DIY Christmas Ornaments
We have been busy getting our house ready for the holidays and as usual my kids have been right by my side helping me to decorate. Recently we were able to visit a tree farm and found our Christmas tree. My kids always love helping to decorate it with our growing collection of ornaments. We have some that have been handed down to us, gifted to us, as well as many made by them through the years. Here are some of their favorite ways to make ornaments for our tree and home. Hoping these ideas can be useful and fun for your family as well!
I purchased these plastic disc ornaments at Michaels and cut three inch circles out of white cardstock. To make it quick, I used my 3 inch circle punch. My kids drew pictures onto the white circles and then we took off the tops of the ornaments and inserted their pictures inside, adding ribbon to string them up. My daughter captured her dad cutting down the tree we picked. We have also punched out special photos to put inside and have given them as gifts in the past as well. If you wait for a sale or use a coupon these ornaments will be much more affordable.
Making salt dough ornaments has become another fun holiday tradition for my kids. These ornaments are very inexpensive and easy to make using just all purpose flour, salt, and warm water. We like this recipe from Yummy Toddler Food. Sometimes we add cinnamon and nutmeg to them to help color the dough and add a wonderful smell.
We use an assortment of cookie cutters and a poke a hole with a straw before we bake so we can later hang them. Baking low and slow is key to avoiding all the cracks. We usually make these over two days. The first day we form and bake them, and the next day, they are painted. Sometimes my kids like to just get creative with these and use plastic knives and toothpicks to make their designs and shapes as shown in the gingerbread house ornament my daughter made above. I am amazed this design came completely from her head and it is one of my favorite ornaments on our tree. Handprints are always fun to make in salt dough and is a great way to preserve them too.
These paper poinsettia ornaments are another fun way to preserve handprints. I love poinsettias and their bright and festive color, however as they can be harmful to pets if they are eaten in large quantities, and I don’t trust our cats not to do so, we are unable to display any of these holiday plants in our home so this idea was born.
The kids traced their handprints onto red cardstock and we cut out each of their handprints five times to make the petal like leaves.
I then cut a small half inch slit at the base of each handprint.
We glued the base of each handprint so they would overlap adding some dimension to each poinsettia. Then we glued each base to a square shaped scrap of cardstock forming the shape of the plant. Did you know that poinsettias actually don’t have petals but these are actually modified leaves called bracts?
The actual flower part of the plant, called the cyathia, was made by wrapping yellow yarn to make a large pom pom which we then glued in the middle. Basically you wrap yarn around four fingers fifty times then slide the yarn off.
Then tie a string of yarn to the middle and cut off the loop on top and bottom.
These poinsettias turned out quite large, look beautiful, and really add a pop of color to our tree.
Wooden ornaments are always a hit with my kids. These were purchased from the Dollar Tree in packages of 10. My kids love using acrylic paint to embellish them. This time, they decided to add sweaters to their reindeers. I just gave them red, white, and green paint. My youngest found that if you mixed all the colors together you get the perfect reindeer brown. We usually purchase different sets of wooden ornaments from the Dollar Tree for other holidays and my kids have also enjoyed decorating Halloween as well as Easter trees.
I made this ornament banner that says Merry Christmas. This file is best printed out onto white cardstock, given to kids to color, paint, and embellish as desired. My kids decided to use watercolors. After everything is dry, simply cut, hole punch on top at two sides, and hang with ribbon, yarn, or twine for some festive fun. My kids were so proud to display the banner they made together!
We also wrapped slices of pool noodles in aluminum foil and blew up punch balloons to create large size Christmas ornaments. We just used clear tape to dangle them from our ceiling in the kitchen to add more quick and easy festive cheer.
Lastly, we found this gem at the library written by Bethanie Deeney Murguia. It is a delightful story about a boy who decorates his tree with his family for Christmas. After he unboxes all their ornaments, he finds that he has only managed to decorate one tiny bottom corner of the tree. What to do? He “makes an amazing discovery – almost anything can be an ornament!” They end up filling the trees with pictures he makes, gingerbread man cookies they bake together, toys, and candy.
Your child may also be interested in:
Free Reindeer Paper Bag Puppet Craft and Christmas Elf Paper Puppets
Free Gingerbread House Craft and Pretend Gingerbread Cookies
Personalized Christmas Coloring Pages
I create more printable activities for kids here with the goal of helping to grow kids who love to learn.
If you make these ornaments in your home or classroom, I would love to see it! Please use #sodangfun on social media, tag me @sodangfun on Instagram, or post to my Facebook page.
Hope this post can be helpful to you as you decorate for the holidays!
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