Easy Dried Orange Slice Reindeer for Kids - Red Ted Art

Ah little “early” I know.. but summer is a fun time to dry orange slices if you wish – as you can get those slices baking in the hot hot sun! As you may well know, we LOVE making dried orange slices here on Red Ted Art. Such a lovely and simple traditional Christmas decoration to make. We have a great how to dry orange slices tutorial for you. Based on this, we are also sharing the latest in the series of dried orange slice ornament ideas! Dried Orange Slice Reindeers for Kids!

These littel Dried Orange Reindeers have been on my to do list since I made our Orange Foxes… look very closely and you will find some simlarities. However.. I simply didn’t get the chance to make them. Life hase been busy! Especially with our very special Sky Kids Christmas Best Makes Ever.

However, my lovely friend Anita from Gracious Rose Designs and her girls (11 and 6) had a go at them. And I am SO excited that they let me share THEIR Reindeer Ornaments.

We had met up for some DIY Christmas Wreath making and we had all brought different things to make them with – some wire hoops, some holly and pine branches. Anita had had a go at our how to dry orange slices and send me photos of them looking gorgeous in the oven. And then.. disaster struct. The oven was accidentally turned up and some of the orange slices were a little burnt! Fear not.. we can use them for reindeers, I said!

And then we didn’t because we got so busy making the wreaths.

But Anita did. And her girls and here made a WHOLE set of fantastic Dried Orange Slice Reindeer ornaments.. the majority of which they gifted to their teachers. How sweet! I also love, that they used up every last little orange slice – even the little end bit to make a baby reindeer ornament.. so so so cute.

So. How did the make them? Read on!

Orange Slice Reindeer ornaments – supplies needed

You will need dried orange slices – either homemade (best) or bought]
A little white and black acryclic paint
A little brown felt (or you could use brown paper, cardboard or construction paper or even make twiggy antlers)
Red Pom poms (though you can scrunch up tissue paper and make a pom pom nose too)
Ribbons/ string/ twine for hanging
Hot glue gun
Scissors
Knife (for slicing your oranges)
Oven

How to Dry Orange Slices – 3 Methods

There are three main methods for drying orange slices:

You can dry orange slices in the oven
You can dry orange slices in the microave
You can dry orange slices in the sun

Personally, we prefer the How to Dry Orange slices in an oven method. So hop over to that, prepare your oranges and then come back to read the final steps.

Top Tip when baking your oranges for Christmas crafting

Personally, I always take my orange slices out of the oven a little “sooner” than everyone else.

This will let your oranges stay a BRIGHT orange for longer. If you hang them carefully, they will fully dry out over the Christmas period (and go darker with time), and will still store well for future use.

Just make sure the orange foxes are indeed fully dry before packing away. Fully dry, basically meansyour orange slice ornaments are not sticky!

https://www.redtedart.com/how-to-dry-orange-slice-orangenscheiben-trocknen/

Now to turn your dried orange slices into Reindeer ornaments

I am borrowing some of my Dried Orange Fox Ornament photos for this step – only because, they are indeed the same to begin with.. and the rest you can easily put together yourself!

Dried Orange Slices Fox Ornaments - learn tricks to keep oranges bright — It is easy to turn a dried orange slice into a fox

This is a simple painting job! Acrylic paints work best for this. Though you can experiment with gluing on white felt instead.

Paint two white sections onto your orange. Let dry.

Note how this same basic “white bits” works for both a Fox Ornament and a Reindeer Ornament shared here today!

Add some black eyes. In this photos we also added a black nose for the FOX.. if making a little Orange Rudolph Ornament, you can either paint on a red nose with some red paint.. or as the next photo suggests glue on pom pom nose.

cute nature rudolph craft — Adding finishing touches to your nature Rudolph ornament

Anita also added some super duper cute little Reindeer Freckles (inspired by this Felt Reindeer Ornament). SO CUTE!

nature reindeer ornaments — Adorable Reindeer Ornaments made from Orange slices.

Finally, add your baker’s twine to your orange fox ornament/ rudolph ornaments for hanging. (Picture borrowed again from the Fox post!).

Want more great Dried Orange Slice Ideas? Check out these Dried Orange Slice Garlands:

More fabulous ways to use Dried Orange Slices