The Christmas season is my favorite time of the year. Hands down! It is usually when I have the most downtime and I can spend it being creative, making memories with my kids, and having tons of fun with Christmas crafts. One of my favorite ways to celebrate the season is with DIY Christmas ornaments! I typically always try to find homemade ornaments that I can easily make with kids for two reasons: they will love it AND they really need something to do during their winter break, amiright?! But even better, these ornament ideas can easily be adapted for the classroom so that you have a few options for activities during the last few weeks of school when students tend to get a bit antsy.
Today, I’ve rounded up all of my favorites so you can have them all in one place! They range from little to no adult assistance to very hands-on so you can decide which works better for your classroom, and what may be better suited for fun with your kids at home. Many can be used as gifts so there are FREEBIE gifts tags included in some of the posts and others have a fun writing sheet to pair along with it. Options are endless. Are you ready? Let’s go!
This year was our first time working with clay pots and I must say…we loved it! They came out so cute and the materials needed were minimal. In my opinion, this would be a cinch to recreate in the classroom since it doesn’t require much intervention from adults (which is important when there’s one of you and 20 or more anxious little people)! Grab the full tutorial plus a FREEBIE how-to writing template HERE!
These little cuties are BEAR-Y nice! Kids will love recreating these furry friends. In the classroom, you could make a mini-lesson and pair it with a little animal research on polar bears! These Christmas ornaments only require a little bit of assistance with the hot glue but even that can be remedied with glue dots. Plus, it’s safe for those who don’t celebrate the holidays as well— just remove the string! You can catch the full tutorial, plus grab a FREEBIE gift tag HERE!
If your kiddos can tie a knot, they can make these ornaments! With just a little bit of effort, these ribbon trees came out beautifully and would make for a nice addition to a Christmas gift card or greeting card. The tutorial can be found HERE and I included two FREEBIE tag options!
I think we can all agree that anything Santa is instantly exciting! These are one of my favorite ornaments to make and the wooden discs are so easy to work with. Bonus: these require nearly no assistance from adults. Grab the wooden discs with holes in them already and the students can easily tackle the rest. I don’t know about you but that sure makes me jolly (Ha!) Grab the tutorial HERE!
I ABSOLUTELY love these photo ornaments!! What a perfect way to highlight the best parts of your year or remember loved ones than these keepsakes. The wonderful part is that they are personalized ornaments that can be used for years to come as treasured memories. Though kids can join in, these require a lot more attention to detail so keep that in mind! See how they’re made HERE!
Is it just me or does Rudolph totally steal the Christmas show?! Kids can’t get enough of that little red nose which is the highlight of the next two simple, kid-friendly Christmas ornaments. Using their thumbprint, kids only need a few instructions to complete this one. HERE is the tutorial!
When I saw a fellow teacher blogger create these filled Christmas ornaments for her classroom, I knew I had to give it a shot! Students simply add strips of brown paper to fillable ornaments, googly eyes, and a big red nose (pom!) then ho ho ho…there you go! You can find the link to the tutorial right HERE!
Sometimes you need to get a bit more creative when you’re having an ornament-making party with lots of kids on a tight budget! These cupcake liner Christmas trees are perfect for that. Cupcake liners are inexpensive and the jewel dots are as well but can easily be replaced with paint to make it even more budget-friendly! See how we made these in class HERE (bonus: I have a cute DIY Christmas card idea inside.)
One thing I know about parents is they gush over their babies’ little handprints! That’s what makes this handprint reindeer ornament (I know, another one) perfect as parent gifts. It’s easy-peasy too, requiring only a painted handprint from the kids and a little lamination. Grab the full tutorial HERE plus a Merry Christmas banner FREEBIE download.
Just like the tree topper, I saved the star for last! Recreate the magic with this beaded beauty that’s easy for your kids to make with a little help from you and a cookie-cutter! You’ll see what I mean in the tutorial HERE! Another great thing about this ornament is even those that don’t celebrate Christmas can join in by making them cute bracelets instead!
I hope you found some inspo from these ideas for Christmas ornaments and be sure to tag me in your posts on social media @msamylemons! I’d love to see your finished projects.
Happy Holidays, friends!
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
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