One of my favorite things about decorating my mom’s Christmas tree is going through all of our old childhood ornaments. Some were gifted to us by family and others we created! Yes, my mom still has them and we still love them! The days may be ticking by with Christmas just days away, but you can still make something fun and exciting for your little ones that you will cherish for years to come. It’s never too late to create an easy, DIY Christmas ornament memory with your kids!
I’m going to share what I created with my kids this year along with several other options that you can easily do before Christmas. That’s 14 DIY ornaments that you can spend time making with your kids! Hobby Lobby already has Christmas 66% off, so you might as well grab some kids crafts for this year and next!
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14 Easy, DIY Ornaments for Kids
Handprint Snowmen Ornament
This is the ornament I was able to create with my littles this year. It was super easy and my daughter loved all the painting involved. On the opposite side, I let her do her thing. Lately she’s been all about glitter glue, so she globbed glitter all over the back. Even though it took two days to dry completely, it ended up looking really pretty!
Next we flipped it over and Chloe decided which colors to paint the backgrounds of each ornament. Once that dried, I painted Chloe’s 3 fingers and Brody’s whole hand and placed it on the ornament pressing different spots on their fingers to make sure everything was covered. I did have to touch up a few spots on Brody’s since he’s a wiggle worm.
Then write their names and the year in Sharpie. Once their handprint dries, use the sharpie to make eyes, smiles and top hats! I used glitter glue to make scarves and bows, but you can also just use paints!
As you can see, I wrote Brody’s name before I did his handprint. I don’t recommend this because as you can see, it overlapped quite a bit! It’s fitting for him this year though. His ornament is a bit of a mess just like my hot mess, dirt loving 15 month old boy!
Super easy and you can change it up any way to make it your own. I got these ornaments from the Target Dollar Spot, but it was back in November. You can still find others! I mean just look what I found on Amazon!
Then you’ll have enough for years to come!
Related Post: How to Create the Perfect Themed Christmas Tree
Fingerprint Christmas Tree
This fingerprint Christmas tree is made using air drying clay! Take a look over at Mum in the Mad House to see step by step instructions and even more DIY ornaments for your kids!
Craft Stick Snowflake Ornaments
This is another one from Mum in the Mad House because she just has so many options that you must check out! All you need are craft sticks, glue and some fun sequins, beads, glitter or even stickers to decorate!
Fingerprint Baby Jesus in a Manger
My daughter made this ornament at school last year and it’s one of my favorites. You can snag these ornaments (20 for $12.99) on Amazon and make several different types of ornaments with them!
All you need for this baby Jesus is a clear bulb ornament, colored filling (whichever you want; we used this iridescent filler), paint and paint brush. After you use your child’s fingerprint for baby Jesus, use the other paints and paintbrush to make the details just how you want!
The Grinch Ornament
How fun is this Grinch ornament from Buggy and Buddy? It would be a great way to read the book, talk about the Grinch and make the ornament! I love when a kids craft can also be a learning experience! You can also use the ornaments from above in this project.
Snowflake Scrabble Tiles
You can find these flat snowflakes anywhere and hot glue Scrabble Tiles on with holiday words! Then add a little snowflake sparkle and tada! This would be a good one for your kids to make as gifts to grandparents, teachers and more!
Here are some quick items to grab to make these at home:
Popsicle Stick Photo Frames
These photo frames are easy and fun! You can create the frame and decorate them anyway you want. Plus you get to add a picture from that year to always remember what your kids were like that Christmas!
Use some of the snowflakes or tiles from the snowflake ornament above and create two different ornament crafts at the same time!
Cinnamon Stick Ribbon Tree
These cinnamon stick ribbon trees by Hunny I’m Home are absolutely gorgeous! And yes, a preschooler helped her make them. Yours can too! Bonus with this craft is that it will leave your home smelling divine.
Paper Straw Christmas Trees
These tree ornaments Crafts by Courtney made are so simple and whimsical! All you need are some paper straws of your choice, glue, paper for the stars and a ribbon!
Related Post: Best Christmas Decor: My Top Picks
Printable Buddy the Elf Ornament
Check out Simple Everyday Mom’s blog to get this free printable to create your own elf photo craft! Follow her instructions and add a photo of your child so they can become Santa’s elf.
Keepsake Chalkboard Ornaments
These keepsake chalkboard ornaments created by Fireflies and Mud Pies can be made in no time at all! You can even create them with the natural wood slices that I shared from Amazon. Your kids can decorate these ornaments again year after year!
Salt Dough Santa and Snowmen Ornaments
How cute are these salt dough Santa ornaments from Crafty Morning? They’re so creative! You can even check out a ton of other creative salt dough ornaments she has like these footprint snowmen! Salt dough screams Christmas to me and makes for the perfect easy, DIY ornaments for kids to create. There are so many ways to make it your own.
Baby Ornament Keepsake Kit
You can also always purchase an ornament keepsake kit for your baby’s first Christmas! This one comes with enough to do multiple so you can get a hand and a foot or possibly make multiple for grandparents!
14 easy, DIY ornament options for you and your kids to try before Christmas!
There you have it, several easy, DIY ornaments with different levels of difficulty and materials needed. Find something that you think fits the needs of your kids and jump into a fun project that will bring back memories in years to come. You can’t go wrong with handmade ornaments. Even if they turn out crazy or all over the place, you’ll have the memories and can look back on it year after year!
Do you like to make Christmas ornaments with your kids?
What ornament is your favorite handmade memory?
Salt dough ornaments are a must! Especially if you’re on a Christmas budget. My LO and I just made the cinnamon version and used Christmas cookie cutters. So cute! Thanks for all the great ideas 🙂
Yes! We love salt dough ornaments and there are so many ways to make them unique to your kiddos! I never thought of doing a cinnamon version. Adding that to my list of things to try!
THESE ARE ADORABLE! I’m making the Christmas trees with my son and nephew! Great idea
Aren’t the Christmas trees so cute? Better yet, they’re simple and fun for the kiddos!
“That’s 14 DIY ornaments that you can spend time making with your kids!”
Absolutely!! We love making ornaments. 🙂
You have some SUPER cute ideas that my kids are going to want to make…TODAY! 🙂
We love making ornaments too! I hope y’all have as much fun making them as we did!
So many ideas and they’re all adorable!
Thank you! So many fun ornaments to make!
I have been looking for some homemade ornament ideas! I stay home with the kids and this would be a perfect and fun craft to complete with them! Thanks for suggesting so many, I’m pinning this for later! 🙂
Yay! I stay at home too and my 4 year old daughter is always asking to make crafts. It’s easy this time of year with all the options!
These diy ornaments are super cute and such a memorable keepsake! What a fun tradition to start with the kids! I can’t wait to do more of this with my little guy. We tried a few this year and he loved it but he’s still a bit young. I LOVE that Grinch ornament! I want to try doing that with him in a year or two when he’s a bit older (and we can read the book together and watch the movie!)
Yes it’s so fun! My daughter is at the perfect age for it and she loves it. In a couple of years my son will be able to make them with her too!
These are all so cute! I love the snowmen feet! My kids would really enjoy making those!
The snowmen feet are so fun! I want to do it with my son this weekend. It’s fun to capture their size each year to remember how little they were!
OMG so many adorable ideas! Pinning for later to try them all! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you like them! I hope you find one to create with your littles!
This is such a great compilation of super cute ornaments! I’ve never seen the grinch one or the elf one with your child’s face. Thanks for the ideas!
I thought the Elf printable was so much fun!
This post is perfect! We are just sitting watching Christmas movies and I wanted to make a craft today! Thank you! We made the baby handprint keepsakes last year but I want to make one with them every year!
I’m so glad you like them! We did the handprint with both of my kids for their first Christmas too. It’s fun to look back and remember how tiny they were!
Cute! We’re making ornaments this weekend. May try a few!
I think we’re going to make some more this weekend too! Tis the season and enjoy!
These are really cute ideas! I can’t wait to try some of these with my toddlers 🙂
Thank you! I hope you have fun recreating them with your littles!
These are so cute! Pinning to have later ?
Thanks! I’m glad you like them!
What a fun tradition to start with the kids! I can’t wait to do more of this with my little guy. We tried a few this year and he loved it but he’s still a bit young. This post is perfect! We are just sitting watching Christmas movies and I wanted to make a craft today! Thank you! We made the baby handprint keepsakes last year but I want to make one with them every year.lisa