How To Make Christmas Ornaments

If you want to make Christmas ornaments with your child this holiday season, you have a few options. One is to make simple ornaments using paper and yarn, and the other is to get a bit more intense and create salt dough ornaments.

Paper and Yarn Ornaments

For the young child and the parent without a great deal of time and patience for kitchen messes, paper ornaments are a great way to share the holiday love with others as well as get your own tree decorated. Start by cutting out fun Christmas shapes on construction paper. You can trace cookie cutters to make the shapes neat. As you cut out each ornament, have your child decorate each using colors, other cut-out pieces of paper and glitter. Decorate two of the same shape and put them aside to dry.

When the two pieces are dry, cut a four inch length of yarn and fold it in half. Glue the two ends to the back of one of the colored pieces. Glue the back of the matching shape over the yarn to trap it inside a now two-sided ornament. You can make similar ornaments using foam shapes as well.

Salt Dough Ornaments

To make salt dough ornaments, you’ll need to prepare a work surface for baking. You’ll be creating the dough and then rolling it out as you would sugar cookies. Cut out the shapes like cookies and then place them onto a cookie sheet to bake.

To make the dough you’ll need:

• ½ cup salt
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup water

Mix the three ingredients in a bowl and when mixed thoroughly, place the mixture on a sheet of wax paper. Roll out the dough until it is ¼ inch thick and proceed to cut out shapes with your cookie cutters. Carefully place the cut-outs onto a baking sheet. Use a toothpick to widen a hole at the top of each ornament.

When the sheet is full, place it in the oven and bake at 250 degrees for two hours. When ready, remove from the oven and allow the ornaments to cool completely. While cooling, find tempera paints, brushes and glitter. Paint the ornaments to your heart’s content and again allow them to dry. Your final step will be tying a ribbon through the hole in the top of each to use as a hanger.

Easy Step By Step

• Cut out paper shapes and color to make ornaments
• Create salt dough using water, salt and flour
• Roll it out and use cookie cutter to make fun Christmas shapes
• Bake the ornaments
• Paint them to your liking and share with friends and family

Warnings, Advice, and Suggestions

If you’d rather not mess with the painting of the ornaments, include a bit of cinnamon into the dough and then use cinnamon candies as the eyes and buttons of toy soldiers or as decorations on a scented Christmas tree.

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