As Christmas approaches, your little ones are probably becoming more and more excited

If you're like most parents, you love spending time with your children during the holiday season, but wouldn't mind some help in harnessing all that pre-Santa enthusiasm. Turn your busy little bees into focused little elves by enjoying some Christmas crafts for kids with them. Besides being a creative outlet for your children's holiday energy, you'll find this idea for Christmas crafts for kids to be delightfully parent-friendly ideas as well. It's very inexpensive and can be accomplished without much fuss and or cleanup time.

1. Enchanted Reindeer Snacks

1 Cup Oatmeal

1 Cup Sugar

Red Liquid Food Coloring

Green Liquid Food Coloring

1 Cup (2-8 oz. bottles) Candy Sprinkles (used to decorate cakes or cupcakes)

Snack-sized re-sealable plastic bags

Single-Hole Punch

Curly Ribbon or Yarn

Station your little elves comfortably around a table, giving them plenty of elbow room to work making this Christmas craft for kids. Like adults, children work better when they have their own sense of space. Begin by diving up the cup of sugar into separate bowls, giving each child a bowl of sugar and a spoon. Have the kids choose either red or green food coloring and let them add a few drops to the sugar, mixing the sugar and food coloring until they get a nice rosy red and elf green color. Set aside the bowls of colored sugar until later, so that any moisture can dry.

Pass around the oatmeal so that each child can get a few pinches to place in the re-sealable plastic bags. When they have used all the oatmeal, pass around the candy sprinkles, letting them take turns shaking them into the bags of oatmeal. Let creativity rule here and bring out all your children's favorite candy sprinkles for them to use. Offering a variety of candy sprinkles adds merriment to this Christmas craft for kids, so give your kids free reign over this territory. You'll love watching them experiment to get just the right mixture of shapes and tastes in each bag. Make sure you have candy sprinkles that are of different shapes…some round, some oval, some star-shaped, as well as some chocolate and cinnamon flavors for the perfect childhood Christmas combination worthy of offering to Santa's reindeer.

When your kids have placed their enchanted ingredients into the bags, help them seal the bags. Now it's time to dress up this wonderful Christmas craft for kids. Take your singe-hole punch and help your kids place a hole in either corner of each bag about ¼ inch below the line where it is resealed. Help them cut a 6-inch piece of curly ribbon or yarn and place it through the hole in each bag. They can tie either a bow or a simple knot in it so that it can be hung as an ornament. Your kids will love having your guests see this fun Christmas craft for kids that they have made themselves.

You can add a bit more holiday fare to this Christmas craft for kids by creating labels for their Enchanted Reindeer Snacks. Whether you're into making your own designer labels or simply cutting them from a blank sheet of paper, you'll thrill your kids even more by attaching a label with this holiday verse.

ENCHANTED REINDEER SNACKS

Christmas Eve is growing near,

Santa's reindeer soon'll be here.

Sprinkle lightly just outside,

Reindeer spot it from the sky.

Tasty oats and sparkling sweets,

Make a reindeer Christmas treat.

Not only will you and your children enjoy making this Christmas craft for kids, you'll find that it makes a great little gift for them to give to their playmates as well. Think of the tradition you can begin with your children as you venture outside on Christmas Eve to sprinkle their Enchanted Reindeer Snacks. This Christmas craft for kids can be the beginning of many treasured memories of Christmas Eve for you and your children.

Let's see…sharing the season with those you love, conveying the message of sharing to your children, and future precious holiday memories…not too shabby a return from a Christmas craft for kids that requires most of us to simply reach into the kitchen cabinet for supplies and slow down enough to give our kids the most priceless gift of all…our time.