Looking for Non-glue Christmas Craft Ideas for Pre-schoolers

Hi. I used to be a preshool teacher so here are a few ideas off the top of my head that don't involve glue. It was challenging ! Don't know what your budget is though so I threw out a few. Hope it helps

1. Cut holiday shapes out of sandpaper. Kids can color on it with cinnamon sticks (smells nice and not messy). Punch hole. Tie with yarn and ribbon and you've got a ornament. Have to push hard with cinnamon sticks. can also color with regular or scented crayons. Kids like the texture.
2. Twist white chenille stems (new politically correct term for pipe cleaners) into snowfakes. White pony beads can be added at ends and then twist a loop to keep them on.
3. Pasta necklaces- Wagon wheels, mosticioli or large rigatoni noodles work great the you just need some yarn or even curling ribbon. Sometimes you can find holiday colored pasta at this time of year.
4.Rubber stamp a holiday shape cut from cardstock to make an ornament or do a bookmark they can take home for a gift. You can buy washable stamp ink at most craft stores or teacher may have.
5.Another ornament or decoration idea-If you have access to a photo of each child, use double stick tape to put the photo on a piece of cardstock, plastic lid or wooden shape, that child has colored. Have an adult write year on it. Could also add magnetic tape and for a refrigerator magnet.
6. Cut out the middle of a white paper plate (or green to save a step). Color green. Add holiday stickers and a bow and you've got a wreath.

Have fun and Merry Christmas!

On of my sons favorite ornament is a picture of him and his teacher that was laminated and then a hole punched in the top for a ribbon. They then let the kids decorate it with small stickers around the edges.

Did you check out orientaltrading.com? They have tons of cheaper craft kits for kids. I can't remember what my son made in preschool. Never anything that great really I guess. They have lots of stuff they can make using fabric markers and canvas. They also have these ornaments that are all black and as the kids scratch them, they turn different colors.

One thing you could do is buy wooden cut outs from Michaels, not sure what other stores have them. Then the kids can color with crayons or colored pencils instead of paint or markers. You can also wrap silver pipe cleaners around a pencil top make icicles, wrap a red and a white one together and bend the one end to make candy cames. Also, we took styrofoam balls and used toothpicks to stick them together to make snowmen. To avoid messy glue, you can also buy glue dots. I am pretty sure the craft stores sell them but orientaltrading.com also has them in different sizes. These are really great for little kids.

Hi M.!
When my son was in Kindg. we used clear glass ornaments and put the paint inside. The kids had fun moving the paint around and it looked really nice (just a note: a little paint goes a LONG way!). Have the teacher send a note home that has everyone saving tissue boxes so the kids can get them home if they ride buses and use simple ribbon to be able to hang them on their trees. My son loves to talk about how we made the ornament together (I was lucky enough to get a chance to help out) and shows everyone when them come over!
Good Luck!