Fun and EASY Christmas ornaments to make with your kids!

Fun and EASY Christmas Ornaments

In my family, we have a tradition that each year my boys make an ornament for our Christmas tree as well as one for the Grandparents. Throughout the years, they have evolved from “my” project to my sons. When my oldest, Logan, was little,  I would think of an ornament and put his sweet little hand print, picture or name on it. Last year, he thought of a few really great homemade ornament ideas and created them on his own. He even gave ME a list of supplies he was going to need to create it. It turned out better than I could have done! If you just allow your kids the freedom to be creative, it’s amazing what they will come up with – they mean so much more too. Here are a few ideas that we have made or I found on the Oh, so amazing Pinterest!

Happy creating!

Memories of 2014

Start a collection of ornaments to remember the special memories that your family shared each year.

Large silver plastic ornament
Sharpie to write memories

*Don’t forget to write the year on it!

Salt Dough Handprints

Directions:

Knead all ingredients for 20 minutes, roll out and cut to desired shape, press hand print, bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

**Salt Dough Recipe Listed below

Snowman Family

Create a Snowman Family! Make sure to represent each family member on the ornament! Even your little fur babies! Each member could decorate their snowman to best represent them!

Frosted ornament
Sharpie Paint Pens
Festive Ribbon

Christmas Wish List

Make one every year for each one of your children. Keep them to remember what they wished for as they grew up.

Baby’s First Christmas

Every parent and grandparent treasures Baby’s First Christmas! What a great way to preserve how tiny your little one is during this special time of year.

Clear glass ornament
Glass paint

Santa!

Make Santa’s iconic red suit in four easy steps!

Clear glass ornament
Scrap red paper
Black and White Puffy paint

Gently remove the top of the ornament. Cut the paper into strips, using a pencil or a pen – wind the paper around it.  Then stuff the tight curled paper into the ornament. Continue until Santa’s belly is full. Replace the top. Then, using the black puffy paint create a black band around the entire bulb aka Santa’s belly. Once the puffy paint has dried paint a white or belt buckle onto the belt. Tie a ribbon on top to hang. Cute. Cute. Cute!

Santa Hand

2 cups of Flour
1/2 cup of Salt
1/2 cup or less of Water
Sharp knife
Red, White, Black and Flesh colored paint
Decorative Ribbon

This is to remind you:  “When I have grown so tall,  That once I was quite little  And my hands were very small.”

Handprints

Hand-prints with Model Magic by Crayola®. This is super easy, inexpensive and has a great Awwwww…. factor!

Model Magic (any craft store has it)
A large round cookie cutter
1 wooden skewer
Decorative ribbon
A sweet little hand

Let it dry for a couple of hours and voila! A perfect keepsake to remind you how small your sweet little babe was on their first, second or even their fifth Christmas.

Salt Dough Recipe

1 cup salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup lukewarm water

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix salt and flour.
2. Gradually stir in water. Mix well until it forms a doughy consistency.
3. With your hands form a ball with your dough and kneed it for at least 5 minutes. The longer you kneed your dough the smoother it will be.

Store your salt dough in a air tight container and you will be able to use it for days.

You can paint your creations with acrylic paints and seal with varnish or polyurethane spray.

You can let your salt dough creations air dry, however salt dough can also be dried in the oven. Bake at 200 F until your creation is dry. The amount of time needed to bake your creations depends on size and thickness; thin flat ornaments may only take 45-60 minutes, thicker creations can take 2-3 hours or more. You can increase your oven temperature to 350 F, your dough will dry faster but it may also brown, which won’t matter if you are painting your entire creation (you can also cover your dough in the oven before it turns brown).

There are a few options to color your salt dough:

1. Add powdered tempera paint to your flour.
2. Add food coloring or paint to the water before you mix it with the salt/flour.
3. Add natural coloring like instant coffee, cocoa, cinnamon or curry powder.