Kids just love to make Christmas decorations during the holidays and it’s also a great time for adults to take part in some of the action too! Homemade Christmas tree ornaments not only serve as a great memory year after year but they can also be given as gifts to grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other relatives.
Homemade Christmas ornaments can be made out of various items that are nature inspired or even magazine photos. Depending on the age and creativity of the kids, there are hundreds of different Christmas ornaments that could be made.
Nature Inspired Homemade Christmas Tree Ornaments
Kids really like to spend time outdoors and fall is a great time to start collecting for winter time Christmas ornaments. Nature inspired Christmas tree ornaments can be made out of pine cones that can easily be collected during the seasonal changes. Small pine cones work best for this project but medium to large pine cones can also be used to create ornaments for larger trees and for the outdoors.
To make Christmas ornaments out of pine cones all you need is the pine cones, red and green ribbon, glue, various glitter (or glitter glue also works well), and pom poms or bells and other embellishments. Kids of all ages can make these ornaments! Newspaper and paper plates can be used to minimize messes!
Begin by laying newspaper out onto the craft table and then placing paper plates where each child will sit. Allow each child to choose a pine cone to decorate and place the pine cone on their plate. Using the glue, children can add pom poms and bells to the pine cone to decorate it like a miniature Christmas tree of their own. Once the embellishments have been added, a few drops of glue from the top of the pine cone make for the perfect ability to dash some glitter on. Apply glitter over a plate so that excess glitter may be used for additional projects.
Using the red or green ribbon, tie a hanger onto the top of the pine cone once the glue has dried. A hanger can easily be made out of a piece of ribbon that is about 4 inches long and tied into a loop around the top portion of the pine cone. Children can make lots of these miniature pine cone Christmas trees to give away to friends and family!
Magazine Photo Christmas Ornaments
For young children who are just learning to cut and paste this is a great little Christmas tree ornament making project. Allow children to choose photos out of a magazine to cut out to create their own Christmas ornaments. You may even ask that children stick with a particular theme such as cold weather, Christmas, or family when choosing their photos. Each child will need to choose 3 photos that are at least 3 inches by 3 inches.
Have the children cut out the photos from the magazine while you cut cardstock for each child. Each child will need 3 cut out circles of cardstock that are four inches from side to side. Once each child has cut the pictures and you have cut the cardstock then it’s time to glue the pictures onto the circles of cardstock.
Allow the glue to dry and then glue each circle together half way back to back. For instance, the first circle will be glued back to back with the second circle but only on 1/2 of the back. The second circle will be glued to the third circle back to back and then the third will be glued back to the first. This will create a three dimensional Christmas ornament.
Using a hole punch, punch a hole in the top center of the ornament so that a hanger string may be threaded through. Thread a piece of ribbon through the ornament and tie a bow at the top to create a hoop style hanger for the three dimensional Christmas tree ornament!
