DIY Christmas Ornaments

Tra-la-la-la-laaaaaa. As I type this, I am actually listening to some wonderful Christmas music. I do love the festive season and it is my favourite time of year to get crafty with and without the kids. We love making Edible Christmas Ornaments,  Christmas Cards, fun Christmas Crafts (lots of Christmas TP Roll Ideas!!) and of course Christmas Ornaments. I have to say, that I think the Christmas Ornaments are my favourite (probably also why we have so many on this blog!!!). I love because they are –

• well Christmassy…
• they are also great little gifts to give to relatives…
• they make wonderful keepsakes….
• you can make them out of anything – nature, recycled or your favouirte craft materials…
• great for schools fairs…
• usually inexpensive…
• small (great for storage and keeping forever)…

Christmas Ornaments for Preschoolers (also suitable for older kids)

I confess – I redid this section over here – which is MUCH easier for browsing – as I added photos at each step for you to have a good look at. You can of course, just visit the tutorial list below. But I do think my dedicated “Christmas Ornaments for Preschool” is a great way to browse this age group!

We love going back to basics when crafting with toddlers and preschoolers and use lots of recycled materials with these DIY Christmas ornaments – oh – and you will be pleased to hear, NO GLITTER!

1. Reindeer Corks – Ornament – it literally takes 3 minutes to make 
2. Cork Mushrooms
3. Stunning Pipe Cleaner Snowflake Ornaments
4. Super simple Bead Wreaths (great for keeping young hands busy whilst you do other things)
5. Stick Santa (you know how we love Sticks!!)
6. Craft stick stars (made either plain, with buttons or yarn wrapped)
7. Button Snowflakes (who can resist a button)
8. Pom Pom Pine Cones Trees (fabulously tactile for small hands) – who doesn’t love pom poms. So simple and cute.
9. Red Saltdough Hearts (such a classic!) – a super easy craft using a classic slat dough recipe, some cookie cutters and ribbons for hanging. Such easy DIY Ornaments for kids of all ages. We simply love salt dough ornaments for toddlers and preschoolers as such an inexpensive and yet versatile craft material.
10. Similarly, adding a button, makes them extra cute: Button Salt dough Hearts – all you need is salt, flour and water for this wonderful basic salt dough recipe.
11. I LOVE this variation on salt dough.. and adding sea glass or lots of buttons to make Christmas Trees!
12. Or make them any shape – like these Salt Dough Golden Stars (Garland)
13. Ice Ornaments (why not decorate the great outdoors too?)
14. Edible Ornaments – these are a super fun way to involve the kids and decorate the Christmas tree. They also make lovely gifts.
15. Walnut Babies = these for me a wonderfully traditional ornament craft to make with kids of all ages. They are super sweet, have a rustic feel and make a wonderful keepsake.
16. Hama Bead Stars – we love making perler bead ornaments. Hama beads/ perler beads are a fantastic way to help build fine motor skills. And in my house.. it keeps the kids busy for aaages. Hang on some twine and they then make lovely small decorations gifts for relatives too.
17. Colourful Yarn Wrapped Stars

Christmas Ornaments for School Aged Children

Most of our DIY Christmas Ornaments fall into the elementary school aged children’s category – so KS2 or even young secondary school kids. Mainly because this age group still LOVES to craft and they are starting to be quite independent in their work. Needless to say, you can have a go at these crafts with all kids – you just need to help a little more or less, depending on ability. As this list is pretty long, I pulled out my “top favourite Handmade Christmas Ornaments” for you to explore here.

1. Fun with Pipecleaners – make these cute Pipecleaner Christmas Tree Ornaments
2. Stunning Pipe Cleaner Snowflake Ornaments (I also added these to the other sections as they are great for all ages!)
3. Olaf – who doesn’t love Olaf?! A great craft for Champagne Corks!
4. Similar theme – you can also make these little Rainbow Snowmen Corks – we love snowman ornaments of any kind – probably one the most favourite cork ornaments on my blog for years. I think people love the simplicity of these, as well as the cute colourful pipecleaner ear muffs. You can make these with ordinary PVA glue or a hot-glue gun.
5. Adorable Gingerbread Man Corks – personally I rather LOVE these gingerbread men and do think you need to check them out! For all our cork ornaments, I like to use acrylic paints for the best finish.
6. Or Ugly Sweater Polar Bear Ornaments
7. Santa Corks (I love these little guys. Great for a game of “Santa Bowling” too!)
8. And because we can’t get enough of corks, we also made ADORABLE Cork Penguin Ornaments!
9. Pringle Lid Stained Glass Effect Ornament
10. Felt Hearts (teach kids to sew) – I actually made these with my kids when they were very little. And helped them with each stitch at a time. But of course older kids will manage these more independently!
11. Felt Button Stars (more kids learn to sew)
12. Snowflake Ornament (use up those old puzzles)
13. Papier Mache Baubles (yes, a bit random, but wanted to see if it would work!)
14. DIY White Clay Hearts
15. Similarly, get the felt tips out, make your basic Salt Dough Recipe and create some of these fabulous Santa Star Ornaments. Just so fun!
16. Mini Presents – we actually made these as Christmas Doll’s House decor, but they would make lovely tree ornaments too!
17. Fabric Keepsake Bauble – you could upcycle old baubles to make these (avoid using eco unfriendly styrofoam balls or a foam ball)!
18. Art Paper Baubles & Trees
19. Photo Paper Baubles (a variation on the art bauble)
20. We now also have a super cute Paper Snowman Ornament made from the simple paper baubles!
21. Cookie Cutter Card & Ornament in One (more Edible Christmas Ornaments here)
22. Scrap Fabric Angel (designed and blogged by a teen Red Ted Art reader)
23. Austrian Paper Angel
24. Pom Pom Peg Fairies – all you need is some wooden pegs, a little acrylic paint, fabric scraps and a hot-glue gun…
25. Pom Pom Fairies (wooden beads)
26. Melted Hama Bead Cookie Cutter Ornaments – great for those kids, that do not have the patience to use the bead peg boards
27. Paper Fan Angels
28. Try your hand at these lovely little Origami Christmas Trees 
29. More confident child sewers can have a go at these darling Felt Reindeer Ornaments
30. Cutest Felt Penguin Ornaments – Red Ted Art
31. Finger Knitting Heart Ornament
32. Paper Snowman Ornament
33. 3D Paper Unicorn Ornament (oh man, just too cute!)
34. Gorgeous Paper Fan Birds – make these stunning Paper Cardinal Ornaments
35. Fun with Neon Paints and Newspapers – learn to make Paper Straws and turn them into Christmas Tree Ornaments
36. Simple Newspaper Stars
37. Magical Clay Unicorn Ornaments
38. Dried Orange Slice Reindeers (to go with our foxes!) All you need is dried oranges, a little white acrylic paint, card and thread.
39. Oh and let’s not forget our special cinnamon salt dough recipe – it smells SOOOO good and once varnished, makes adorable Cinnamon Gingerbread Men ornaments (not edible!).
40. Have a go at this wonderful DIY White Clay Ornament recipe.
41. Try your hand at some pom pom axolotls! So cute!

Christmas Ornaments (Older Kids & Grown Ups)

Now some Christmas Decor for teens and grown ups. To be honest, it all is down to the dexterity and skill level of your crafters. If you have very crafty children, they may well want to give these homemade ornaments a go too. This section does NOT have “how to fill glass ornaments“, as I have a dedicated article for clear glass ornaments here.

1. Walnut Reindeers – I put the remaining “walnut crafts” in this section, as they are a little fiddlier than the walnut babies… but I am sure you can give these a go with the kids too! Then of course there are the Walnut Fox, Walnut Owls, Walnut Penguins, AND… Walnut Bears – phewee that is ALL lot of walnut ornaments.. but believe me, they are gorgeous!
2. Learn to sew these super cute Felt Christmas Gnome Ornaments – with free gnome pattern
3. Newspaper Yarn Wrapped Ornaments for Knitters!
4. Gorgeous Paper Quilled Snowflakes ornaments
5. Stunning Pipe Cleaner Snowflake Ornaments (also added to the other sections as these are fabulous for all ages!)
6. Light up penguins
7. Light up snowman
8. Felt christmas ornaments are always a winner. Grab your felt, scissors, needle and thread and have a go at this cute Felt Robin, Felt Christmas Pudding, and adorable felt Reindeer Ornament (based on circle shapes)
9. Angel Cork Ornament
10. Nature Crafts Angel (made purely from things found in nature – more lovely nature crafts for kids here!)
11. Keepsake Ornaments (aka recycled cardigans)
12. Felt Heart & Star Ornaments
13. Pine Cone Elves
14. Paper Swedish Hearts – woven hearts
15. Crochet Snowflakes
16. Red Knitted Hearts
17. Orange Slices
18. And if you love Orange Slices.. you may ADORE these Orange Slice Foxes
19. Physalis Elves
20. Stained Glass Cookie Ornaments
21. Edible “Bauble Ornaments“
22. Traditional Straw Stars! So very pretty
23. Fabulous Pokemon Ornaments – gotta catch them all! These are made using clear glass ornaments, but you could also upcycle some old baubles you no longer like. Just cover with a some acrylic paints in pokemon colours!
24. Gorgeous Nordic Pixies
25. Wood slice ornaments – basically – this is down to how much you enjoy drawing/ painting. You will need some wood slices (ideally, with a pre drilled hole for your hanging twine/ ribbon) and some acrylic paint pens or posca pens to make these. My daughter loves decorating these, my son, not so much (he gets arty performance anxiety!).

We really do love a homemade Christmas Ornament. Finally.. some Free Crochet Ornament Patterns..

Check out all our Free Christmas Ornament Crochet patterns

1. Cutest Crochet Fox Ornament
2. And similarly adorable Snowman Crochet Ornament!
3. Santa Mickey Mouse Ornament 1
4. Santa Belt Mickey Mouse Ornament 2
5. Mini Stocking Crochet
6. Coastal Crochet Patterns
7. Crochet Snowflakes

Crochet really makes wonderful DIY Christmas Decorations that you can gift or keep for years to come!

So.. clearly, I told a small fib.. I said “49” Christmas Ornaments.. but clearly there are many many more!! So I hope you enjoy them all and find plenty of inspiration to make some Christmas Ornament ideas this season.

Christmas Ornaments eBook

And though I have shared many ideas before, I really wanted to bring our Christmas ornaments together in one place. I also thought it would be useful to group them a little by age – young children, school aged children and “older kids”/ grown ups.

Now our FAVOURITE 30 DIY Christmas Ornament are now available in this handy download – browse it as an ebook or print and turn into worksheets with step instructions:

more info here

Only $7.99

Looking for more ideas? We have a great set of Angel Ornament Crafts here:

See a sample of our Easy DIY Christmas Ornaments here – we have a whole playlist over on youtube. or browse them below article by article!! Enjoy!

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