FREE Pop-Up Christmas Card Template: A Fun, Easy Craft for Kids!

December 11, 2024

Are you looking for an easy and fun Christmas craft for kids? Well, our FREE pop-up Christmas card template not only sparks creativity but also adds a little festive cheer while sneaking in some learning too!

This super simple Christmas activity is perfect for either a cosy Christmas family afternoon or for the times you just need a quick craft to keep them busy amid the Christmas chaos! Just print, cut, fold, and let the creative fun begin!

Read on for tips to decorate your Christmas cards and ideas to sneak in even more learning opportunities!

Why Pop-Up Christmas Cards Are a Great Christmas Craft Idea

Making Christmas cards isn’t just a fun festive activity. In fact, it’s full of sneaky learning opportunities, all wrapped up in a craft your kids will love:

Christmas crafting encourages creativity: Designing their own Christmas cards lets children experiment with colours, shapes, and festive designs.

Crafting cards builds fine motor skills: Cutting, folding, and sticking are great for developing dexterity and precision.

Christmas cards make writing practice fun: A creative way for kids to work on handwriting, spelling, and grammar.

Handmade Christmas cards foster kindness: Creative Christmas activities like this teach thoughtfulness, the joy of giving, and how small acts of kindness can brighten someone’s day.

Creativity boosts confidence: Children feel proud of their creations and the smiles they bring to recipients.

And the best part? It’s an easy, affordable Christmas activity that the whole family can enjoy together.

What’s Inside the Free Pop-Up Christmas Card Template?

Our pop-up Christmas card template is designed to make Christmas crafting simple and fun. Here’s what’s included in our Free Christmas printable for children:

Festive pop-out characters: Children can choose their favourite colourful Busy Things characters or a blank version to colour in themselves.

Easy-to-Follow Instructions: Just a few strategic cuts and folds of the Christmas card template are all it takes to create a 3D card.

Room for Creativity: Once they’ve mastered the pop-up template, children can unleash their imagination and create entirely new pop-up designs! We would love to see their creations so please do tag us on social.

This simple Christmas craft is great for encouraging creativity while keeping kids entertained. So download the template, grab some scissors and glue, and watch as your child’s creativity comes to life!

Top Tips for Making Pop-Up Christmas Cards Extra Special

Want to take your Christmas cards to the next level? Try these simple ideas:

Try up-cycling Christmas materials: For example, you can add an eco-friendly twist to this simple Christmas activity by decorating cards with scraps of wrapping paper, ribbon, or old Christmas cards.

Personalise each card: Encourage children to draw pictures or write messages tailored to each recipient – grandparents will love it!

Add some sparkle to your pop-up Christmas card template!: Provide glitter pens, stickers, or sequins to give their cards that extra festive flair.

Make it a family Christmas event: Get everyone involved and set up a card-making station. Why not add Christmas music to set the mood?

Festive Learning Ideas to Sneak in to Your Card-Making

Making Christmas cards isn’t just a craft – it’s a chance to sneak in a little extra learning too! Here are some Christmas-themed learning ideas…

Creative writing skills: Writing a Christmas greeting is a fantastic way for children to practice writing, spelling, and grammar without it feeling like schoolwork. For instance, you can practice creative writing skills by asking children to write a rhyming message, a short Christmas poem, or even a letter with the highlights of their year inside their cards.

Symmetry practice: Talk about symmetry while folding the card or designing the pop-up elements.

Shape recognition: Discuss the shapes they’re using – triangles for trees, circles for baubles – and how they can combine them to make festive designs.

Explore Christmas Traditions: Chatting about the origins of Christmas symbols like trees and stars or discover how other cultures celebrate is a brilliant Christmas-themed learning activity! Our Exploring Christmas Traditions Around the World With Kids blog is a great place to start!

Math practice: Use the card as a basis for maths fun – count the baubles or practise addition and subtraction as they work on their design.

Pattern-making: While decorating, explore repeating patterns with stickers or colours – an effortless way to introduce early maths concepts without it feeling like work!

Christmas history: Explore the history of Christmas cards – when were they invented and why do we still send them?

Festive spelling challenge: Ask children to include new festive words like ‘sparkle,’ ‘chimney,’ or ‘bauble’ in their messages.

Creative design challenge: Once they’ve mastered the pop-up template, encourage them to design their own pop-ups – maybe reindeer, snowmen, or even a Santa sleigh!

Envelope etiquette: Teach children practical skills like how to address envelopes (do they know their own address?), place stamps and understand postage – turning this into a useful life lesson wrapped-up in festive fun!

More creative Christmas ideas for kids

If your child loves being creative, they’ll enjoy the other festive fun waiting on Busy Things!

Busy Things includes lots of activities to encourage children to get creative with their design skills, their computer skills and in their writing. Making Christmas cards is fantastic way of practising all of these skills and it doesn’t feel like ‘learning’ at all!

Get creative! Design, write and print your own line of Christmas cards with our easy-to-use paint
and sticker tools.

There are lots of lovely templates to choose from.

NB: For the best experience please play Busy Things on a tablet or computer – a phone screen is too small for the detail of this activity.

Did you know that we offer educational gift subscriptions? Busy Things subscriptions are available in 3, 6, 9, or 12-month subscriptions. They make a wonderful, long-lasting gift idea for children to learn and play all year round!

Download Your Free Pop-Up Christmas Card Template Today!

So, are you ready to get crafting? Download our FREE pop-up Christmas card template now and start wishing all your friends and family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Discover More Creative Christmas Activities on Busy Things

Busy Things is packed with activities designed to encourage learning through laughter and play! Here are some of our favourite Christmas-themed activities:

Christmas themed word-reading game: Santa’s Sleigh Dash – A festive reading game that will help to children practise phonics as they guide Santa!

Creative Christmas Game: Our Snowflake Maker is a symmetry-focused activity where children can design digital snowflakes while learning about shapes and patterns.

NEW for 2024! Custom Sleigh Maker: Let young children’s imaginations soar as they design a whimsical Santa’s sleigh. They can customise everything from the sleigh’s body to its wheels, runners, and even the driver!

You can try all the Christmas-themed learning activities on Busy Things completely FREE! Try Busy Things FREE for 7 days – no card details needed!

Let us know what you think of the pop-up Christmas card template!

Let us know if you try these Christmas card ideas with your family! Please tag us in your festive creations – we can’t wait to see the joy your handmade cards bring!