12 Easy Christmas Drawing Tutorials for Kids (Step by Step)
Christmas is about nine weeks away, which makes right now — yes, late October — exactly the right time to start drawing for it. Handmade Christmas cards drawn on a relaxed October afternoon look far better than ones panicked out on December 23rd. We’ve seen both.
So we gathered every Christmas tutorial on DrawCub into one list. Twelve drawings, each done in about five minutes, one red line at a time — the same beginner-friendly method as everything else on the site. Bonus: in December we’re running our 25 Days of Christmas Drawing series, so consider this your head start.
The Big Three (Start Here)
1. How to Draw a Christmas Tree
The centerpiece. Our tree is a stack of bouncy triangle layers with a star on top, and it’s the best first Christmas drawing a kid can make — big shapes, no fiddly details, impressive the moment the ornaments go on. Pro tip from our house: once the tree is drawn, hand it over for decorating. The crayon ornament budget has no upper limit.
Round belly, white beard, red suit — Santa is basically a coloring page waiting to happen. Ours is cheerful rather than realistic, exactly right for little artists. The beard is the fun part: big fluffy curves that forgive every wobble in the pencil line. If a kid has ever said “I can’t draw people,” Santa is the answer. Nobody draws a bad Santa.
Our reindeer has the antlers front and center (draw them bigger than you think — bigger antlers, happier drawing), and kids always give it a red nose at the end. Rudolf or not, it’s the same drawing. That’s between us and the kids, and the kids always pick red.
The Characters
4. How to Draw a Gingerbread Man
Two eyes, a smile, some squiggly icing lines, and suddenly everyone wants a snack. The gingerbread man is nearly impossible to mess up — everything about it is round and friendly. Draw a whole cookie army for the fridge.
Every workshop needs staff. Our elf has the pointy hat, the pointy ears, and a grin that suggests it knows where the presents are hidden. A great second-day drawing — slightly more detail than the gingerbread man, but still all simple shapes. Kids who like drawing faces will be done before you can say “Christmas Eve.”
6. How to Draw a Christmas Angel
A gentle change of pace. The angel is all soft curves — flowing gown, round face, wings made of layered scallops. It’s the calmest drawing on this list, which makes it perfect for a quiet December evening when the house is already loud enough. Add a bit of gold crayon on the wings. Worth it.
Cozy Christmas Bits
Top hat, carrot nose, scarf — the snowman is a three-circle miracle of simplicity. This is the one we’d hand to a total beginner, or to a four-year-old who wants to draw with the big kids. Two minutes in, they’ll have a proper snowman. The scarf is where the personality lives: stripes, spots, zigzags — never boring.
A circle, a base, and a whole tiny world inside. The snow globe is the most imaginative drawing on this list — whatever you put inside (a tree, a snowman, a reindeer having a nap) becomes your own personal Christmas scene. The snow dots are just scattered dots. Easiest detail work in all of drawing.
Hang it over the fireplace or admire it on its own. The stocking is a lovely curved shape with a fluffy cuff, and the stripes make it pop. Kids can fill the toe with little doodles of the presents they’d like. It’s also secretly one of the best shapes for practicing smooth curves without thinking about it.
A circle of leaves, a bow on top, some berries — that’s a wreath, and it’s the prettiest drawing on this list once it’s colored. The leaves are just repeated little arcs, so this is secretly great pattern practice. Draw it big in deep green with red berry dots, and you’ve got a ten-minute door decoration.
Quick Wins
Two shapes — a floppy triangle and a fluffy ball — and about three minutes. The Santa hat is the fastest drawing on this list, which makes it the perfect warm-up or finisher. Honestly, once a kid can draw the Santa hat, every other drawing becomes a Christmas drawing. Put it on the reindeer. Put it on the snowman. Nobody regrets the Santa hat.
12. How to Draw Christmas Lights
A swooping string of loops, little bulbs along it, and then — the best part — the coloring. Red, green, blue, gold, repeat. This drawing is basically a celebration of crayons. Draw one strand across the top of your page and everything underneath instantly looks more festive.
What to Actually Do With All These Drawings
Twelve drawings is a lovely pile of paper. Here’s what we’d do with them, tested over several Decembers:
- Handmade Christmas cards. Fold a card, glue on a drawing, write the message inside. The wreath and the snow globe make especially grand cards. Grandparents do not throw these away. Ever.
- Gift tags. Draw the quick wins (Santa hat, Christmas lights) small, cut them out, punch a hole, tie with string. Suddenly the presents look like they came from a much fancier household.
- Window scenes. Tape the bigger drawings to the windows facing the street. The snowman and Santa are neighborhood favorites. Your house becomes the one kids point at.
- A twelve-day countdown. Draw one tutorial a day. Tape them up in a row. By the time you finish, you’ll have your own little gallery — and you’ll be suspiciously ready for our 25 Days of Christmas Drawing series in December.
Tips That Actually Help
- Start with the snowman, not Santa. Three circles and a scarf. Two easy wins before anything ambitious — confidence compounds, especially in December.
- Coloring is half the art. Finish the pencil lines, then go bold: the deepest red, the brightest gold. Timid coloring is the only real mistake here.
- Let the lights be every color. Real Christmas lights come in sets. Drawn ones come in whatever colors are in the box. All of them. At once. This is correct.
- Draw together. One person draws the tree, another decorates it. Your snowman will look worse than your kid’s. It’s a law of the universe and it’s fine.
- Combine them into scenes. A snowman under the Christmas tree, the reindeer pulling nothing in particular but looking proud — these tutorials stack into full holiday scenes faster than you’d think.
Your Turn
Pick one — we’d say the tree, since everything else hangs off it — and give yourself five minutes. Then grab our free Starter Pack at drawcub.com for printable practice pages to keep the streak going. And if you want more Christmas ideas beyond these tutorials, our 25 easy Christmas drawing ideas for kids has you covered for the whole season.
