New Year’s Eve is one of those holidays that just seems to bring on a little extra magic especially when you’re celebrating with little ones. It’s the perfect opportunity to start new traditions, create lasting memories, and celebrate the big countdown in tons of small and inspiring ways. 

There’s no better way to ring in the new year with kids than by incorporating engaging and exciting New Year’s Eve Crafts. Arts and crafts help a child’s development, and allow you to slow down and soak in the moment of the holiday!

That’s why I’m super excited to share a round-up of craft ideas that you can do with your toddlers to bring the season’s spirit to life. Put on your party hats, grab your confetti poppers, and let’s have some fun with these super easy New Year’s Eve craft ideas for kids! 

Crafting the Countdown: 10 New Year’s Eve Crafts for Toddlers

Salt Painted Fireworks

If you’ve used this salt painting activity in the past, there’s a fun New Year’s Eve twist we’re going to add to make it festive and fun!

Use a permanent marker to draw fireworks on watercolor paper and outline the fireworks in glue. After they’re all outlined, add salt on top! The more salt you add, the better. Now, just make small cups of colored water using food coloring, and hand your little one a dropper so they can transfer the watercolor to the paper.

You can even add some glitter for an intriguing sparkly effect! Your little ones will light up with excitement when they watch the fireworks come to life. 

Party Hats

You can’t have a New Year’s Eve Party without the party hats, so let’s make some! This is another fun craft diy that will get your toddlers pumped for the new year.

This craft idea is fully customizable, making it a great opportunity to let your kid’s creativity run wild. Get some plain party hats, write “Happy New Year” on them with markers, and sort all of the decorative objects into small cups or bins for easy access. You can use glitter, sequins, pom poms, decorative borders, ribbons your options are endless! Have your little one glue all their decorations onto their party hat, and voila!

It’s a fun way to celebrate the season creatively, while also encouraging them to work on the development of fine motor skills. It’s a win all around!

Cloud Slime

I try to incorporate slime into arts and crafts as much as I can, and that’s not just because it’s a toddler’s golden ticket to fun every time playing with slime is developmentally beneficial! Let’s turn this cloud slime into an exciting New Year’s Eve-themed craft.

By combining white glue, baby oil, baking soda, shaving cream, and contact lens solution, you get a fluffy, stretchy, and texturally engaging craft for your little one to squeeze and squish all night long. To make this a bit more festive, use a heavy hand with the food coloring to make a darker, more saturated blueish-purple, and add gold or silver sequins and glitter to mix in!

Your toddler will still get all of the fun that comes with traditional slime, but we just transformed it with a festively fun theme! 

Analog Clock DIY

Using recycled materials is another one of my favorite hacks when it comes to craft ideas! They’re environmentally friendly, inexpensive, and make for super fun activities. 

You can use a paper plate for tons of different activities, like a DIY countdown clock! Use a paper plate for the base of the clock, dot stickers numbered from 1-12 for the hours, and pipe cleaner for the hands of the clock. You can also grab a dry-erase board or a recycled plastic box so you’re able to write the time your little one needs to find. Simply just have your toddler use their clock to follow along with the time until it’s midnight! This is a fantastic way to help your little one feel included in celebrating the transition into the new year, and practice tracking the time.  

DIY Confetti Poppers 

Introducing another awesome craft made from recycled materials, we have DIY confetti poppers using toilet paper rolls! What better time to make a little mess than on a fun holiday like New Year’s Eve?

Start by getting a toilet paper roll and a balloon. Tie the end of the balloon, cut it in half, and stretch the knotted half over one end of the roll you can use masking tape or glue to secure it on. Next, use hole-punched construction paper for confetti, (or you can buy some here), fill the confetti popper up, and keep it upright until the clock strikes midnight!

Have your little one decorate their confetti popper however they’d like! You can provide things like dot stickers, foam stickers, sequins, ribbons, etc. It’s a fun and creative STEM activity that will excite your toddlers from start to finish. 

DIY Paper Plate Star Twirler

If you haven’t heard of Red Ted Art before, they offer TONS of crafts for kids that are fun to do, easy to create, and are developmentally beneficial! One of my favorite crafts is this paper plate star twirler it’s the perfect toddler-friendly decoration to make for New Year’s Eve!

Grab a paper plate and have your kids paint it with blue, purple, and black paint you can follow this paint recipe if you’d prefer a taste-safe option! While it’s drying, feel free to sprinkle on some glitter for added visual charm. Once the plate dries, cut it in a large spiral, glue on the star printables, and thread a string through the top so it’s easy to hang.

Using arts and crafts to create decorations is a great way to instill creative freedom and a sense of accomplishment for your kids! They’ll love seeing their projects decorated throughout your home. 

Bubble Wands

Another honorable mention to Red Ted Art for this cookie-cutter bubble wand idea it’s the perfect activity to do with your toddlers for New Year’s Eve!

Grab some star-shaped cookie cutters, and wrap pipe cleaners around the cookie cutter itself. When you’ve reached the end of the shape, wrap the rest of the pipe cleaner to “close it”. Use another pipe cleaner to create the wand, and then thread the bottom of it with beads! Fold it over so the pokey end of the pipe cleaner doesn’t stick out, and so the beads don’t slip off. 

This is a great way to swap out sparklers for bubble-blowing! Because yes, these do double as bubble-blowing wands. How fun! 

DIY Noisemakers

We spend 364 days of the year encouraging inside voices and limiting excessive noise, but it won’t hurt to give our toddlers one free noise pass on New Year’s Eve, right?! These DIY noise makers are a must-do for this holiday season.

Take disposable clear plastic cups and fill them with anything that will make noise like dried colored pasta, colorful beads, small bells, and colored rice. Once you have all of your noise-making materials in the cups, use tape to secure two of them together. Now, you can have your toddler use paint and stickers to decorate the outside of their project!

The ability to customize the noisemakers is fun within itself, but your toddlers will be thrilled when they realize what they can do with them afterward!

White Crayon Art

If you’ve ever wondered what the white crayon in the crayon box is for, it’s so we can create arts and crafts for our toddlers that seem to magically appear!

Grab all of those white crayons you’ve left sitting in their boxes, a few sheets of watercolor paper, and some watercolor paint. Using the crayon, you can write “Happy New Year”, draw fireworks, stars, party hats anything that represents the holiday. Now, just have your toddler paint over it to magically reveal the hidden drawings. And just as we’ve been doing with plenty of the other activities, feel free to add glitter for a little extra celebratory pizazz! 

It’s such a simple activity, but your toddlers will be mesmerized when their New Year’s Eve art seems to “magically” come to life!

New Year’s Eve Activity Pack

Activity packs are great tools to use for celebrating the holidays and celebrating small steps in developmental milestones. You can use them as standalone activities or combine them with other activities for some added fun!

On the Mothercould in Your Pocket resource, I’ve created a printable activity pack full of exciting and engaging New Year’s Eve activities! You can do things like practice writing the time, write down wishes for the new year, create fun party hats, and tons more.

Not only do you get access to this specific activity pack, but you can also find helpful parenting hacks, fun play recipes, and useful play tools.

How To Make New Year’s Eve Fun For Toddlers

Plan interactive crafts so they can feel involved. 

Providing hands-on activities will keep toddlers engaged, inspired, and excited. New Year’s Eve can feel like a harder holiday to involve your little ones in, so using interactive crafts is a great way to allow them to feel part of the celebration.

Keep activities short to keep them engaged. 

As we already know, toddlers' attention spans can be limited. The best way to make New Year’s Eve fun is to keep these activities short and sweet, rather than longer and more drawn-out. Alternating between crafts will keep them entertained and excited!

Make their countdown just as fun.

Adults have their ways of celebrating in the new year, and our kids can, too! Host an early “midnight countdown”, and let them go all out! That’s why I incorporated things like noise makers and confetti poppers New Year’s Eve can be loud, messy, and thrilling, regardless of age! 

Which crafts are you doing with your toddlers to ring in the new year?

New Year’s Eve is all about cherishing the good times that the previous year has provided while celebrating what’s to come in the year to come! These craft ideas are sure to bring some fantastic fun to your holiday, and your kids will love being included in the celebrations. 

For plenty of other engaging and exciting arts and crafts ideas, visit the Mothercould blog! For more engaging activity packs, in-depth play recipes, and helpful parenting hacks, download the Mothercould in your Pocket resource!

Before you head off to start these super exciting activities, let me know which craft you’re most excited to try, and which tips and tricks you’re using to make the holiday fun for your toddlers. I love hearing from you all! Happy New Year!