Confession time: most kid crafts end up in the recycling bin by New Year’s. But not these. These 29 simple Christmas crafts turn into ornaments you’ll actually want to hang year after year. I’ve tested many with my own glitter-covered goblins, so trust me when I say they’re worth the mess.
1. Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments
Mix 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, and 1/2 cup water. Roll out the dough and press your child’s handprint firmly into it.
Cut around the print with a cookie cutter or knife, then poke a hole for ribbon. Bake at 200°F for 2 hours and you’ve got a tiny time capsule of their little paw.
2. Popsicle Stick Snowflakes
Grab three popsicle sticks and glue them into a star shape. Let your kid paint them white or blue – my youngest once used every color in the box, and honestly it looked better that way.
Glue on sequins, buttons, or small pom-poms at each joint and along the arms. Add a ribbon loop to the top before the glue fully dries.
Want extra sparkle? Brush on a layer of school glue and sprinkle with glitter. Shake off the excess over a trash can unless you want your floor to look like a disco ball for the next decade.
These snowflakes are sturdy enough to survive an enthusiastic toss into the ornament box. Pro tip: write the year on the back with a permanent marker so you don’t forget which blizzard made which.
3. Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments
Mix 1 cup applesauce with 1 cup ground cinnamon – yes, your kitchen will smell like a holiday bakery. Stir until it forms a stiff dough, then roll it out between two sheets of wax paper.
Use cookie cutters to make stars, trees, or gingerbread men. Don’t forget to poke a hanging hole with a straw before the dough hardens.
Let these air dry for 2 to 3 days, flipping them once a day. Or pop them in a 200°F oven for 2 hours if you’re impatient like me.
The cinnamon naturally repels bugs, so these ornaments can hang for years without getting gross. They’ll also make your tree smell amazing every time you unwrap them.
My kids love nibbling the edges even though I tell them not to – fair warning, they taste exactly like you’d expect. Stick to smelling them.
4. Painted Pinecone Elves
Collect a handful of pinecones and brush off any dirt. Paint the tips green for elf hats or leave them natural for a rustic look.
Glue on small wooden beads for heads and paint tiny faces with acrylic markers. Add little felt or paper triangles for ears if you’re feeling extra.
5. Bottle Cap Snowman Faces
Save your soda bottle caps for a month – you’ll need about three per ornament. Paint them white and stack them in a snowman shape on a piece of cardboard.
Use a black marker to draw coal eyes and a carrot nose. Glue on tiny twig arms sticking out from the middle cap.
6. Beaded Candy Canes
String red and white pony beads onto a chenille stem (pipe cleaner) in alternating colors. Bend the stem into a candy cane hook once you reach the end.
Twist the ends together to keep beads from sliding off. Then curl the top into a small loop for hanging.
These are practically indestructible, which matters when your toddler uses the tree as a jungle gym. Make a batch of ten in under fifteen minutes while sipping your coffee.
The beads might spin around, but that just lets you “straighten” the candy cane every time you walk past. My kids think this is a game.
7. Felt Christmas Trees
Cut a triangle from green felt and let your child decorate it with buttons, sequins, and tiny felt circles for ornaments. Use fabric glue or a low-temp hot glue gun.
Glue a small brown rectangle at the bottom for the trunk. Attach a ribbon loop to the top point.
8. Paper Plate Wreaths
Cut the center out of a paper plate to leave a ring. Have your kid paint it green and glue on red pom-poms for berries.
Tear or cut small pieces of green tissue paper and glue them all around the ring for texture. Add a bow made from ribbon or a pipe cleaner at the bottom.
Let it dry overnight, then punch a hole at the top. These look shockingly good considering they cost about twelve cents each.
My mother-in-law still has one my husband made in 1993. If that’s not a keeper, I don’t know what is.
9. Glitter Clothespin Reindeer
Paint wooden clothespins brown and let them dry. Clip them onto a cardboard edge so they don’t roll around while the paint sets.
Glue two googly eyes on the clothespin’s “head” (the rounded end). Add a small red pom-pom for the nose and two tiny twigs for antlers.
10. Salt Dough Stars with Glitter
Use the same salt dough recipe from craft #1, but this time cut out star shapes. Press glitter directly into the wet dough before baking so it actually stays.
Bake as directed, then thread a ribbon through the hole. The glitter won’t flake off like it does with glue, saving your floors from a sparkly disaster.
11. Pinecone Snowy Owls
Find a fat, round pinecone. Paint the front white and glue on two big yellow felt circles for eyes. Add a small orange triangle beak below them.
Wrap a brown pipe cleaner around the top for “ear tufts.” These little guys look adorable nestled in the branches.
12. Button Wreath Ornaments
Gather an assortment of green buttons in different sizes. Glue them into a circle on a piece of cardboard or directly onto a thin wooden ring.
Fill the center with red buttons for berries. Glue a small bow made of ribbon at the bottom and attach a hanging loop at the top.
These are perfect for fine motor practice. Let your kid arrange the buttons before gluing so they feel like the designer.
13. Pasta Angel Ornaments
Cook some rotini or wagon wheel pasta – just boil it, don’t add sauce. Lay the pasta on wax paper to dry overnight.
Paint the pasta gold or white and glue it into an angel shape: a bowtie pasta for wings, a round one for the head. Add a tiny wooden bead on top.
14. Cardboard Tube Santas
Flatten a toilet paper tube and paint it red. Cut one end into a zigzag for Santa’s beard and paint the beard white.
Glue on googly eyes and a pink pom-pom nose. Add a black belt by wrapping a thin strip of black paper around the middle.
Poke two holes at the top and thread a ribbon through. These take maybe five minutes each – perfect for a last-minute craft afternoon.
My kids made a whole army of these one year, and now I can’t imagine Christmas without them.
15. Popsicle Stick Reindeer
Glue three popsicle sticks into a triangle shape. Paint the whole thing brown. Glue a small red pom-pom at the bottom point for the nose.
Add two googly eyes above the nose and twist brown pipe cleaners onto the top corners for antlers. Loop a ribbon through the top stick.
16. Sequined Foam Shapes
Buy a pack of foam sheets and let your child cut out any shape – trees, stars, candy canes. Give them a bowl of sequins and a bottle of glue and step back.
They’ll press sequins into the glue however they want. Poke a hole and add ribbon once it’s dry.
The foam is soft enough for scissors but sturdy enough to last. No two will ever look the same, which is the whole point.
17. Cinnamon Stick Sleds
Take three cinnamon sticks and lay them side by side. Glue two small sticks across the top and bottom to hold them together like a sled runner.
Add a tiny wooden bead or small doll on top. Tie a piece of red baker’s twine around the front for a “rope.”
18. Paper Snowflake Keepsakes
Fold a coffee filter or thin white paper into a triangle, then again. Let your kid snip random shapes along the edges – triangles, half-circles, whatever.
Unfold slowly to reveal the snowflake. Press it between two heavy books for an hour to flatten it out.
Spray with a light coat of hairspray to stiffen it, then glue a loop of thread to the back. These are so delicate and pretty.
19. Egg Carton Bells
Cut the cups from a cardboard egg carton. Paint each cup gold or silver and poke a small hole in the top.
Thread a jingle bell onto a piece of ribbon, then push the ribbon through the hole. Tie a knot so the bell hangs inside the cup.
Glue a small loop of ribbon to the top for hanging. Shake one and it actually rings – instant hit with toddlers.
20. Yarn Wrapped Stars
Cut a star shape from sturdy cardboard. Wrap yarn around and around the star until the cardboard is completely covered.
Tuck the end under a few wraps to secure it. Attach a ribbon loop to one point.
Use red and green yarn for a classic look, or go wild with rainbow colors. This is a great quiet-time activity that keeps little hands busy.
21. Photo Ornament Baubles
Print small wallet-sized photos of your kids from the year. Cut the photos into circles that fit inside clear plastic ornament balls.
Roll each photo and slide it in, then add a pinch of fake snow or glitter. Snap the ornament shut and hang it.
Every year you get a new batch, and looking back at old ones becomes a Christmas tradition. I cry a little every time – in a good way.
22. Beaded Pipe Cleaner Trees
Bend a green pipe cleaner into a zigzag triangle shape, like a Christmas tree. Thread small green and red beads onto the pipe cleaner before bending it fully.
Once the beads are on, shape the pipe cleaner into a tree with a straight trunk at the bottom. Twist a yellow bead to the top for a star.
These are flimsy alone, so make three and tie them together at the trunk for a sturdier ornament.
23. Cotton Ball Snowmen
Cut a small circle from cardboard. Glue cotton balls all over the circle to form a fluffy snowman body.
Add two black button eyes, three small button “coal” pieces down the front, and an orange paper triangle nose. Glue a tiny black hat on top made from felt.
24. Clay Pot Santa Hats
Find mini terra cotta pots (the tiny ones). Paint the pot red and the rim white to look like Santa’s hat.
Glue a white pom-pom to the pointed end of the pot (which becomes the hat’s tip). Attach a ribbon loop to the pom-pom.
Flip it over and you’ve got a miniature Santa hat ornament. These look fantastic on a small tabletop tree.
25. Puzzle Piece Wreaths
Dig out old puzzle pieces from incomplete puzzles. Paint them green and arrange them in a circle on a piece of cardboard.
Glue them down overlapping slightly. Add red painted puzzle pieces as berries. Punch a hole at the top for ribbon.
26. Glittered Leaf Ornaments
Collect fallen leaves in November and press them in a book for a week. Brush the dry leaves with glue and sprinkle fine glitter over them.
Let them dry completely, then brush off the excess glitter. Punch a small hole in the stem and thread a thin ribbon through.
These capture autumn and Christmas in one ornament. They’re so delicate you’ll want to handle them carefully, but they last for years in a box.
27. Spool Snowmen
Save wooden thread spools. Paint them white and stack two or three with glue between them.
Draw on a face with a black marker. Wrap a tiny scrap of fabric around the “neck” for a scarf. Glue a small button to the top spool as a hat.
28. Baked Clay Handprint Tags
Buy oven-bake polymer clay in white or natural. Roll it out and press your child’s handprint into it, but only their palm – not the fingers.
Cut around the palm print with a knife to make a tag shape. Poke a hole at the top and bake according to package instructions.
Write the year on the back with a fine marker. Hang these from gifts as name tags first, then move them to the tree after Christmas.
29. Mason Jar Lid Snow Scenes
Take a clean mason jar lid ring and the flat metal insert. Glue a small plastic tree, snowman, or reindeer to the flat insert.
Sprinkle a tiny amount of fake snow or salt around the figure. Press the ring over the insert – the metal holds the snow in like a shadow box.
Tie a ribbon around the ring to hang it. These look like little frozen worlds, and you can swap the scene out every year by prying the glue loose.
Now you’ve got 29 ways to fill your tree with memories instead of junk. Pick two or three to try this weekend – even one ornament that survives the decade is a win.
Go raid your craft stash and send me a photo of your kid’s glue-covered masterpiece. I’ll be over here picking glitter out of my hair until July.