Children’s Christmas Crafts – Green Crafts – Ornaments

There are many green crafts children can make for Christmas. Not only are they fun and easy, they reuse items you probably have. Make your home sparkle with these fun Christmas ornament crafts for children – and their parents!

Ornaments – Do you have old decorations that have seen better years? Ornaments that are chipped or scratched can be made new and cool again. Try any or all of the following:

Fine glitter. You can use a spray adhesive or thin coat of glue to coat the ornament. Sprinkle the glitter all over. Add a bow at the top for extra color.

Chunky glitter. You will need a stronger adhesive or glue for the chunky glitter. Kids can coat the ornament with a brush and some school (non-toxic) glue. Shake on one or more colors of chunky glitter to cover the ornament. Add a ribbon or Christmas decorative flower at the top.

Glitter patterns. Using a glue stick, make stripes, polka dots, or graphic patterns on your ornament. Sprinkle fine glitter (use your fingers or a pour spout) over the glue area. If you are using multiple colors, put glue in the areas for the first color, then do the second color, and so on. You can also use fine coloured craft sand instead of glitter.

Personalize. Get some gold, silver, red or green permanent markers. Write Christmas sentiments, the family name, Christmas 2009, or make patterns on the ornament.

Decorate it. Cover old ornaments with Christmas confetti, foam felt Christmas shapes, or even gems and rhinestones. Simply glue them on – in a pattern or randomly. You can mix colors and shapes, or make it all the same. Choose decorations in a size to match the ornament (small decorations for small sizes, etc.)

Ribbons & Bows. Use Christmas ribbon – patterns, red, green, gold, etc. Glue the ribbons in a pattern around the ornament. You can make horizontal stripes or crossing vertical ones. Alternate colors and patterns. Tie extra ribbons around the top, either in a bow or curl them.

Paint it. Using acrylic paints, paint over the old ornament. You can do stripes, dots or graphic patterns. You can also paint on snowmen, Christmas trees or snow scenes. Ornaments look best if you spray on a glossy sealer after the paint dries. You can also add glitter over the paint while it is still wet.

Fill it. If you have transparent ornaments, fill them with glitter or confetti, or extra fine potpourri.

Make it. Go for a nice walk in the woods with your kids and gather up some pine cones. You can also pick some mini pine cones to decorate the larger ones. Dry them out and then decorate with Christmas picks or flowers, some white ‘snow' paint or glitter, and wrap ribbons around (leave extra ribbon at the back to hang the pine cone).

Kids love Christmas, so let them have fun with the decorating. Christmas crafts can also make cute teacher gifts. Pine cones and candy cane reindeer can make nice gift decorations. Making fun crafts, especially green ones, is a great way to spend quality holiday time with the kids.

Janet writes articles and blogs for party ideas and crafts. Visit her blog at http://www.partycrafter.blogspot.com.