Printable sheet
Nutcracker riding reindeer at a gallop through stars and falling snow. A detailed holiday page for older kids, free to download as a PDF.
Printable sheet
Free for personal and educational use
Download PDFPrintA nutcracker in a tall hat, beard and buttoned uniform riding a reindeer with reins and a fancy saddle, leaping over snow under the stars.
Use bold colors for the uniform and a warm brown with light spots for the reindeer.
Play music from The Nutcracker and draw what each piece makes you imagine.
The Nutcracker ballet premiered in Saint Petersburg in 1892.
A nutcracker riding reindeer through the snow looks like a scene from a holiday dream, and a dream is exactly what the most famous nutcracker story is about: The Nutcracker, the ballet set to music by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The plot comes from a tale by German author E. T. A. Hoffmann, later retold by Alexandre Dumas. On Christmas Eve a girl, often called Clara, receives a nutcracker shaped like a soldier. That night the toys come to life, and the nutcracker leads them into battle against the Mouse King.
After the victory the nutcracker becomes a prince and takes the girl on a magical journey, first through a snowy forest of dancing snowflakes and then to the Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy. There they watch dances inspired by chocolate, coffee, tea and candy canes.
In the United States, The Nutcracker became a holiday staple in the mid-1900s, and today it is performed by hundreds of ballet companies and schools every December. Its music is everywhere, especially the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, which features the twinkling sound of a keyboard instrument called the celesta.
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