In my experience making Christmas ornaments with kids involves patience, a good sense of humor and the grim acceptance that you will be finding random pieces of glitter right up until your children are in college. It also means giggles, big smiles and moments you'll remember every year when you put those decorations on your Christmas tree. We've collected 10 ornaments you can make with children this holiday season.
I am completely smitten with Rachel's clay thumbprint snowmen. Kids may need a bit of help shaping the clay and an adult will need to be nearby to do oven duty but the end result is so worth it. I need at least a half dozen of them… and so do your kids.
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There are certain ornaments that just take me back to my childhood and Erin's painted acorn ornaments do just that. I remember making ones just like them and getting my fingers covered in paint. I bet your kids will remember it too.
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If you asked me to make some paper gingerbread ornaments I probably would have pulled out the brown construction paper but not Karen. In a bout of genius she realized that brown sandpaper would be just the thing. Cut out a bunch of gingerbread shapes, put out a pile of glue and decorations and let your kids create a whole pile of sandpaper gingerbread ornaments. This would be an excellent activity for a December children's party.
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You know what your tree is probably missing but really needs? Glitter dinosaur ornaments. Sonja used spray glitter but with kids you're going to want to put out the Mod Podge, bowls of glitter and just accept that you'll still be finding glitter under the table in April. That's a small trade-off for happy kiddos and a tree full of dinosaurs. Rawr!
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There are so many things you can do with clear glass ornaments but a really simple craft to do with kids is this styrofoam-filled Christmas ornament. If you have really small kids you'll want to grab the shatter-proof glass ornaments and you may want to check the tops for any sharp edges before you hand them over to your children. If you are not feeling quite up to using glitter, confetti would also work and is ever so slightly easier to clean up.
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If you've got some baby food jars -- or even some of those tiny sample-sized jam jars -- kicking around this is a craft for you. You can turn those jars into adorable snowman ornaments like Amber did. If you are hosting a large group of kids you could speed things along by painting them all white in advance and setting out a buffet of paint, glue, and decorations.
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I love an ornament that really looks like a child made it. Michele's son designed and constructed these Christmas tree ornament, and as she says, they are simple, beautiful and innocent. They will make your heart melt so go gather up your supplies and see what masterpieces your children can create.
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Does it seem like you have an unusual number of jar lids that don't match any jars kicking around? Me too! Debbie has a great idea for turning them into jar lid Christmas ornaments. Debbie spray painted hers to get a solid background but you could let the kids paint their own or cut out colored paper circles and glue them. Put out a pile of stickers and ribbons and get ready to exclaim over the awesome ornaments your kids will create.
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Is there anything more classically Christmas than salt dough ornaments? I made them and I am guessing most of you did as well. It's an awesome memory to pass along to your children. You can press designs into them, as Erin did, or you can paint them. Or both! The only limit is your child's imagination.
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This is one one for the bigger kids because it involves hot glue. Even if your kids say they don't like crafts and they think they absolutely don't like sparkles and beads, I've found that when they are presented with the option to use a hot glue gun they get on board pretty quick. So, get out the glue, the beads and get your big kids going on Kristin's DIY beaded ornaments. They'll have a blast.
Are you making ornaments with your children this year?
Be sure to check out the rest of the posts in our 12 days of Holiday Crafts series.
Karen Ballum is a Community Moderator on BlogHer.com. She also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.