Make an Easy Grinch Craft for Kids

A couple of years ago I was tasked with coming up with a craft for the girl’s Grinch-themed class Christmas party, so I had them make this easy Grinch craft using a spoon.

It wasn’t my idea, of course. Like any good crafter I searched Pinterest for some quick and easy ideas. I needed something we could make in a few minutes, that even not-so-crafty kids could do and enjoy.

I found a picture with no instructions that I now can’t find to show you, but it looked pretty much just like this one.

How to Make a Plastic Spoon Grinch

The hardest part of the setup for this craft was finding materials in the right shade of green. The Grinch isn’t Christmas green, it’s more of a lime green, which isn’t as widely available.

I ended up buying a pack online, of course. I found spoons at the local party store (they have partyware in just about every color), but you can buy those online, too.

Aside from that, you just need some red cardstock (just a sheet or two should do it, depending on how many you are making), a white paint pen, black permanent markers and some double-stick tape (or glue sticks, though I think the tape works better).

Setting up the Grinch Spoon Craft

Because I knew I needed to be able to make this with a lot of kids relatively quickly, I did a lot of the prep ahead of time.

I trimmed the pipe cleaners to about 6 inches each, or roughly in half. These make the Grinch’s arms.

I cut out Santa hat and sweater shapes (they don’t have to all be the same) and decorated them with the paint pen. If you were doing this with just a few kids you could let them do that part, maybe with pre-drawn shapes they can cut and decorate, depending on the age of your crafters.

My sweaters are about 3 inches long and 4 inches wide at the arms, and the hats are about an inch and a half tall. I free-handed all of them so they’re all a little different.

Assembling the Grinch Craft

Once you have all your supplies ready, it’s a simple matter for kids to make the Grinch craft.

First they draw the face on the back of the spoon. Then, twist the pipe cleaner to make arms (the ends are hooked to hold on the Santa coat) and tape on the hat.

The kids had a lot of fun with this and it was a great classroom craft because of the minimal setup and supplies, and because even non-crafty kids could put it together pretty easily. It also makes me want to make other spoon character crafts!

While searching for the original photo that inspired my Grinch spoon craft, I found this more involved version you could do with older kids or if you have some time to wait for paint to dry. She painted a white spoon and used cotton balls to add embellishment to the coat. It really just depends on how much work you want to put into it. Check it out at the Joy of Sharing.

Have you ever crafted characters with plastic spoons? I’d love to hear about it!