Santa Hat Decorating Station
A plain red felt Santa hat becomes the canvas for a preschooler's Christmas creativity — and a decorated Santa hat becomes a holiday accessory they will want to wear for the entire season. Set up a hat decorating station with foam stickers, pom-poms, glitter glue, and ribbon, and children produce wildly individual hats that they immediately put on and refuse to take off.
What You'll Need
- Plain red felt Santa hats — one per child, inexpensive at dollar stores in December
- White craft glue or hot glue
- Foam Christmas stickers — trees, stars, snowflakes, gifts
- Pom-poms — assorted sizes and colors (the brim already has a white one; add more)
- Glitter glue — in gold, silver, red, and green
- Optional: ribbon, felt cutouts, googly eyes — for additional decoration
How to Do It
Step 1: Set up the station. Lay all decorating materials on the table in accessible positions. Give each child a hat and a small bottle of white glue.
Step 2: Introduce possibilities. Show each material briefly: "These are foam snowflakes. You can put them anywhere you like." Then step back entirely.
Step 3: Let children decorate. The most important instruction is no instruction — children who are given full creative control over their hat produce the most personally meaningful results.
Step 4: Help with tricky elements. An adult can assist with glitter glue application if the bottle is difficult, but placement decisions should remain the child's.
Step 5: Let dry. Set hats flat to dry for at least 30 minutes before wearing — otherwise pom-poms migrate and stickers curl.
Step 6: Wear and parade. Put on the hats and do a Santa hat parade around the room.
Skills Your Child Will Develop
Self-directed creative decision-making — Choosing from many options without direction builds creative confidence and decision-making.
Visual design — Deciding where to place each element on a three-dimensional curved surface develops spatial design thinking.
Fine motor gluing — Applying glue to the back of small foam stickers and pressing in place builds hand control.
Tips & Variations
- Make matching hats for stuffed animals.
- Set up the station as a party activity — each child takes their hat home.
- Add individual letters to spell each child's name across the brim.
My Two Cents
Buy plain hats from dollar stores in bulk — the quality is perfectly adequate for craft decoration and the price allows for a hat per child without budget concerns. The craft store equivalent costs five times as much.
