EASY DIY Christmas Ornaments for Kids

Christmas is a fun holiday to not only celebrate important traditions, but to enjoy family time and share joys, light, and laughter with those closest to you.

This is a little craft that I did with my seven-year-old brother that is very simple, but very fun for the little ones and a great way to inspire artistic creativity in their own unique ways! I did showcase his work throughout this Instructable!

As always, I encourage you to take this craft in any way you wish, letting your creative spark burst into flame! There is no wrong way to do this project, it's just a fun little thing to do either yourself or with a close friend or family.

Things you might want to have are:

1: About 4 toilet paper rolls (I have 15 shown in the picture, but I did not use all of these, paper towel rolls work as well!)

2: Scissors

3: Hot glue gun/extra hot glue sticks (I also did not use all of the hot glue sticks, those are just what I happened to grab)

4: Trash bag (or anything you're okay with ruining to put under your craft)

5: Acrylic paints (I used Silver, Gold, White, Red, and Viridian Green)

6: Paint brushes

Starting out with two empty toilet paper rolls, remove as much of the remaining paper as you can. (It's okay if there's a little bit left over, the paint will easily cover it up!) Smash the rolls flat with your palm, but try not to make it too flat, we still need a bit of space!

Cut the rolls vertically across the widest part, and try to make the sections about a half inch thick. I didn't worry about measuring exactly, I mostly eyeballed it.

REMEMBER, it is OKAY if the sections are uneven!

Pinch one end of the newly cut sections with the tips of your fingers, then push the sides away from each other while keeping a tight grip on the bottom. This creates a tear drop (or lightbulb) shape, and the pinched ends can be easily fitted together into any shape you want to make!

In the picture above I showed what four of these "tear drops" look like with their ends put together. I will also show with five, and then six tear drops, so that you can choose how many you want to use!

When your hot glue gun is ready, glue the pinched ends together to create star, or flower like shapes. If you want to make the smaller sections themselves wider, you can also glue higher up, about midway through, and pinch two sections together. (This is shown in the second picture, with the six "tear drops")

BE CAREFUL! It's called a hot glue gun for a reason!

For smaller details, grab another roll and cut some more smaller sections exactly the way we did before! Crush the roll slightly, and cut widthwise so that the new sections are roughly half an inch wide.

When this is done, cut these smaller sections in half, by flipping the sections so that you are holding them horizontally, and cutting vertically up (or down) the middle of the sections.

Similar to what we did in Step 2, pinch the top of these half sections with the tips of your fingers, and bend the shorter walls outward to create an almost mandala-like design.

This time, the pointed part will be facing out, while the wider ends will be glued in-between the first "tear drop" sections. You don't really need to change the measurement of theses smaller pieces to match the number of sections you started out with.

If you already haven't, before you begin I recommend putting something on the surface of the place your working on.

The first one of mine that I painted had four main sections, and the build of it kind of reminded me of a Poinsettia, which has red and green leaves. So the first four sections I painted inside and outside with the bright red. Then with the smaller, detailed sections I panted them completely with the Viridian Green.

When I was satisfied that all the cardboard had been covered, I painted the very edges with silver, adding a subtle pop to the color and definition to the shape.

This one I painted to resemble a snowflake, first painting the whole thing white, and then lightly brushing over it with silver. Then the edges of the six larger "tear drop" shapes I painted gold, as well as the corners that connected in the middle. Then the edges of the smaller designs I painted silver.

(I honestly like the messy, uneven look, but you can really take this moment to decorate it however it best fits you!)

Now it's time to show off your artistic talent! How you hang it up is really up to you!

You can simply put it on your Christmas tree like I did, or you can tie a string to it and hang it up in a garland, put it on your fireplace, or hang it on a banister.

I hope that you enjoyed this craft and that it was a fun way to bond with your friends and family! As always, I'd love to see what you came up with during this craft, including the distinctive spins you took on it!