone stickers), and one candy cane for each little reindeer.
Cut brown pipe cleaners in half
Put noses in a bowl and pipe cleaners in another bowl- this makes it easy for little hands
Start with antlers and teach your kids to wrap pipe cleaners around the bend of each candy cane reindeer, let them decide how to “style” the antlers
Stick eyes on next
Then use mini glue dots to stick on the noses (or use rhinestone stickers)

Kids can make one reindeer candy cane at a time or do all the antlers, then eyes, then noses. Let them pick! It’s fun to see how they choose to to make their candy cane reindeer.

Pro Tip- keep a hot glue gun handy just in case. It’s easy to reinforce a few eyes or noses that stop sticking. You should also double check the antlers just to make sure they are tight enough.

I promise that if a 4 year old and a 6 year old can do this, your kids can too. I was expecting to spend at least an hour helping them, but they did it mostly by themselves.

I call that a win!

Don’t we all need a win this time of year?

Want more ideas to simplify Christmas?

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