Christmas Cookie Decorating Ideas for Kids

Christmas cookie baking and decorating is a holiday favorite in many households. What better way to catch a sugar rush then spending a day decorating your favorite holiday shapes? If you are looking for fun and easy ways to decorate with kids, we’ve got you covered with 5 Christmas cookie decorating ideas for kids. With a little prep and guidance, your kids will have a blast in the kitchen decorating their own cookies.

1. Dipped

Dipping cookies is a really simple way to get creative and make your Christmas cookies look festive. Every cookie comes out different and you can explore different amounts of dipping to get the desired look you want. To dip cookies, you can experiment with either icing or melted chocolate. You can use colored icing or food coloring to get different shades of your favorite holiday colors!

How to do it:

You’ll want to thin your icing or chocolate with milk little by little until it easily drips off your spoon. Hold your cookie by the edge and dip it into the icing. You can get creative by dipping only part of the cookie or the entire surface. Slowly lift your cookie up, let the excess icing or chocolate drip off, and turn it iced side up to dry on a flat surface. Our 3-Piece Mixing Bowl Set will help you mix up different dipping options and give you plenty of space for any shaped cookie. You can also coat your dipped section with crushed candy canes, chopped nuts, sprinkles, or other holiday favorites to dress up your cookies even more.   

2. Flood Cookies Using Royal Icing

Flooding is another simple decorating technique that will give your Christmas cookies a smooth and polished look. In order for flooding to work, you’ll want to use a mixture of powdered sugar and egg whites to create your royal icing. Our 3-Piece Prep Bowl Set will come in handy for measuring all your ingredients and mixing different icing colors! Only mix your icing until the ingredients are combined. This icing should be thinner and the more you mix the icing the stiffer it will be.  

How to do it: Once you have your thin flood icing, pour some icing into an individual squeeze bottle. Make one light outline near the edge of your cookie. Continue drizzling the inside of the cookie shape with icing. Since the icing is thin, it will gradually fill in and spread around your cookie. If there are any small sections the icing did not fill, you can use a toothpick to evenly fill the space.

3. Marble

The marble effect can be created with one simple motion and a toothpick. Use different colored icings to create an abstract, festive pattern.

How to do it: To start you will need a fully iced cookie. While the iced cookie is still wet, draw a squiggle of icing in a contrasting color. Draw the toothpick across the squiggle pulling it through each line of the squiggle. Then, draw the toothpick in the opposite direction and continue back and forth until you reach the desired look. Play with the spacing of the lines for different affects or try marbling by running your toothpick through drops of icing dots. There is no right or wrong way to create your affect!  

4. Drizzle

This method is another easy way to let kids have their own artistic freedom and express themselves. Give them a few colors of icing and let them dive in!

How to do it: You’ll want a thinner icing that will drip and create defined lines. You can pour icing into a squeeze bottle and use a quick back and forth motion across the cookie. Or try scooping some icing onto a butter knife and create back and forth lines as it drips off the knife. Repeat with as many colors as you like.

5. Baked-in Decoration  

A timeless and easy sugar cookie decoration is putting sprinkles or sugar over your sugar cookie dough cut-out before they go into the oven. Let kids roll the dough with their own non-stick rolling pin and stamp cookie cutters into the dough. As the cookies bake, your sprinkles or sugar bake into the cookie leaving a burst of color scattered throughout.

How to do it: Take a pinch of sprinkles or sugar between your fingers and spread it around each cookie. Add as much or as little as you like!

Tips for Decorating Christmas Cookies with Kids

Baking activities are bound to get messy. However, if you’re thinking of making this a family activity, here are a few tips to keep holiday cookie decorating both stress and mess-free.  

• When making icing, let your kids help by mixing, dumping in measured ingredients, or adding drops of food color.
• When dipping, using squeeze bottles, toothpicks, or other tools, help direct their hands with the motions, so they get a sense of learning the process.
• Consider filling bowls or squeeze tubes with icing for your kids to ensure a smooth process.  
• When working with sprinkles or sugar, consider laying a plate down or something underneath so the excess does not go everywhere.
• Dress up your little ones with their own Curious Chef Apron!

Are your kids in need of a new whisk, cookie spatula, or decorating tools? Browse our line of children’s baking tools