21 Fun & Festive DIY Ornaments For Kids

You don’t need many supplies at all to create these cute cookie cutter ornaments from DIY Candy. In fact, it’s one one of the easiest DIY ornaments for kids to make on this list. They may need help punching a hole at the top of the plastic cookie cutter, but once that’s done, gluing the scrapbooking paper to the back and attaching a ribbon is super simple. Another idea to make this kids ornament even more festive is to use thick ribbon to wrap around the edges of the cookie cutter and secure the ends with glue. Glitter tape would also work well, and you can even experiment with different cookie cutter shapes.

These DIY kids Christmas tree ornaments from blogger This Grandma Is Fun are made from jumbo craft sticks that are painted green or covered with iridescent pipe cleaners and then decorated with an array of embellishments. Buttons and baubles serve as the “ornaments” on this miniature crafted tree, and each tree is topped with a star cut from scrapbooking paper. You could definitely use the smaller popsicle sticks for these tree ornaments, but you won’t have as much room to decorate with buttons or beads.

What do you do with all of those wallet-sized pictures from the school photo package you ordered back in September? Mine used to wind up at the bottom of a box of keepsakes, never to be looked at again. But this year, I’m making these cute DIY picture frame ornaments from No. 2 Pencil with my kids instead. The best part about this sweet DIY kids ornament is that you likely already have most of the supplies you need at home to make them — paint, glitter, and some ribbon or twine for the hanger. Grab a few wallet-sized frames, and you’re all set.

How beautiful are these vintage-style glittered ornaments from Vitamini Handmade? With a package of clear ornaments, some glue on a paintbrush, and fine glitter, you can recreate these DIY ornaments easily at home with your kids. Glass ornaments and little kids don’t always mix, but you can still make this project work with some adult supervision or the skilled hands of an older sibling. Though the tutorial calls for miniature glass bulbs, you could also experiment with large bulbs, clear plastic ornaments, or different glitter textures to create various looks that match your holiday decor and your child’s ability to handle fragile ornaments.

The easiest of all of the DIY projects on this list, if your kids can thread pony beads onto a pipe cleaner, then they can likely handle making these candy cane ornaments from A Little Craft In Your Day. There’s no glue, no glitter, and not a single glass bulb needed to make these kid-friendly ornaments. Simply set your little ones up with a bag of red beads, a bag of white beads, and a fistful of red pipe cleaners and let them have at it.

There aren’t many things that I love more than the smell of fresh gingerbread cookies in the oven. The scent just makes my whole house feel magical. Although they look and smell good enough to eat, these gingerbread salt dough ornaments from A Pretty Life In The Suburbs aren’t for snacking. But they do make a great DIY ornament project for you and your kids to enjoy together. The red and white twine hangers give these little guys a very festive look. Plus, with plenty of cinnamon and ginger in the dough recipe, they’ll make your tree smell amazing.

For all of the little builders out there, Creative Green Living has the best DIY ornament hack for kids that uses repurposed Lego bricks to create adorable tree decorations. All they have to do is dig through that massive bin of Lego odds and ends in their room to fish for pieces that will fit together to make the shape of a Christmas tree. They can also experiment with other holiday shapes like candy canes, snowmen, and more. This is one DIY ornament that’s part craft, part STEM, and all fun. Plus, when it’s time to take down the tree, the Lego pieces can just go right back in the bin.

For budding artists who love to show off their latest creations, these DIY mini art easel ornaments from A Beautiful Mess are just precious. Your kid can use whatever colors strike their fancy and paint anything their heart desires on the tiny canvas. Depending on your child's age, they may need your help to use the super glue to attach the canvas to a miniature art easel, but even attaching the ribbon or yarn hanger is pretty simple. These fun ornaments make adorable gifts for teachers and grandparents, but they’re also a great way to memorialize your little one’s artwork on your own tree for years to come.

For kids who just have to catch ‘em all, this DIY Pokemon ornament from A Little Craft In Your Day is an adorable project to make around the holidays. You’ll need a red Christmas ornament, some white and red glitter, white and black acrylic paint, painters tape, and a bit of decoupage. Once you have all of your supplies ready, your kids can make this sparkly and fun Pokemon-themed ornament for your tree in about half an hour.

Making salt dough ornaments with your kids is basically a holiday rite of passage. If you’ve never done it before, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what an easy process it is to achieve beautiful keepsake ornaments. Many salt dough recipes are meant for kids to paint and decorate once they’re baked and have dried, but this recipe for colored salt dough from blogger Julie Blanner uses food coloring to create pastel hues that are so simple and beautiful to decorate with.

I absolutely cannot get over how adorable this snow globe ornament craft is from Girl Loves Glam. Who knew your kids could make a pretty, magical snow globe without even the tiniest bit of glass in sight? Basically, your kids just have to put a sticker on some card stock, glue that to another piece of paper, fill a clear plastic cup with faux snow, and assemble it all. They’ll probably need some assistance with the hot glue, but these ornaments are just the most precious thing. They would make a great class project for holiday parties or even a class ornament exchange.

No list of DIY holiday ornaments would be complete without a smiling snowman or two, but these snowman ice cream cone ornaments from Handmade Charlotte are extra festive and fun. The snowmen are made from white pom poms that look like scoops of ice cream stacked inside of felt ice cream cones. The tiny felt hats and carrot-shaped noses put the whole look over the top. This project definitely takes a bit of patience and dexterity to get everything stacked and assembled just right, so it’s probably a better pick for older kids.

We had you at “easy DIY” right? But really, this one is easy for even the least crafty kid. Using metal cookie cutters as a guide, your kids can create DIY ornaments by melting peppermints onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. The step-by-step tutorial on the blog, A Little Craft In Your Day, shows you exactly how to create these fun works of art with your kids.

My kids have a craft drawer that is filled with mostly pom poms. I have no idea where they all came from, but we have them and I intend to use them to make these ridiculously easy and cute DIY pom pom ornaments from Lovely Indeed. Use whatever color and texture of pom poms you’d like (or, what you have on hand) to glue together abstract reindeer, elf, and snowman faces that your kids can use to decorate the tree. You can also use spare felt scraps to out antlers, hats, and scarves to accessorize the ornaments and create as many different looks as possible.

Normally, I tend to shy away from craft projects that involve glass or glitter, but that’s definitely easier said than done around Christmas. Luckily, these DIY glitter ornaments from Burlap And Blue are super simple for kids to help make and you can keep the mess contained by laying down some paper underneath your workspace or heading outside. Using a small amount of Mod Podge and a paint brush, kids can create unique designs to cover in loose glitter across their ornaments.

I often use mason jars to display bouquets of flowers or to store pens and scissors in on my desk. Little did I know, the lids to those mason jars (that I have haphazardly stuffed in my junk drawer) could actually be transformed into a DIY unicorn ornament. The Creative Green Living blog suggests using scrap yarn, felt, card stock, and a glue stick to create these adorable ornaments in the shape of your kiddo’s favorite magical creature. And, if the look of your child’s scrappy unicorn ornament doesn’t match with the rest of your tree’s holiday aesthetic, these ornaments would look just as festive hanging in their room.

This easy DIY ornament makes a truly heart-melting gift for all of the grandparents in your life, and is a great keepsake for your ornament box, too. If you don’t already have a million and one different DIY handprint ornaments on your Christmas tree, this adorable craft project from the Mod Podge Rocks blog is a great one to make with your kids. All you need is some quick dry clay to help your little one press their hand into to create the basic handprint shape. Once the clay is dry, your kids can paint their handprint in whatever style they desire — Santa, reindeer, a snowman, or anything else festive that they want.

When you need to keep your child’s little hands busy so that you can get your online holiday shopping finished in time, set them up with a simple DIY ornament project like these accordion tree ornaments from Mom on Timeout. You can use colorful Washi Tape on plain card stock to create festive patterns like the tutorial suggests, or you can just buy some holiday-themed card stock at the store to make things a bit easier on yourself.

Whether you call it Shrinky Dink, shrink film, Make It Bake It, or shrinking paper, I highly suspect that most people reading this list have made at least one shrunken craft in their lifetime. The popular crafting paper that shrinks up in the oven is a favorite of teachers and has been used to make homemade keepsake ornaments for decades. Creative Green Living shows you step by step how to cut festive ornament shapes out of shrink film for your kids to color on with markers, shrink to size, and hang these DIY ornaments right on your tree.

These colorful DIY confetti ornaments from the Mod Podge Rocks blog are a ridiculously simple way to use up all of the leftover tissue paper that you stuffed into a lone gift bag at the end of the last holiday season. Your kids can tear or cut small strips of tissue paper — red and green, or really just whatever you have on hand. Then, paint a thin layer of Mod Podge on the outside of a plain glass bulb ornament and layer the strips of tissue paper in a random pattern across the ornament to create an effect that looks like confetti.

It honestly doesn’t get much more festive than a DIY Christmas ornament made from cinnamon sticks — unless it’s shaped like a reindeer with googly eyes and a bell for a nose like these ornaments from This Grandma Is Fun. This little guy looks like he’s ready to jingle all the way onto my tree. Equally as adorable are the cinnamon stick ornaments for your kids to make that are shaped like trees with red and green buttons for the ornaments. Truthfully, I just really wish that all of the ornaments that my kids made smelled like cinnamon.