Here’s a quick Christmas art project for kids: Christmas Light Chalk Stencil Art! The kids always love how these turn out and can’t wait to make them again and again!
*This post was originally published on November 18, 2013 and has since been updated.
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Have you ever invited your child to use stencils? It’s such fun way for kids to create!
This was Lucy’s first time exploring stencils with colored chalk and she had a blast! It’s always so fun to see how excited kids get when they remove their stencil and see the brilliant outline left behind. Lucy was ecstatic and played around with this technique for quite a while. This post contains affiliate links.
How to Make Christmas Light Chalk Stencil Art
Materials for Christmas Art
- Thick paper like card stock or file folders. You can even used old pieces of cardboard from cereal boxes!
- Scissors and a pencil
- Cotton balls
- Colored chalk
- Black construction paper
- Silver Sharpie marker
Directions for Christmas Art
1. Fold a piece of your thick cardboard in half and draw half of a lightbulb shape (with the center of the lightbulb going down the fold).
Cut it out. This is what you will use for your stencil. (You can even save the paper you cut from around the shape to use as a stencil for future art projects!)
2. Use your silver Sharpie to draw a wire for the Christmas lights on a piece of black construction paper. Draw the base of each lightbulb where you’ll be placing the stencil.
3. Place your stencil on top of the first base and outline it with a piece of colored chalk.
4. Still holding the stencil in place, use a cotton ball to brush the chalk away from the stencil. Do this all the way around the lightbulb stencil.
5. Remove your stencil and admire your brilliant lightbulb! Continue using different colored chalk for each lightbulb down the wire.
6. Hang your finished artwork up to decorate for the holidays!
You really can use this technique for all kinds of artwork and learning. Try out different colors of paper for the background or experiment with mixing and blending the chalk. You can even overlap the stencils to create some interesting designs!
We have a little drawer on our art table where we keep stencils we’ve made which is accessible to the kids whenever they’d like to use them. I’m thinking we’ll be trying out this technique with some of our other stencils and seeing what neat designs we can create next with chalk!
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Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest says
November 19, 2013 at 5:37 amLOVE this! The pictures look so cool and what a fun technique for the kids to try.
Holly Jones says
November 19, 2013 at 9:10 amLove this one too! Think we’ll try it out this week. Thanks again for the inspiration!
Katie @ Gift of Curiosity says
November 19, 2013 at 9:19 amOh these are beautiful! What a fun idea!
Stephanie says
November 19, 2013 at 12:26 pmOB. SESSED. This is so cool, Chelsey!
Theresa--Capri + 3 says
November 19, 2013 at 1:42 pmI love this! please share on Artsy Play Wednesday (live tonight at midnight EST). I will share your post on my FB page too. That is such a great idea and really jumps off the page!
Rockabye Butterfly says
November 20, 2013 at 10:19 amI love this art activity, I’ll have my daughter give it a try!
Heather @ Crayon Box Chronicles says
November 20, 2013 at 10:45 amThis is so creative! Thank you for sharing on our Facebook page! Pinned!
Sheena @ thekeeperofthecheerios.blogspot.com says
November 22, 2013 at 3:37 pmSuch a great idea thank you for sharing, pinning this….Now following you
Sheena @ http://thekeeperofcheerios.blogspot.com/
Kathy Dunnigan says
November 26, 2013 at 9:38 amI have done something similiar on tee shirts…take the stencil and trace some onto contact paper…cut out stencil…remove adhesive backing and apply to shirt…with fabric paint and a sponge brush, lightly brush over the stencil creating an outline…when dry, remove the stencil and connect the bulbs with a sharpie (or sew a running stitch connecting them). I (and my kids) have used different colored paints for different colored bulbs). We have also used the empty part of the stencil to color the bulbs and then put the stencil over it when dry to highlight the bulbs with gold or silver. Done this with snowflake stencils too.
Carrie says
November 29, 2013 at 4:48 pmWhat a fun project!! I love how they came out!!
Carrie says
November 29, 2013 at 4:51 pmThank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!
Laura at Mommy Maleta says
November 5, 2014 at 1:57 pmWhat a bright idea! : ) thx for linking it up at the Thoughtful Spot!
Lynn says
December 3, 2014 at 8:06 amMy boys don’t love crafts, but they did like this project!
Jennifer says
December 9, 2015 at 11:14 pmQuestion: I am trying to find crafts that are not messy that kids can do while in recital dance costumes. Is this super messy? Or should I look for something else?
Chelsey says
December 10, 2015 at 10:23 amHi Jennifer! This is a super fun project, but I would probably not do it in the recital costumes. The chalk dust could get on them. I know I’m super particular when Lucy’s in her dance costume waiting to perform! 🙂 There’s lots of ideas you could check out on my Christmas Pinterest board that aren’t messy!
Jennifer says
December 10, 2015 at 11:24 amThank you so much!!! I have no idea what I am going to do with these kids to keep them busy for 3 hours. I will check out your pinterest board though.