Printable sheet
Nutcracker with candy cane, holly and peppermint candies at his feet. A simple holiday page for kids, free to download and print as a PDF.
Printable sheet
Free for personal and educational use
Download PDFPrintA nutcracker with a tall star hat, mustache and buttoned uniform beside a bowed candy cane, holly and round peppermint candies.
Paint the uniform red or blue with gold buttons and keep the hat a deep color.
With an adult's help, crack nuts with a real nutcracker and see which kind opens easiest.
Before carved figures, most nutcrackers were simple metal levers or plier-like tools.
A nutcracker with candy cane looks like a toy soldier, and that look comes from a specific place: the Ore Mountains, or Erzgebirge, in eastern Germany near the Czech border.
For centuries the region was a mining center. As mining declined, many families turned to woodcarving to make a living, crafting toys, figurines and Christmas decorations through the long winters. Among the most famous were nutcrackers shaped like soldiers, kings and forest rangers.
Their design has a practical side. You place a nut in the figure's mouth and press down a lever in the back, and the jaw clamps until the shell cracks. That is why traditional nutcrackers have big mouths, strong jaws and serious faces with bold mustaches and teeth.
Over time nutcrackers became decorations more than tools. Their popularity in the United States soared after World War II, when American soldiers stationed in Germany brought them home as souvenirs, and the beloved ballet The Nutcracker made them a holiday icon. Today collectors hunt for figures of every size, and small workshops in the Erzgebirge still carve them by hand.
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