Easy Christmas Ornament Crafts for Kids: Festive Fun!

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Why Crafting is More Than Just Fun: Developmental Benefits for Kids
3. Getting Started: Setting Up Your Craft Station
4. Our Favorite Easy Christmas Ornament Crafts for Kids
5. Making it a Language-Rich Experience: Tips for Parents
6. When to Seek Additional Support
7. Empowering Your Child’s Communication Journey with Speech Blubs
8. Speech Blubs Pricing and Value
9. Conclusion
10. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Introduction

The holiday season often brings a whirlwind of activity, from bustling shopping trips to festive gatherings. Amidst the cheerful chaos, there’s a unique magic in slowing down and creating something beautiful with your children. Imagine the quiet concentration as tiny hands snip, glue, and decorate, transforming simple materials into cherished keepsakes. It’s more than just making a decoration for the tree; it’s an opportunity to build lasting memories, ignite creativity, and, perhaps most importantly, foster crucial developmental skills.

This blog post is your ultimate guide to a variety of easy, engaging Christmas ornament crafts perfect for kids of all ages. We’ll dive into crafts that are not only fun but also packed with benefits for your child’s fine motor skills, cognitive development, and, significantly, their communication abilities. At Speech Blubs, we believe in empowering children to “speak their minds and hearts,” and we understand that every activity, from crafting to playing, is a chance for language to blossom. We’ll show you how to turn festive crafting into a powerful language-rich experience, offering practical tips and showing how our unique “smart screen time” can complement your family’s joyful learning. Get ready to sprinkle some holiday magic and developmental growth into your home this season!

Why Crafting is More Than Just Fun: Developmental Benefits for Kids

Crafting with children during the holidays offers a treasure trove of developmental benefits that extend far beyond simply creating pretty ornaments. These hands-on activities are powerful catalysts for growth across multiple domains, making them an invaluable part of your child’s learning journey.

Fine Motor Skill Development

When children engage in crafts, their tiny hands are constantly at work, refining the small muscle movements that are essential for future tasks like writing, tying shoelaces, and buttoning clothes. Activities like cutting paper with child-safe scissors, peeling stickers, threading beads onto a string, or carefully applying glue all require precision and control. These actions strengthen their pincer grasp – the ability to hold small objects between the thumb and forefinger – and improve hand-eye coordination, which is the brain’s ability to coordinate visual information with hand movements. The more they practice these movements, the more dexterous and independent their hands become.

Cognitive Growth and Problem-Solving

Crafting presents a series of mini-challenges that children must solve. Following multi-step instructions (“First we cut the circle, then we glue the eyes”), choosing colors and materials, and figuring out how to make a piece of paper look like a reindeer all stimulate cognitive development. They learn about cause and effect (“If I put too much glue, it gets messy”), spatial reasoning (“How will this piece fit here?”), and pattern recognition. These experiences lay the groundwork for critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will serve them throughout their academic and personal lives.

Sensory Exploration and Awareness

Crafts are a feast for the senses! Children get to touch different textures – the grittiness of salt dough, the softness of felt, the stickiness of glue, the coolness of paint. They explore a rainbow of colors, maybe even the subtle scent of cinnamon sticks or pinecones. This sensory input is vital for brain development, helping children understand and interpret the world around them. It can be calming, stimulating, and profoundly engaging, especially for children who benefit from diverse sensory experiences.

Emotional and Social Development

Creating something with their own hands instills a wonderful sense of accomplishment and pride. When they see their ornament hanging on the tree, they beam with self-confidence. Crafting alongside family members also fosters important social skills like sharing materials, taking turns, and offering encouragement. It’s a fantastic way to bond, create shared experiences, and teach patience when things don’t go exactly as planned. These moments of connection strengthen family ties and create cherished memories that last a lifetime.

The Language and Communication Connection

Perhaps one of the most significant benefits, and one that resonates deeply with our mission at Speech Blubs, is the profound impact crafting has on language and communication development. Every step of a craft project is an opportunity for language enrichment:

• Vocabulary Expansion: Children learn new words related to colors, shapes, textures, tools (scissors, glue stick), and actions (cut, paste, paint, sprinkle, fold).
• Following Directions: Crafting naturally involves following sequences of instructions, from simple (“Get the red paper”) to more complex (“Cut out two circles, then glue them together to make the body”). This strengthens receptive language skills.
• Descriptive Language: Encouraging children to describe what they are doing or what their ornament looks like (“This is a sparkly, green star,” “I’m making a soft, fluffy pom-pom”) helps them articulate their thoughts and expand their expressive vocabulary.
• Storytelling and Imagination: A decorated ornament can become a character in a festive story, sparking imaginative play and narrative development.
• Social Communication: Discussing the craft, asking for help, commenting on each other’s work, and turn-taking in conversation all enhance social communication skills.

At Speech Blubs, we are committed to providing tools that support and accelerate these natural language development processes. Our app utilizes a unique video modeling methodology, where children learn by watching and imitating their peers, reinforcing the very sounds and words they might use during crafting. This approach makes learning to communicate not only effective but also incredibly engaging and joyful, transforming screen time into “smart screen time” that sparks communication. You can learn more about the science behind our method and our high MARS scale rating by visiting our research page.

Getting Started: Setting Up Your Craft Station

A little preparation goes a long way in making your crafting experience enjoyable and successful for everyone.

Safety First

• Child-Safe Tools: Always use child-safe scissors, non-toxic glues, and paints.
• Supervision: Even with safe tools, adult supervision is crucial, especially with younger children.
• Allergies: Be mindful of any allergies when using food-based crafts (like pasta or salt dough).

Gather Your Materials

Before you begin, have all your materials laid out. This prevents interruptions and helps maintain focus. Think about what you’ll need for your chosen crafts: paper, glue, scissors, paint, brushes, glitter, pipe cleaners, beads, felt, various ribbons, natural items like pinecones, and recycled items like paper plates or toilet paper rolls.

Managing Mess

Crafts can get messy, and that’s part of the fun! Lay down old newspapers, a plastic tablecloth, or a craft mat to protect your surfaces. Have wet wipes or a damp cloth nearby for quick clean-ups. Dress children in old clothes or provide aprons. Embracing the mess frees everyone to be more creative.

Encourage Independence with Support

Offer just enough support for your child to feel successful without doing the craft for them. For instance, you might cut out complex shapes while they glue simpler pieces. For a parent whose 3-year-old “late talker” loves animals, explaining the steps for making a reindeer ornament (“First we glue the antlers, then the red nose!”) can be a fun, motivating way to practice following directions and identifying body parts, much like the engaging activities in our “Animal Kingdom” section within the Speech Blubs app. This balance builds confidence and allows children to take ownership of their creations.

Our Favorite Easy Christmas Ornament Crafts for Kids

Here’s a collection of simple yet delightful Christmas ornament crafts that promise festive fun and rich developmental opportunities.

1. Salt Dough Ornaments

Salt dough is a classic for a reason – it’s inexpensive, easy to make, and wonderfully versatile.

• Ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water.
• Instructions: Mix ingredients, knead until smooth, roll out, cut shapes with cookie cutters, poke a hole for hanging, bake at 250°F (120°C) until hard (2-3 hours), then cool and decorate with paint, glitter, or markers.
• Developmental Benefits: Kneading the dough is fantastic for sensory input and strengthening hand muscles. Cutting shapes introduces concepts of geometry and spatial awareness. Painting helps with color recognition and fine motor control.
• Language Connection: Describe the process: “We are mixing the flour and salt,” “Now we will roll the dough,” “What shape is that?” “Let’s paint it red!” Talk about the texture: “Is it soft or hard?”

2. Popsicle Stick Ornaments

Simple craft sticks can be transformed into charming decorations.

• Ideas: Glue popsicle sticks into star shapes, triangles for Christmas trees, or reindeers (add googly eyes, pipe cleaner antlers, and a pom-pom nose).
• Instructions: Glue sticks together, let dry, then paint and decorate.
• Developmental Benefits: Gluing requires precision and patience. Arranging sticks into shapes promotes pattern recognition and creative thinking.
• Language Connection: Discuss the shapes you’re making: “We’re making a triangle tree!” Use action verbs: “Let’s glue the sticks together.” Talk about the characters: “The reindeer needs his antlers.”

3. Pinecone Ornaments

Bring nature indoors with these rustic and beautiful ornaments.

• Instructions: Collect pinecones, clean them (bake at 200°F for 30 minutes to kill bugs), then decorate. Options include painting the tips white for a snowy look, dabbing with glue and sprinkling glitter, or gluing small pom-poms or beads into the crevices. Attach a loop of string or ribbon for hanging.
• Developmental Benefits: Handling pinecones provides interesting sensory input. Gluing small items enhances fine motor skills.
• Language Connection: Talk about the pinecones: “This pinecone is spiky and brown.” “It smells like Christmas!” Describe your decorations: “We’re adding sparkly glitter!”

4. Paper Plate Ornaments

A versatile and inexpensive craft material, paper plates can become almost anything.

• Ideas: Cut the center out of a paper plate and decorate the rim to make a mini wreath. Cut out Santa faces, snowmen, or bauble shapes and decorate.
• Instructions: Cut and paint paper plates, add features with markers or construction paper.
• Developmental Benefits: Cutting circles helps with scissor skills. Painting and drawing encourage artistic expression.
• Language Connection: “We’re cutting a big circle!” “Let’s make a happy Santa face.” “What colors should we use for our wreath?”

5. Handprint/Footprint Ornaments

These make incredibly personal and lasting keepsakes.

• Ideas: Use salt dough or air-dry clay to make an imprint of your child’s hand or foot. Once dry, paint it and label with the year. Alternatively, paint your child’s hand or foot and press it onto a larger paper or wood ornament cutout.
• Instructions: Prepare dough/clay, press hand/foot, bake/dry, then decorate. Or, paint hand/foot, press onto ornament, let dry, and add details.
• Developmental Benefits: Sensory experience of the dough/paint. Pride in creating something unique.
• Language Connection: “Let’s make a print of your hand.” “Wow, look at your tiny fingers!” “This will be a special memory of this year.” Our “Body Parts” section in Speech Blubs can make learning these words extra fun!

6. Yarn and Pom-Pom Ornaments

Soft, colorful, and engaging, these are great for developing fine motor control.

• Ideas: Wrap yarn around cardboard shapes (stars, trees) or craft rings. Make simple pom-poms by wrapping yarn around your fingers and tying it off. Glue pom-poms onto foam shapes or pinecones.
• Instructions: Cut cardboard shapes. Wrap yarn tightly around them, securing the ends. Or, follow simple pom-pom making instructions.
• Developmental Benefits: Wrapping yarn is excellent for fine motor control and bilateral coordination. Creating pom-poms helps with dexterity.
• Language Connection: “What color yarn should we use?” “Let’s wrap the yarn all around.” “This pom-pom feels so fluffy and soft.”

7. Cinnamon Stick Ornaments

These smell as good as they look!

• Ideas: Bundle 3-4 cinnamon sticks together with festive ribbon or twine. Add a small pinecone or a few berries for decoration. Or, glue a small loop of ribbon to a single cinnamon stick and decorate.
• Instructions: Secure cinnamon sticks, decorate, add a hanger.
• Developmental Benefits: Tying knots or bows helps with fine motor skills. Exploring scents engages another sensory system.
• Language Connection: “Can you smell the cinnamon? It’s a sweet and spicy smell!” “Let’s tie this red ribbon.”

8. Pasta Ornaments

Who knew dried pasta could be so elegant?

• Ideas: Paint different pasta shapes (farfalle, penne, rotini) and glue them together to create snowflake patterns, angels, or abstract designs.
• Instructions: Paint pasta, let dry, then carefully glue pieces together. Add glitter for extra sparkle.
• Developmental Benefits: Delicate gluing hones fine motor skills. Arranging pasta into patterns encourages creativity and spatial reasoning.
• Language Connection: “These pieces are long and curvy.” “Let’s make a symmetrical snowflake.” “What color should we paint the farfalle (bow-tie pasta)?”

9. Bead Ornaments (Pipe Cleaner & Beads)

Simple yet beautiful, these are perfect for practicing fine motor skills and color recognition.

• Ideas: Thread pony beads onto pipe cleaners to create candy canes (red and white beads), stars (bend pipe cleaner into a star shape), or snowflakes.
• Instructions: Bend a pipe cleaner into a desired shape, or simply leave it straight. Thread beads onto it, leaving a small gap at the end to twist it closed.
• Developmental Benefits: Threading beads is excellent for pincer grasp, hand-eye coordination, and counting. Creating patterns with beads introduces sequencing.
• Language Connection: “Let’s count the red beads.” “Can you find the blue star?” “First a red bead, then a white bead – a pattern!” Many of our activities in Speech Blubs, like “Numbers” and “Colors,” reinforce these concepts in a playful way.

10. Felt Ornaments

Felt is wonderfully tactile and easy to cut.

• Ideas: Cut simple shapes like stars, trees, or hearts from felt. Decorate with glitter glue, buttons, or small felt cutouts. For older children, simple stitching around the edges can create stuffed ornaments.
• Instructions: Cut felt shapes, decorate. For stuffed ornaments, cut two identical shapes, decorate, then stitch together, leaving a small opening to stuff with cotton, then close.
• Developmental Benefits: Cutting felt is easier than paper for some children. Simple stitching teaches a valuable life skill and boosts fine motor control.
• Language Connection: “The felt feels so soft.” “We need to cut out a big star.” “What will we stuff our ornament with?”

Making it a Language-Rich Experience: Tips for Parents

To maximize the language benefits of your holiday crafting, remember to engage actively with your child. You are their most important communication partner!

• Narrate Actions: Talk about what you and your child are doing: “I’m cutting the paper,” “You are gluing the star.” This provides a natural language model.
• Ask Open-Ended Questions: Instead of “Do you like this?”, ask “What do you like about this color?” or “How does that feel?” This encourages more than a yes/no response.
• Expand on Their Words: If your child says “star,” you can expand: “Yes, a big, sparkly, golden star!” This subtly introduces new vocabulary and concepts.
• Describe Features: Use descriptive words to talk about the materials and creations: “This ribbon is silky and red,” “Your ornament is so colorful and unique.”
• Sing Songs and Read Books: Integrate festive songs and Christmas-themed picture books into your craft time. Songs provide rhythmic language practice, and stories introduce new vocabulary and narrative structures.
• Role-Play and Storytelling: Once the ornaments are made, use them as props for imaginative play. “What adventures will this reindeer ornament have on the tree?”
• Connect to Real-World Concepts: Relate the shapes, colors, and textures to things they see daily, building stronger connections in their brains.

For a parent whose child is struggling with expressive language, these craft sessions provide a low-pressure environment for communication. If your child loves cars, guiding them to paint a car-shaped ornament while narrating “paint the red car, now the blue wheels” can be incredibly effective. For additional structured practice that complements these hands-on activities, remember that Speech Blubs offers thousands of engaging, speech-expert-approved activities. We are a powerful tool for family connection, offering a screen-free alternative to passive viewing and empowering children to make progress.

Unsure if your child could benefit from a little extra language support? Take our quick 3-minute preliminary screener to get a simple assessment and a free 7-day trial of our app. It’s a quick way to understand your child’s communication needs and find actionable next steps.

When to Seek Additional Support

While these crafts are wonderful for boosting development, it’s also important for parents to be aware of typical speech and language milestones. If you have concerns about your child’s communication development – perhaps they are not using as many words as their peers, or seem frustrated when trying to communicate – it’s always a good idea to consult with a professional. Early intervention can make a significant difference.

Remember, Speech Blubs is designed to be a powerful supplement to a child’s overall development plan, and, when applicable, professional therapy. It’s the tool our founders, who grew up with speech problems themselves, wished they had. Our commitment is to provide an immediate, effective, and joyful solution for the 1 in 4 children who need speech support. We blend scientific principles with play, creating one-of-a-kind “smart screen time” experiences that are effective and engaging.

Empowering Your Child’s Communication Journey with Speech Blubs

At Speech Blubs, our mission is to empower every child to “speak their minds and hearts.” We understand the unique challenges and triumphs of a child’s communication journey. Our company was born from a deeply personal place; our founders all grew up with speech problems and created the tool they wished had existed. This personal connection fuels our commitment to providing an immediate, effective, and joyful solution for the many children who need speech support.

Our unique approach centers around video modeling, where children learn by watching and imitating their peers. This natural, engaging method harnesses the power of “mirror neurons” in the brain, making learning complex communication skills feel like play. Instead of passive viewing like cartoons, Speech Blubs offers “smart screen time” – an active, interactive experience that makes every moment count. This not only builds foundational skills but also fosters a love for communication, builds confidence, and significantly reduces the frustration that often accompanies speech challenges. We are proud that our methodology is backed by science, placing us in the top tier of speech apps worldwide, as you can see on our research page.

We believe in making high-quality speech and language support accessible to every family. That’s why we’ve designed Speech Blubs to be not just an app, but a comprehensive tool for family connection and growth. Many parents have shared their success stories with us; you can read what others are saying about their child’s success on our testimonials page.

Speech Blubs Pricing and Value

We offer flexible plans to fit your family’s needs, but we strongly encourage our Yearly plan for the best value and full access to our comprehensive features.

• Monthly Plan: At $14.99 per month, this plan provides access to our core Speech Blubs app. However, it does not include the 7-day free trial, the extra Reading Blubs app, early access to new updates, or 24-hour support response time.
• Yearly Plan: This is our superior value option at just $59.99 per year, which breaks down to an incredible $4.99 per month – a savings of 66% compared to the monthly plan! The Yearly plan is the best choice because it includes:
  • A 7-day free trial so you can experience the full benefits before committing.
  • The extra Reading Blubs app, a fantastic resource for early literacy.
  • Early access to new updates, ensuring your child always has the latest engaging content.
  • 24-hour support response time, giving you peace of mind.

To truly unlock your child’s communication potential and get the most out of our unique “smart screen time” experience, we recommend starting with the Yearly plan. This choice provides the most features and the best value for your investment in your child’s future. Create your account and begin your 7-day free trial today to explore everything Speech Blubs has to offer.

Conclusion

This holiday season, transform simple craft materials into opportunities for connection, creativity, and profound developmental growth. Crafting easy Christmas ornaments with your children isn’t just about decorating a tree; it’s about building fine motor skills, sparking cognitive development, fostering emotional connections, and, most importantly, enriching their language and communication abilities. Every snip, glue, and sparkle becomes a chance to learn new words, follow directions, and express themselves.

At Speech Blubs, we are dedicated to supporting every child’s journey to confidently “speak their minds and hearts.” Our app provides a scientifically-backed, joyful, and effective complement to these hands-on learning experiences, turning screen time into an active, engaging opportunity for language practice. We invite you to experience the magic of both hands-on crafting and “smart screen time” with Speech Blubs.

Ready to make this holiday season not just memorable but also a powerful stepping stone in your child’s communication journey? Download Speech Blubs today on the App Store or Google Play, or create your account on our website to start your 7-day free trial. Remember to choose the Yearly plan for the best value and access to all our exclusive features, including the Reading Blubs app! Let’s make this a season of growth, joy, and confident communication.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What age group are these easy Christmas ornament crafts suitable for?

A1: Most of these crafts are highly adaptable and suitable for a wide range of ages, from toddlers (with significant adult supervision and simplified tasks) to school-aged children. For toddlers and preschoolers, focus on large, chunky materials, basic gluing, and lots of verbal interaction. Older children can handle more intricate cutting, detailed painting, and complex assembly, allowing them to express their creativity more independently. The key is to adjust the complexity to your child’s developmental stage and always provide appropriate supervision.

Q2: How can these specific crafts help my child’s speech and language development?

A2: These crafts are fantastic for speech and language development in multiple ways! They provide natural opportunities for:

• Vocabulary expansion: Learning words for colors, shapes, textures (e.g., “spiky,” “soft,” “sticky”), tools (“scissors,” “glue”), and action verbs (“cut,” “glue,” “paint”).
• Following directions: Practicing multi-step commands (“First paint the star, then add glitter”).
• Descriptive language: Encouraging children to describe their creations (“It’s a sparkly, red, round ornament”).
• Social interaction: Promoting turn-taking, asking for help, and commenting on each other’s work.
• Storytelling: Using the finished ornaments as props for imaginative play. These hands-on experiences create a rich context for language use, making learning fun and memorable.

Q3: Where can I find the materials for these Christmas ornament crafts?

A3: Many of the materials for these easy Christmas ornament crafts are likely already in your home or can be found at local craft stores, dollar stores, or even in nature! Common items like paper plates, popsicle sticks, yarn, and dried pasta are kitchen or general household staples. Pinecones can be collected from your yard or a local park. Craft stores will have a wider variety of specialized items like felt, googly eyes, various beads, and child-safe paints or glitter glue. Part of the fun can even be “shopping” your own home for recycled items or interesting textures!

Q4: How does Speech Blubs fit into our crafting fun and overall family learning?

A4: Speech Blubs is a fantastic complement to your crafting fun and your family’s overall learning journey. While crafting provides wonderful hands-on opportunities for language, Speech Blubs offers structured, engaging “smart screen time” that reinforces those skills. For instance, if your child learned colors while painting, they can practice color identification in our “Colors” section. If you talked about animal shapes, our “Animal Kingdom” can reinforce those sounds and words. Our app utilizes video modeling to make learning fun and effective, helping children build confidence and expressive language in a joyful, interactive way. It’s a powerful tool that transforms passive screen time into active learning, making it a valuable part of your child’s communication development alongside your creative play.