How to Create a Child Theme in WordPress – An Easy Guide 

As a WordPress website owner, it’s only natural for you to want to play with website design and the functionality of WordPress themes. But what’s the best way to do that without messing with the original theme? A child theme in WordPress is a great way to modify and test your theme without scratching your head with the risk of disrupting your original theme. 

Using a WordPress child theme is a smart way to safely customize your theme’s code without risking your work. If you’re planning to make edits to your theme’s CSS, HTML, or PHP, a child theme is the way to go. Why? Because without one, any updates to your main theme could wipe out your changes. 

To make things easy, we’ve put together a beginner-friendly guide that explains how a child theme works, how to set it up, and how to make the changes you want. Dive in and customize with confidence!   

Understanding Child Theme in WordPress

​​A child theme, as the name suggests, is like an “add-on” to your main or parent theme, inheriting its features and styles. When you’re looking to customize your WordPress theme, diving straight into the theme files can be risky because any changes can alter the core theme. That’s where child themes come in—they’re a safer way to make modifications without touching the original files.

The child theme automatically inherits the main style from the parent theme’s style.css file, which sets the overall look and feel of the theme. With a child theme, you can easily tweak or add to this style by adding your own files or making adjustments to the existing ones. This gives you the flexibility to customize the theme without changing the original files.

Child themes are stored in their own folder, separate from the parent theme, and rely on the parent for functionality unless you decide to change things up. When you activate a child theme in WordPress, it’s linked to the parent theme, and WordPress will check the child theme files first. If a file hasn’t been changed, WordPress will simply use the parent’s version.

Remember, though—a child theme can’t work alone. It needs the parent theme installed right alongside it to function properly. 

Read about: Outsource WordPress Plugin and Theme Development

Benefits of Using a Child Theme in WordPress

Creating a child theme is a smart way to make changes to your WordPress site without the risk of losing all your hard work. If you were to edit the parent theme’s files directly, every time the theme gets an update, your customizations would be wiped out. This can leave you stuck with a frustrating choice: either skip all future updates—which can lead to compatibility and security issues—or update and lose the time and effort you put into customizing your WordPress theme.

With a child theme, however, you don’t have to make that choice. All your modifications are safely stored in a separate folder, meaning you can keep your changes even as the parent theme updates. Plus, this setup makes it easy to move your customizations from one site to another if you need to, saving you time if you’re working across multiple sites or migrating to a new one.

Another big perk of using a child theme is that it’s a great way to learn about custom theme development in a low-risk environment. You can experiment with changes and new features, and if something doesn’t go as planned, you can simply disable the child theme. Your site will instantly revert to the original look and functionality of the parent theme, so there’s no harm done.

Learn about: How to Seamlessly Edit and Customize Headers in WordPress?

Things to Do Before Creating a Child Theme in WordPress

Now, we have seen a lot of  WordPress users eager to jump into customizing their sites, only to hit a wall when unexpected errors crop up. It’s totally understandable—getting hands-on with a child theme can seem exciting until the technical challenges start showing up. 

That’s why it’s essential to prepare a bit before diving in, just like you would prepare before taking an exam. Here are a few tips that you could aya step to take before you start creating your child theme:

Understand the Basics of Code

Working with a child theme means you’ll be dealing with code. At a minimum, a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and PHP will come in handy (and possibly JavaScript if you want to get fancy). If you’re new to coding, the WordPress theme handbook is a great place to start for quick guidance.

Learn: How to Convert Figma to Code: React, HTML, Vue, JS, CSS

Pick the Right Parent Theme

Choose a parent theme that’s already close to the look and functionality you want. Ideally, you’ll find one that only needs a few tweaks, making your customization process smoother. If you’re switching themes entirely, check out our checklist of things to do before changing WordPress themes—it’ll save you some potential headaches!

Use a Local or Staging Site for Testing

It’s best to experiment on a local site or a staging site instead of going straight to your live site. This way, if you make a mistake, you won’t affect your live site’s Appearance or functionality.

Create a Back Up Your Site

Before making any changes, back up your website. If it’s your first time, a plugin like Duplicator can help make the backup process simple and stress-free. This way, you can restore your site quickly if something doesn’t go as planned.

Once you’ve got these basics covered, you’ll be all set to follow along with our step-by-step guide for creating your child’s theme confidently!

Learn: Best Solutions to Backup Multiple WordPress Websites

How to Create a Child Theme in WordPress Manually: 5 Easy Steps 

Creating a child theme in WordPress is easier than it sounds, and it’s a great way to understand how child themes work without risking your main theme.

Let’s walk through how to create a child theme based on WordPress’s default Twenty Fifteen theme and make a few custom tweaks to see the process in action.

Step 1: Create a Child Theme Folder

Start by creating a new folder on your computer where all the files for your child theme will go. You’ll later upload this folder to your website.

You can name the folder after your parent theme with “-child” added at the end. For example, if your parent theme is called “Twenty Twenty-Two,” your child theme folder would be named twentytwentytwo-child. This makes it easy to identify as a child theme for the parent.

Step 2: Set Up a Stylesheet for Your Child Theme

Next, create a style.css file inside your new child theme folder. This file will hold all the custom styles for your child theme.

To set up the stylesheet correctly, add the following header comments at the very top of your style.css file. This tells WordPress that your new theme is a child of the parent theme:

Theme Name: Twenty Twenty-Two Child

Theme URI: https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwentytwo/

Author: WordPress Team

Author URI: https://wordpress.org/

Template: twentytwentytwo

Description: Child Theme for Twenty Twenty-Two

Version: 1.0

*/

Once saved, go to your WordPress Dashboard and head to Appearance> Themes. You should now see your child theme listed.

Step 3: Link the Parent and Child Theme Stylesheets

To make sure the styles from your parent theme are applied, we need to link its stylesheet to the child theme. This is done by creating a functions.php file in your child theme folder and adding the following code:

<?phpadd_action( ‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘enqueue_parent_styles’ );function enqueue_parent_styles() {wp_enqueue_style( ‘parent-style’, get_template_directory_uri() . ‘/style.css’ );}

This code will load the parent theme’s stylesheet so that your child theme inherits all its styling.

Learn: How to Repair and Fix WordPress Database?

Step 4: Edit the Child Theme’s Stylesheet (style.css)

You can now start adding your custom styles directly in the child theme’s style.css file. For instance, to change the color of links on your site, you could add:

a {color: #D54E21;text-decoration: none;}

This rule overrides the parent theme’s link styling without affecting the rest of its design.

Know: Should You Build Your Website with Code, No-Code or a Website Builder?

Step 5: Modify a Template File 

With a child theme, you can also modify individual templates. Let’s say you want to change the way posts are displayed by editing the single.php file.

• Copy single.php from the parent theme and paste it into your child theme folder.
• Open the file in a text editor and make your changes.

For example, if you want to remove the comments section from single post pages, locate this part of the code:

if ( comments_open() || get_comments_number() ) :comments_template();endif;

Delete it or comment it out to hide the comments. WordPress will use the modified single.php file from the child theme folder, so any updates to the parent theme won’t overwrite your customization.

Learn: How to Create a Custom Page Template in WordPress?

How to Create a Child Theme with a Plugin (No Coding Required)

If you’re not into coding but still want to create a child theme, you’re in luck! While there are multiple plugins that you can use to create a Child theme in WordPress, we are going to use -The Child Theme Configurator plugin to explain the process. 

This plugin makes it super easy to set up and customize a child theme for classic (non-block) WordPress themes. Here’s a simple, step-by-step guide to get you started.

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

First, go to your WordPress dashboard, search for “Child Theme Configurator” in the Plugins section, and install it. Once activated, head over to Tools > Child Themes.

Step 2: Set Up the Child Theme

In the Child Theme Configurator, go to the Parent/Child tab. You’ll see an option to choose an action—select “CREATE a new Child Theme” to get started.

Step 3: Pick Your Parent Theme

Next, select the parent theme you want to build on from the dropdown menu. For this example, let’s say we’re using the Hestia theme. After choosing your theme, click the “Analyze” button to ensure the theme is compatible for creating a child theme.

Step 4: Name Your Child Theme Folder

You’ll then be prompted to name the folder where the child theme will be stored. You can get creative here or keep it simple with a name like “Hestia-child” to keep things organized.

Step 5: Decide Where to Save Custom Styles

Here’s an important choice: You can save new custom styles in the primary stylesheet (style.css) of your child theme, or in a separate stylesheet file.

• Primary Stylesheet: This is the main file where styles are saved by default. Any changes here will overwrite the original theme styles.
• Separate Stylesheet: This option saves your custom styles in a new file, so the original theme’s styles remain untouched.

For now, we’ll go with the primary stylesheet, but feel free to try the separate option if you want to preserve the parent theme’s look entirely.

Know more: Best Web Design Software Tools for Stunning and Easy Websites

Step 6: Set Parent Theme Stylesheet Handling

Scroll down and choose how to load the parent theme’s stylesheet. We’ll stick with the default “Use the WordPress style queue” option, as this allows the plugin to handle it automatically.

Step 7: Customize Child Theme Details

When you reach Step 7, click “Click to Edit Child Theme Attributes.” Here, you can add details like the child theme’s name, description, and version.

Step 8: Copy Menus and Widgets

Normally, creating a child theme will reset your menus and widgets. To avoid resetting these, check the box in Step 8 to copy them from the parent theme to the child theme.

Create Your Child Theme

Finally, click “Create New Child Theme.” The plugin will automatically create a folder for your child theme, complete with the style.css and functions.php files needed for future customizations.

Preview and Activate

Before activating, click the preview link at the top of the screen to make sure everything looks good. If your child theme preview shows up fine without breaking any elements, go ahead and click “Activate & Publish” to make it live!

And there you go! Your child theme is now active. At this point, it will look and function just like your parent theme. You can now safely add customizations to the child theme without affecting the original. Happy customizing!

Learn about: Best WordPress Studio Themes for Creative Businesses

What to Do if Your WordPress Child Theme Isn’t Working?

Is your child theme not showing your changes? Don’t worry—here are some common issues and fixes to get it working as expected.

Double-Check Your functions.php File

Start by making sure you’ve enqueued the child theme’s stylesheet in your functions.php file. If it’s not enqueued, the child theme won’t load properly, and your site will continue displaying the parent theme, making it seem like your changes aren’t showing up.

Interesting Read: Laravel Vs WordPress: PHP’s Finest Rivals Face Off

Confirm Your Stylesheet is Named style.css

Double-check that you’ve named your stylesheet style.css—not stylesheet.css or anything else. WordPress expects the child theme’s main stylesheet to be called style.css. If it’s named differently, your functions.php file won’t recognize it, and your custom styles won’t apply.

Verify the Template Name in style.css

In your style.css file, the Template field should match the name of your parent theme’s folder exactly. This tells WordPress which theme to use as the parent. If the name is incorrect, WordPress won’t know which theme the child theme should be based on.

Clear Your Cache

Sometimes, caching can prevent you from seeing updates. Try clearing your caching, especially if you’re using a caching plugin. It’s also helpful to clear your browser cache or open your site in an incognito window to see if your changes are showing. If you’re working on the child theme actively, consider disabling any caching plugins until you’re done.

Use !important in Your CSS Code

If you’re finding that the parent theme’s styles are still overriding your custom CSS, try adding !important to the styles you want to prioritize. This will force your child theme’s styles to take precedence over the parent. For example:

p {background-color: gray !important;}

This trick can be helpful for specific elements, IDs, and CSS classes to ensure your changes are applied.

Reach Out to Theme Support or Check Forums

If you’ve tried all these steps and your child theme still isn’t working, consider reaching out to the theme’s support team or checking the theme’s forum on WordPress.org. Sometimes, themes have unique configurations or custom code that could impact how child themes work, and the developer might have specific advice.

Conclusion 

And that’s a wrap! By now, you should have a solid understanding of what a WordPress child theme is and how it works alongside a parent theme. Installing a theme is just the beginning when building a WordPress site. 

While the built-in Gutenberg editor or your theme’s builder can help you make design tweaks, creating a child theme opens up even more possibilities. With a child theme, you’re not only able to adjust the design but also customize the functionality without touching the core files—giving you total freedom to make your site truly unique.