I’ve put together this collection of DIY Christmas ornament ideas. I have personally done them myself and have developed the resources for teachers to do these ornament projects with their classrooms full of eager students!

3D “Pop Art” Paper Ornaments

This DIY Christmas ornament project is a super-cool Christmas art project that will certainly make kids (and their parents) happy and make any teacher look great!

My 3D ornaments have proven to be a big hit over the years. They make such a beautiful keepsake for the family tree. We still have some hanging on our tree that we first made back in 2013!

My 3-dimensional Christmas ornament is made from one sheet of paper. After decorating (coloring) the design and then cutting it out, the entire ornament is cleverly folded from a single sheet of paper. There is none of that cutting out all the different sides and trying to get them to align before attempting to perfectly glue them together like the other 3-D ornament projects out there. This one is just cutting and folding.

In my resource, I include pages of detailed instructions, printables, handouts, etc. You also get a 5-minute how-to video and 3 different designs for your ornaments. I update the year so you always have the current year to use with your students. Kids LOVE this project!

You can find this 3-D “Pop Art” Christmas Ornaments resource in my TPT  store HERE.

Pour Painting DIY Christmas Ornaments

Okay, this is one of those wonderful kinds of  “messy” projects, and it does require some rather specific supplies. However, the final result is amazing, and the kids have so much fun making them!

This is my favorite of the projects in this post (even though I probably shouldn’t pick favorites!).

I have an entire how-to blog post dedicated to this project. You can find it HERE, with a full set of directions and a list of materials, as well as some beautiful examples. I have also included a quick steps sheet to download and use with this project (click “download” below).

LEGO® Snow Globes

This is a cute LEGO® “hack”! You can make your own snow globe ornaments using LEGOs, fake “snow,” and a crafter’s Christmas ornament blank. I found a neat mason jar design at my local Dollar Tree that was perfect.

If you are doing this with a group of kids, it is probably best to do a bit of simple prep. However, the kids do most of the work and bring creativity to this DIY Christmas ornament idea. You can find my complete write-up of this DIY Christmas ornament idea, including step-by-step instructions, on my blog HERE.

The final result is priceless. As you all probably know, kids LOVE working with LEGOs. My students went at this with great focus and intensity. Their engagement was high, and so was the quality of their final work. This should bring smiles for Christmases to come!

“Stained Glass” Paper Ornaments

This is a fun, easy project to do in class. It requires minimal supplies. Something to color with (e.g., crayons, colored pencils, markers), some craft (popsicle) sticks, and my “stained glass” coloring sheets.

You can find nativity scene designs in this SET or more general holiday images in this SET.

To get started, print the coloring pages 4 to a page (or even a bit smaller). Then, cut them apart and use them with your students.

That’s it. It’s a pretty easy Christmas craft that makes a beautiful, colorful ornament! Please encourage your students to color them to look like stained glass. Then, cut them out, glue craft sticks to the sides to make a frame, and attach a string for a hanger. I provide instructions for doing this in each resource.

Art Supply Ornaments

I let my daughter have free rein to decorate the Christmas tree that we had set up in my art studio. My only suggestion was that I thought it would be cool to decorate the tree using things she could find around the room. This is what she came up with!

She immediately set out collecting various art supplies from the shelves, the closet, and the drawers. Then, she meticulously crafted them into Christmas ornaments. She used wires, ornament hangers, hot glue, and, most of all, her imagination.

The art supply ornaments all came out adorable! She hung paintbrushes, glue bottles, scissors, crayon boxes, paint tubes, and much more on our “art” tree! My favorite was the brush that she hot glued to the watercolor paint. She kept that one a secret and wouldn’t let me see it until it was finished. I loved it!

Art supplies make great Christmas ornaments as they are relatively small, colorful, inexpensive, easy to manipulate, and you probably have a bunch of them on hand already. Even if you don’t dedicate a whole tree to art supply ornaments, a couple on your main tree would add some interest, spark some conversation, and show off your child’s love of art.

The lesson to me from this activity was to allow my daughter the freedom to let her creativity flow. I urge you to let your kids do the same!

Magical Shaving Cream Ornaments

I have saved the most magical one for last, but it’s another messy one!

I have taught this lesson literally hundreds of times to age groups ranging from 3 years to high school gifted programs. It’s fun, it’s messy, and it’s truly magical. I haven’t met a kid yet (or adult) who didn’t get excited when the magic is “revealed” at the end.

However, with that said, this lesson is not a quick print-and-run kind of activity like so many of my resources. It takes a little time the first time to gather all the supplies you need (shaving cream, liquid watercolors, thick paper). You’ll use this project at school, at your nephew or niece’s Christmas party, or anywhere else you can! Once you have the supplies and the know-how, you’ll be super excited and be looking for ways to show it all off.

I promise you and your kids will have a lot of fun with this one, not to mention the interesting looks you get from the check-out clerk at the grocery store when you come through the line with a bunch of cans of shaving cream! I get mine at the dollar store, and I get lots of looks!

All the instructions you need to do this activity, including detailed descriptions, templates, lots of pictures, and the how-to video, are available for free HERE in my TPT store, and instructions are on my website HERE. 

There are tons of other DIY Christmas ornament ideas out there. I hope you will find a couple of mine interesting and worth trying with the kids in your family or classroom. I hope you’ll cherish the memories of making ornaments with them as I do with my own daughter and students.

Happy holidays!

Jenny K.