We've come up with 11 really simple but brilliant fingerprint and handprint Christmas card ideas in a range of festive-themed designs – and we've added pictures or a video and step-by-step instructions to make it as easy as possible to for you and your child to get (almost) effortlessly creative at home.

Here's our pick of the best fingerprint and handprint Christmas card ideas to make with your child

Fingerprint Christmas lights | Fingerprint reindeer herd | Fingerprint snowman family | Handprint Rudolph | Handprint Christmas tree | Fingerprint mistletoe | Handprint angel | Fingerprint Christmas tree | Handprint snowman family | Fingerprint Christmas wreath | Fingerprint snowmen heads

1. Fingerprint Christmas lights

You will need:

• White card, folded
• Paint in a range of colours — the brighter the better!
• Black pen

How to make the card:

• Cover your child's thumb in a brightly coloured paint and help them press it onto the front of the card
• Wipe their thumb and repeat with different colours, making sure that the prints are spread out over the card
• Once the paint has dried, use the black pen to draw a string connecting the 'lights'

2. Fingerprint reindeer herd

You will need:

• White card, folded
• Brown paint
• Googly eyes (optional)
• Glue (optional)
• Black pen
• Red pom pom or red pen

How to make the card:

• Cover your child's thumb in brown paint and then help them press to onto the front of the card
• Wipe their thumb and repeat, using your child's other fingers (so that the prints are different sizes), across the card
• Once the paint has dried, stick on the googly eyes with glue, if using. Or use black pen to draw eyes
• Stick on the red pom poms to make nose. Or use the red pen to draw noses
• Finish by drawing antlers with the black pen

3. Fingerprint snowman family

You will need:

• Coloured card, folded
• White paint
• Black pen
• Orange pen

How to make the card:

• Cover your child's thumb in white paint and then help them press it onto the front of the card
• Repeat multiple times, overlapping the prints to make 3 big circles side by side, with a smaller circle on top of each big circle
• Once the paint has dried, use the black pen to draw buttons, mouths, eyes and stick arms
• Use the orange pen to draw carrot noses

4. Handprint Rudolph

You will need:

• White card, folded
• Brown paint
• Paintbrush (optional)
• Googly eyes or black pen
• Glue (optional)
• Red pom pom or red pen

How to make the card:

• Cover your child's hand in brown paint, then help them print it onto the front of the card
• Use the paintbrush to fill in and tidy up the print (optional)
• Once the paint has dried, stick on the googly eyes with glue. Or draw eyes on with a black pen
• Then stick on red pom poms for Rudolph's nose. Or draw one with a red pen

5. Handprint Christmas tree

You will need:

• White card, folded
• Green paint
• Paintbrush (optional)
• Multi-coloured pom poms and glue. Or multi-coloured pens
• Gold star sticker or gold pen

How to make the card:

• Cover your child's hand in green paint, then help them print it onto the front of the card
• Use the paintbrush to fill in and tidy up the print (optional)
• Once the paint has dried, make the decorations by sticking multi-coloured pom poms onto the tree with glue. Or draw on the decorations with different coloured pens
• Stick a gold star sticker at the top. Or draw a star with a gold pen

6. Fingerprint mistletoe

You will need:

• White card. folded
• Green paint
• Red paint or red pen

How to make the card:

• Cover your child's thumb in the green paint and then help them press it onto the front of the card card to make the mistletoe berries
• Dip your finger – or your child's finger – in the green paint and use it to add stems between the thumbprints (you might find this easier and less smudgy to do once the thumbprint paint has dried)
• Once that paint has dried, use a red paint or a red pen to add berries and a bow

7. Handprint angel

You will need:

• Coloured card, folded
• Gold or yellow paint
• Paintbrush (optional)
• Gold pen
• Black pen
• Red pen
• Googly eyes (optional)
• Glue (optional)

How to make the card:

• Start with the card upside down (folded side towards you)
• Cover your child's hand in gold or yellow paint, then help them print it onto the centre of the front of the blue card
• Repeat twice, placing the hand at an angle that slightly to the right and then slightly to the left of the original print
• Use the paintbrush to fill in and tidy up the prints (optional)
• Use the black pen to draw a face and add a nose.
• Use the red pen to draw a mouth
• Use the gold or yellow pen to draw a halo above the face
• Finish by glueing on the googly eyes. Or draw eyes with the black pen

8. Fingerprint Christmas tree

You will need:

• White card
• Black pen
• Green paint
• Scissors
• Glue
• Coloured card, folded
• Gold star sticker or gold pen
• Brown pen

How to make the card:

• Draw a simple Christmas tree shape on the white card
• Cover your child's finger in green paint and help them cover the white card in green fingerprints (don't worry about keeping inside the template lines)
• Carefully cut out the Christmas tree shape
• Use the glue to stick the cut-out tree onto the front of the blue card
• Stick a gold star sticker on the top of the tree. Or draw a star with gold pen
• Use the brown pen to draw and colour in the base of the tree

9. Handprint snowman family

You will need:

• Coloured card, folded
• White paint
• Paintbrush (optional)
• Black pen
• Multi-coloured pens
• White pom poms and glue (optional)

How to make the card:

• Cover your child's hand in white paint, then help them stamp it onto the front of the card
• Add snow: your child can do this by putting their fingers in the white paint and making fingerprints, or you can apply the snow with a paintbrush dipped in white paint
• Once the paint has dried, use the pens to add buttons, arms, eyes, mouths, noses and different hats. You can also glue white poms poms to some of the hat brims, if you like

10. Fingerprint Christmas wreath

You will need:

• White card, folded
• Green paint
• Red paint or red pen
• Glue
• Red pom poms

How to make the card:

• Cover your child's thumb in green paint and then help them press it repeatedly onto the card in a circle (don't worry about being too neat!)
• Once the paint has dried, use a red pen or red paint to add a ribbon at the bottom of the wreath
• Glue the red pom poms around the wreath

11. Fingerprint snowmen heads

You will need:

• Coloured card, folded
• White paint
• Black pen
• Orange pen

How to make the card:

• Cover your child's thumb in white paint and then help them print it on the front of the card. Try to print 2 overlapping thumbprints to make a very round shape.
• Repeat on other parts of the card
• Once the paint has dried, use the black and orange pens to add arms, hats and facial features to the snowmen

Pics and card creation: Emily Longman Wall. Video: Emma Omuna

Read more:

• Annabel Karmel's Gingerbread Stars recipe
• Christmas Eve traditions
• How to make reindeer food