Tis the season for adorable homemade gifts, crafts and decorations. Some of the best homemade crafts are ornaments that will dress your Christmas Tree, and they will be brought out year after year to be admired. And once your children are grown, they will love to see their creations still being cherished after all these years. In this post, we’ll teach you how to make three simple Christmas ornaments using popsicle sticks.
Christmas Tree
What you’ll need:
- 3 whole popsicle sticks
- 1 half popsicle stick
- glue
- green marker
- brown marker
- various decorations
Using your green marker, color the 3 whole popsicle sticks on one side, and set aside. The half popsicle stick will be colored brown.
Once you’ve finished coloring the green and brown sticks, you’ll want to glue them together. With the green side facing up, squeeze a dot of glue onto the end of one popsicle stick and press the bottom side end of another stick directly onto it. Repeat for the 3rd stick, ultimately creating a triangle with the 3 popsicle sticks.
Carefully turning the piece over green side down, squeeze a drop of glue onto the end of the brown half popsicle stick and press onto the center back one of the green pieces. Allow to dry fully before decorating.
When the glue is dry and your Christmas Tree is assembled, it’s time to decorate! Using any assortment of items, from little puffs or buttons to glitter glue or ribbon, add some flair to the ornament to make it your own personal creation.
Reindeer
What you’ll need:
- 3 whole popsicle sticks
- 2 half popsicle sticks
- brown marker
- red puff
- googley eyes
- glue
You’ll start by coloring each popsicle stick with the brown marker, top side only.
Once all the sticks are colored, the easy assembly is next. Start with two whole sticks and glue the ends together, forming a narrow V shape. Glue the third whole stick, starting about 1 inch down from the top of the V, to the other two, creating two more smaller V shapes. Lastly, glue each half popsicle stick to the underside of the structure, in the middle of the small V’s.
Using the googley eyes and red puff, decorate to resemble a reindeer.
Snowman
What you’ll need:
- 2 whole popsicle sticks
- 2 half popsicle sticks
- black construction paper
- red construction paper
- white construction paper
- white paint
- orange marker
- black marker
- glue
- scissors
You’re going to start by painting all your popsicle stick pieces white. Let the paint fully dry before moving on to the next step.
Once the paint is dry, you’ll want to glue the pieces together. Starting with the white side down, take each half stick and glue the end to the back of one whole stick at about 1/3 and 2/3 way across. Now, glue the other whole popsicle stick to the other end of the half sticks, creating a ladder-like structure. You’ll have a square opening in the center.
While the glue is drying, you can get the rest of your snowman ready. Using the white construction paper, cut a large circle to create the snowman’s head. The orange marker will make his carrot nose and the black will make the eyes and mouth. With the black paper, cut a top hat for the snowman’s head and boots for his feet. Use the red construction paper to cut out mittens for the snowman’s hands.
And now it’s time to assemble your snowman!
Once all your ornaments are complete, you can take a piece of ribbon and glue it to the backs of each one. This will be where you’ll hang the ornament from the tree.
Now you can put your festive new ornaments on your tree! Don’t forget to put the initials and year on the back so you can remember exactly when they were made and who made them. If you want, you can add a photo of your child in the center of each ornament, or just leave the opening.
Photo credits: CeceLynn Design
