My Kwanzaa Family

Illustration of African cardboard family.
My Kwanzaa family

My Kwanzaa Family is a wonderful holiday craft project that shows everyone how much your family means to you.

What You'll Need:

Materials:
Tracing paper
Pencil, scissors
Decorative scrapbook paper or poster board: 7x9 inches red, 5x7 inches green, 4x6 inches yellow, 5x5 inches brown
Stapler
Craft glue
Black fine-point permanent marker

Patterns:
Child's head
Father's and mother's head (cut 2)
Child's body
Mother's body
Father's body
Father's hands (cut 2)
Child's hat
Father's and mother's hat (cut 2)

Download the Kwanzaa Family pattern, trace, and cut out the father's body pattern on red poster board or scrapbook paper. Repeat for the mother's body pattern using green paper and the child's body pattern using yellow paper.

Trace and cut out two head patterns for the mother and father, one child's head, and two father's hands from brown paper.

Trace and cut out two hat patterns for the mother and father using green paper and one child's hat pattern from red paper. Set aside.

Bring the "arm" parts of the father's "body" together, overlapping the arms in front and stapling them together. Repeat with mother and child cutouts. Glue heads onto the bodies of the mother, father, and child.

Illustration of scissors and red and green paper.
Trace the patterns onto colored paper before you cut
them out.


Decorate the hats with leftover paper or poster board scraps. Let dry. Fold the father's hat in half, bringing the short ends together, and staple or glue the hat to the father's head. Glue a strip of paper around the bottom of the hat to cover the staple and act like a hat band. Repeat for the mother's hat and the child's hat.

Illustration of paper scraps making up face and hat.
Decorate the hats then use glue to attach them to
the father, the mother, and the child.


Insert the bodies one inside the other, turning them so the child is cradled at the center of the family. Draw the fingers on the father's hands with the black marker, then glue them to the front.

Kwanzaa is celebrated for an entire week, so keeping track of what festivities happen when can be hard. Go to the next page to learn how to make a great calendar to help you remember it all.

Did You Know?
Kwanzaa means "the first" or "the first fruits of the harvest" in Kiswahili. (Kiswahili is an East African language.) Dr. Maulana Karenga began the holiday in 1966 to celebrate the rich cultural roots of African-American people.


For more fun activities and crafts for kids, see: