Easy Christmas Candle Craft for Kids (Great for Advent Too!)

There’s no time of year quite like the holidays. Especially in a kindergarten classroom. The kids are excited, and we always have so many holiday events at school. On top of all of the special moments, I love doing holiday projects with my students. But I need them to be fast and simple so that I still have time to teach academic content. Which is why I love this easy Christmas candle craft. It’s simple, easy to prep for and the finished project looks fantastic. I’ll take you step by step through the craft and I even have a free template that you can download at the end of this post to help you create a Christmas candle craft with your students!

Thank you to Astrobrights for sponsoring this blog post. This post also contains affiliate links and I receive a small commission each time a purchase is made through one of my links. However, all opinions stated are my own and I only promote brands and products that I love.

Christmas or Advent Paper Candle Craft

I teach in a Catholic school, so it’s always an added bonus when I can put a religious spin on a secular Christmas craft. I love a good Christmas tree or Santa project as much as the next teacher, but the religious crafts really melt my heart, which is the wonderful thing about this paper candle craft. You can easily create a red Christmas candle with this project, or you can create a purple or pink candle to represent the season of Advent.

Using Torn Paper with Older Children

I also love this Christmas candle craft because it’s simple enough for kindergarten, but can easily be adapted as a more challenging project for older grades. Just have older students tear the pieces to make a torn paper craft. I personally love the torn paper look and my 3rd and 4th grade assistants enjoyed the challenge.

Now that you’ve seen a few different ways to adapt this very simple Christmas candle craft, I’ll take you step by step through the process and materials used.

Gather Materials

This project doesn’t require any special materials. You can easily purchase Astrobrights paper on Amazon and have it delivered right to your door. You’ll also need a glue stick, scissors (optional) and a hole punch. Each sheet of 8.5×11″ Astrobrights paper and cardstock will need to be cut in half for this project, so a paper cutter is also helpful to have.

Additionally, you will need to copy the candle and flame templates onto Astrobrights paper. The candle has two layers of coordinating paper to create a little extra pop of color, and a variety of green shades was used to create the evergreen. Even the flame had a little added dimension from yellow and orange paper. The bright mix of colors adds a layer of depth to the Christmas candle craft and makes the project extra special. Here are all of the papers I used for the three projects.

And for a little extra clarification, here are the signature colors I used for the candle on each art project:

You can also purchase this pack of paper on Amazon that includes 6 sheets of every Astrobrights color inside. It’s perfect if you are working on smaller projects (like I was with my three little crafters).

Creating the Paper Candle Christmas Craft

Regardless of the color or cutting option, all students will need a half sheet of 8.5×11″ Eclipse Black™ cardstock for the project. Then it’s time to begin cutting or tearing.

Cutting and Gluing the Candle

Once the candle pieces have been cut, they will be layered and glued onto the black cardstock. Have students aim for the center of the paper so there is room for evergreen leaves at the bottom and a flame at the top.

Adding the Flame

Next up is the flame. Once again, students will cut or tear a large Solar Yellow™
flame and a smaller Cosmic Orange™ flame, then layer these pieces to the top of the candle.

Tear and Glue Evergreen Leaves

Once the candle and flame are complete, it’s time to add an evergreen collage to the bottom of the candle. I used three green shades of Astrobrights paper ( Martian Green™, Vulcan Green™, and Gamma Green™.) I love how much more deep and rich this sweet craft was than if I had just used one color for the evergreens.

For this part of the project, everyone tore pieces of paper and glued them onto the bottom of the candle.  Even my friend that had used scissors to cut her other pieces.

Add Red Berries

As a final touch, the girls used a hole punch to create small berries for their leaves.  We used the scraps of paper from the Re-Entry Red™ candle.

christmas-candle-craftFREE Christmas Candle Craft Template

If you want to create this simple Christmas candle craft with your students, I’ve made it super easy for you! Enter your email below to download your free candle template and printable directions, then check your inbox!

Pin Now and Come Back Later

If you are gathering ideas now for classroom project ideas to use later on, I’ve made it very easy for you to remember these simple free crafts. Pin the image below that best suits your needs to save this craft on Pinterest. Then come back whenever it’s convenient for you!