Popsicle Stick Nativity Star Ornament
This really has been a crazy month for popsicle stick crafts! We had rather a large stash from eating ice lollies the last couple of summers and it was “time” to use at least some of them up!!! Next up in our series of recycled craft sticks are these cute Popsicle Stick Nativity Star Ornaments – part of our Nativity Crafts collection. These are a super simple Nativity Star Craft that kids of all ages can make and love! They make great ornament keepsakes to gift to grandparents too!
Nativity Star Ornament Craft
You won’t need a nativity star ornament template, as these fabulous little stars, use some very basic shapes to cut and stick together. Once you see the photo instructions below (and video tutorial on auto play!!) you will hopefully agree, that these can be made by anyone! All you need is your basic craft stick star and then an oval, circle and some rectangles cut out of different coloured paper or cardstock! Easy peasy!
The Nativity Star ornament focusses on Baby Jesus and of course the Nativity Star itself, so you don’t have to cut out complicated shapes for Mary and Joseph. I provide you with options of how to simplify or customise the star further too!
Supplies needed for this simple popsicle stick nativity
The craft supplies needed for this star ornament a very simple – per ornament, you will need:
- 5 craft sticks
- Optional: Yellow marker pens or yellow paint – natural wood colour works well too
- Construction paper or cardstock in the following colours
- a skin tone of choice for Baby Jesus
- a baby wrap of choice – blue or white are good
- a little straw colour of choice – yellow or brown (e.g. amazon packagin recycled)
- Both white glue (for the craft stick star) and a glue stick (for Baby Jesus) (a hot glue gun isn’t so good for this project as it forces you to work too quickly!)
- Scissors
- Baker’s twine or ribbon for hanging
- Optional: embellishments for the craft stick star – i.e. we made one plain and one as a yellow yarn wrapped star!
I have popped a worksheet printable (ad free!!) in my Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s store for a small fee. It includes an overview of the Santa Star, Nativity Star and Witch Ornaments too! Your purchase helps support the upkeep of this blog. THANK YOU!
How to make a Nativity Star Ornament from Popsicle Sticks
Make your craft stick star ornament first
So as mentioned we are making a pentagram, the five pointed stars for this Christmas Craft! We are back to our Christmas Popsicle Stick Star and will use this as a basis for Nativity Star Craft! They make adorable Christmas ornaments that grandparents will love to keep.
We found it useful to have a ready made one laid out to “copy”. If you haven’t made one already (why would you! Ha!). You can lay one out so you and the kids have one to “follow”. It just makes it a little easier!
NOTE: (see below) if you are using yellow felt tip pens to color your star, do this first! If you are painting them, you can do this later!
Start by laying one craft stick down in a way that creates the “top point”. Add a blob of regular craft glue to the top of this craft stick and add a second stick pointing down. To make the beginning of a capital A shape! Now add a blob of glue to the bottom of the second craft stick.
Lay a third popsicle stick on to that glue and make it point back up towards the top left hand side. Add another bit of glue to the top of the third craft stick. Now add the fourth craft stick to go horizontally across.
For the last fifth craft, you will need to add to bits of glue – one to the fourth and one to the first craft sticks. Place your final craft stick in place. As you have used PVA glue, your star is not yet “secure. We like to give it a bit of a wiggle to make sure we are happy with the final shape.
Note: the 5th and the 1st popsicle stick sometimes “lift” off each other whilst drying. So you may want to add a little more glue later and maybe way it down. Or secure it with hot glue if you need to!
Now you have made the basic holiday decorations, let’s turn them into little Baby Jesus ornaments!
Decorate your Popsicle Stick Star to make it into a Nativity Star Ornament
To make your little nativity scene you will only need a few basic shapes. You will need to cut out:
- an oval for Baby Jesus’s body
- a circle for Baby Jesus’s face
- some thin rectangles for Baby Jesus’s straw bedding
- use a hole punch for some rosy cheeks too!
This is a great opporunity to discuss shapes with toddlers and preschoolers. Older kids can practice cutting their own. Here we cut a blue oval.
Next you need to cut a round face – you can use a coin to trace if you wish.
Cuting the straw rectangles, is a great opportunity for practicing cutting straight lines. Using a hole punch is a great way to make rosy baby cheeks.
AS you can see the shapes are very basic. We used 6 strips of yellow paper for the hay.
Assembly Baby Jesus in his crib
Glue the yellow strips by layering them on top of each other and making a loose star shape.
Glue the baby’s head onto the oval body.
Draw on the details by adding a simple face and a little “wrap” to the baby’s body.
Glue the baby to the straw and then glue both to the basic star shape!
Finishe! Now simply glue some string to the back or loop through the star and your cute Nativity Star Ornament is ready for hanging in the Christmas Tree. Aren’t Handmade Ornaments simply the best?!
As you can see here, I continued to experiment and had a go at yarn wrapping the Nativity Star too. I think both look great!
Fancy some more Handmade Ornaments? Or are you here for some more Craft Stick Crafts? Either way, we have you covered:
