Add a homemade touch to your Christmas tree with these Christmas ornament crafts for kids that are simple to make and full of holiday cheer.
In this post, I’ve gathered the best Christmas crafts for kids that will not only get them into the holiday spirit but also keep their little hands busy with festive fun. Each craft idea captures the magic of the season, from whimsical reindeer to sparkly snowflakes.
These ideas are perfect for kids of all ages, including toddlers, preschoolers, and older kids. Whether you are looking for simple paper crafts or projects using recycled materials, there are plenty of different types of crafts to choose from.
These homemade ornaments allow kids to create unique ornaments using affordable materials such as salt dough, yarn, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and glitter. Plus, many of these ideas can be made with items you already have at home and make great handmade gifts for family members and friends.
So gather your supplies and let the festive ornament-making begin!
Homemade Ornament Ideas for Kids
This project utilizes colored popsicle sticks, which are cut into graduated lengths to form the tree's branches. The pieces are then assembled onto a vertical stick serving as the trunk. Children can personalize their trees by decorating them with sticker rhinestones, adding a shimmering effect.
This budget-friendly craft uses simple materials like cardboard, green yarn, pom-poms, and glue. The project involves wrapping yarn around a cardboard triangle to create a tree shape. The addition of colorful pom-poms adds a festive and colorful touch. Not only does this activity create cute keepsakes for the Christmas tree, but it also helps young children develop fine motor skills.
This eco-friendly one uses recycled bottle caps to create little snowmen. For this project, you’ll need three bottle caps (painted white), black and orange markers or paint for the face and buttons, and a ribbon to link them vertically to form the snowman’s body. Small details, like adding a mini felt scarf or glitter accents, are a great way to add a personalized touch.
This one utilizes small paper doilies to form an angel's body and wings, creating a delicate lace-like appearance. A small wooden ball serves as the head, which can be painted to add facial features or left natural for a minimalist look. Gold or silver pipe cleaners are fashioned into halos, adding a shimmering accent to the angels. Small bows or other embellishments can be added to the front for added decorations.
This one transforms simple pony beads into vibrant, stained-glass-like decorations. By arranging beads within metal cookie cutters and melting them in a toaster oven, you can create a variety of festive shapes, such as stars, hearts, and snowflakes. Once cooled, these ornaments can be hung on your Christmas tree or displayed as sun catchers in your windows.
Using basic materials like mini and standard craft sticks, acrylic paint, buttons, and felt, this project is both affordable and fun for children and adults alike. The process involves arranging and gluing the craft sticks to form the hat shape, painting it in festive colors, and adding decorative elements such as felt leaves and red buttons to mimic holly berries.
These will add a touch of nostalgia to your Christmas tree. They feature beloved characters Elmo and Cookie Monster, crafted using clear plastic disk ornaments filled with colored crinkle-cut filler to match each character's signature hue. The faces are created by cutting vinyl pieces with a Cricut machine, allowing for precise and clean designs. This project is perfect for fans of this classic children's television.
These tiny hats look just like cozy winter beanies. They are made using cheap materials like yarn, a paper roll, and tissue paper. The craft involves cutting the paper roll into rings, looping colorful yarn strands around the ring, and adding tissue paper to shape the hat. This project is a fun and festive way to get creative with yarn.
This salt dough recipe is a classic, family-friendly holiday craft. Using simple ingredients—flour, salt, and water—these ornaments are easy to shape with Christmas-themed cookie cutters and can be baked or air-dried for a lasting finish. Once baked, the ornaments can be painted and decorated with glitter for extra sparkle. Sealing them with a clear glaze or Mod Podge adds durability so that you can reuse them year after year.
Add the beloved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to your Christmas tree with this one. This project utilizes mini burlap triangles as the base, adorned with googly eyes and a small red pom-pom to create Rudolph's iconic face. Mini clothespins are attached as antlers, adding a rustic touch to the ornament.
This one transforms a clear, shatter-proof ball ornament into an adorable snowman, perfect for adding a playful touch to your Christmas tree. This project is great for kids and adults alike, making it a fun family activity during the holiday season.
The materials required are easily accessible and budget-friendly, with many items available at dollar stores. The process involves filling the ornament with faux snow, attaching pipe cleaners and pom-poms to create earmuffs, and adding facial features to bring your snowman to life.
This craft transforms simple popsicle sticks into festive snowflakes. Children can paint the sticks in wintery colors or leave them natural, then arrange and glue them into a snowflake shape. To decorate, glitter, sequins, and small pom-poms add a bit of sparkle.
This craft is perfect for holiday decorating or gifting. It involves constructing a gingerbread house shape using trimmed popsicle sticks. The fun comes from adding a small, hidden photo behind a faux door made from materials like faux leather, foam, or felt, adding personalization to each ornament. Decorative accents such as painted wooden beads, discs resembling peppermints, and puffy paint gumdrops enhance the gingerbread house's festive appearance. This project is adaptable for various age groups, making it a fun family activity that results in cherished keepsakes for years to come.
This project uses mini green clothespins clipped around a circular base made from fiberboard or sturdy cardboard to form a wreath shape. Attaching the clothespins enhances fine motor skills. Children can also personalize the ornament by adding a ribbon bow and optional glitter and gemstone stickers ornaments for extra sparkle.
This one brings rustic charm to your holiday décor. This project utilizes natural wood slices as the base, adorned with brown glitter foam antlers and a red glitter foam circle for Rudolph's iconic nose. Children can personalize their ornaments by drawing on eyes with paint pens.
This project involves painting a child's hand with white acrylic paint and gently pressing it onto a colored ornament, leaving a handprint that, when turned upside down, resembles a group of snowmen. Once the paint dries, children can use markers or paint to add faces, hats, scarves, and other details to each finger snowman, bringing them to life. This craft also creates a cherished keepsake that captures the size and shape of your child's hand at a specific moment in time.
This fun and colorful DIY craft repurposes old crayons into unique decorations. It involves placing crayon shavings inside a clear glass ornament and using a hairdryer to melt the crayons, creating a beautiful marbled effect inside the ornament. Kids and adults alike will enjoy experimenting with different colors to make each ornament one-of-a-kind. Once complete, these ornaments add a pop of color and a handmade touch to the Christmas tree, making them a great way to personalize your holiday décor.
This craft is perfect for young children to create shimmering decorations for the Christmas tree. This project requires just a few materials: metallic pipe cleaners, pony beads, and thread for hanging. Children thread the beads onto the pipe cleaners, leaving a bit of space between each bead to allow the metallic sheen to show through. Once the pipe cleaner is filled, it's twisted around a pencil to create a spiral shape, mimicking the look of an icicle. This activity also helps develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination in young crafters.
Create personalized holiday keepsakes with this project. It involves using clear plastic ornaments that snap open, providing a space to insert a child's artwork or a favorite photo. The base of the snow globe can be customized with the child's name and the year, making each ornament unique. To add a snowy effect, poly-pellets are placed inside the ornament before sealing it.
This one is perfect for adding a whimsical touch to your Christmas tree. This project involves twisting two colored pipe cleaners to form a thick stem, which is then coiled into a spiral to create the lollipop shape. A "lollipop stick" is attached to the base, and a ribbon is tied around it for added decoration. A loop of string is then attached to the top for easy hanging.
More Christmas Crafts for Kids
Follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Flipboard, or Instagram for more inspiration on crafts, DIY, free printables, and recipes!
Leave a Reply