Holiday Wrapping Paper Art

Children use sponge shapes, crumpled paper, and potato stamps dipped in Christmas paint to create their own holiday wrapping paper from plain kraft paper or newsprint. It is a practical art activity — the paper will actually wrap presents — but the making is process art at its best: repetitive, satisfying, and completely open to each child's pace and pattern.

What You'll Need

• Large roll of kraft paper or plain newsprint — cut into wrapping-sized sheets
• Christmas-themed stamps or sponges — star shapes, tree shapes, circle shapes
• Red, green, gold, and white tempera paint — in shallow trays
• Potato stamps — cut into stars, trees, or circles if craft stamps are not available
• Glitter — optional, for sprinkling onto wet paint

How to Do It

Step 1: Prepare the paper. Roll out a generous length of kraft paper on the floor or a large table. The bigger the surface, the better.

Step 2: Choose a pattern approach. Offer two approaches without dictating: random scattered stamping (press wherever) or a repeating pattern (alternate star and tree). Both are valid.

Step 3: Dip and stamp. Children dip stamps in paint and press firmly onto the paper. Lift straight up for a clean print. Continue across the entire paper.

Step 4: Layer colors. Once the first color is stamped, add a second color with a different stamp shape. Overlapping creates rich layered patterns.

Step 5: Add glitter while wet. While paint is still damp, sprinkle gold or silver glitter over the entire sheet. Shake off the excess once dry.

Step 6: Dry and use. Let the paper dry completely — at least 2 hours — before wrapping presents.

Skills Your Child Will Develop

Repetitive pattern-making — Creating a repeating motif across a large surface is a foundational design concept.

Functional art production — Making something that will serve a real purpose (wrapping presents) connects art to daily life.

Large-motor art engagement — Working at floor scale with a full arm's reach develops whole-body engagement with art.

Tips & Variations

• Write "Wrapped with love by [name]" on the back of each piece of finished paper.
• Make multiple color combinations: all red and gold, all green and white, mixed.
• Use the wrapping paper technique to make holiday gift tags and cards from the same stamped paper.

My Two Cents

Doing this on the floor rather than a table is the right call for large paper projects — children naturally move their whole bodies as they stamp, reaching across the full surface without the table getting in the way.