Two Easy Handmade Tree Decorations to make With Your Kids
Here are two very easy handmade Christmas decorations that you can make in just a few minutes, and are perfect to keep your children amused on a damp autumn evening.
Salt Dough Ornaments
Making salt dough ornaments is a great activity that all children (even the teenagers) will enjoy. Theyre not edible though, so dont let anyone eat them!
The basic ingredients are: 30g salt, 175g plain flour, and 50ml water. Add either 25g cinnamon, for a natural colored ornament with a great scent; or a tablespoon of tempura paint to make the ornament a particular color. Youll also need a little ribbon to hang the ornament on your tree.
Simply add all the ingredients into a bowl, mix, then knead by hand until the mixture is smooth. It the mix is too stiff, add a little water, a tablespoonful at a time. Now roll the mixture out to about 1cm thick, and cut out using Christmas cookie cutter shapes. Make a hole at the top of your ornament with a toothpick, so that you can thread the ribbon on your ornament.
Older children could decorate their ornaments further by either adding little pieces of dough; for example, a tree shape could be added to by putting tinsel on their dough ornament.
Arrange the ornaments on a baking sheet and put in a 225 degree oven for 30 minutes. Check the ornaments every 30 minutes, as some will take longer. Keep baking each ornament until it is no longer soft at its widest or thickest part.
Once they have cooled you can varnish them, and even glue glitter on to them. Attach the ribbon.
Tip: Varnished ornaments will last for years, provided they are kept cool and very dry.
Handmade Paper Snowflake Decorations
Heres a simple tree decoration that only needs some paper, a little glue, some string/floss, a piece of ribbon, and some glitter if desired. The end result looks great, and so delicate.
What you need to make each snowflake is a piece of paper roughly 20cmx8cm. Plain white paper is fine, but dont be afraid to use colored paper, especially if the colors compliment the rest of your decorations. Fold the paper back and forth over on itself every two centimeters or so, forming a concertina shape. Fold along the shortest side, so you end up with a piece of paper 8cm long and roughly 2cm wide.
Slightly round the edges of the 2cm sides, and cut two small triangles pointing towards each other at the middle of your snowflake but dont let them touch. This will be the center of your snowflake, so secure it by tying a piece of thread around it. For extra sparkle, use a piece of silver floss.
Cut out triangles, and other shapes along each of the long sides. You can be as creative as you like here, just make sure not to accidentally cut the whole way across. When you have finished cutting open up the sides and glue the sides together.
All you need to do now is tie a piece of silver floss, or a ribbon to the snowflake to hang it on your tree.
Experiment with dabbing on glue in places and sprinkling on glitter. If you want to make the whole decoration glitter, use spray glue. Stored away in a box after Christmas, youll have these delightful handmade Christmas decorations for years to come.
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