Preschool Activities: The Best Homemade Ornaments

By Deborah Pace Rowley

I love adding new homemade ornaments to my Christmas tree. If my children didn't bring home a personalized ornament from preschool or kindergarten, I would usually whip out a few simple supplies and we would have an ornament making session of our own. I particularly love homemade ornaments that include pictures of my children. I love how each ornament perfectly captures their age, their image, and their artistic abilities all at one time. Each time I hang one on the tree, I am transported back in time. 

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments from the past. 

This simple ornament is a fun foam shape in the front and back. A cookie cutter was used to trace the opening for the photo.  Don't forget to embellish the ornament by letting your child dip the tip of his or her finger in glitter paint!

Popsicles sticks were glued together to form this simple frame. Then some lose puzzle pieces were painted red and glued in place. Simple, cute, done.

Shannon added some extra touches to this popsicle stick frame. She decorated it herself with a simple pattern of Christmas bulbs with colored pencils. It was the perfect frame for a photo of her "dressed" in a tangled string of lights. Dad loves this photo and the memories it recalls!

The pieces of this ornament were purchased from Oriental Trading Company for $4.99 for a set of 12. See some examples here.We used them at an extended family Christmas party to keep the kids occupied while the adults were finishing dinner. I love this ornament because it includes the year that it was made and it has a picture of my daughter with her Great Grandma Virginia Pace. We have an ornament like this for each of my children. Now that their Grandma G.G. is gone, this cheap frame has become a keepsake ornament because of the picture inside.

I love this ornament that Natalie brought home from kindergarten. Her teacher let the children embellish a cardboard frame by applying modge-podge to some pieces of festive paper towel. Creative, right? I love how she put each child in a Santa hat before taking their picture for this cute and simple ornament. Love it!