35 Cute, Easy Christmas Ornaments to make with Toddlers (Fun DIY Holiday Decorations)

The holiday season is the perfect time to engage your little ones in fun and festive activities. Crafting Christmas ornaments with toddlers not only creates lasting memories but also results in adorable decorations for your tree. (Well, mostly!)

Whether you’re looking for easy DIY Christmas ornaments to make with your toddler or cute ornaments for your little ones to gift to someone special (which grandparent doesn’t love a toddler-made craft?) – we’ve got you covered.

From handprint and footprint ornaments to salt dough creations, photo ornaments, and fun reindeer decorations the possibilities are endless!

We’ll also share fun projects using clear plastic ornaments, natural materials, ribbons, paper and more. Perfect for kids aged 2, 3 and 4 years old, these easy DIY toddler Christmas ornaments will make wonderful holiday keepsakes.

Join us and discover how to turn this festive season into a magical, crafty experience for the whole family with these delightful toddler-friendly Christmas tree ornaments.

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Pompom Christmas ornament for toddlers to make

This pom pom Christmas ornament from Elle Marie Home (previously the Inspiration Vault) is ideal for toddlers.  Such a good exercise in fine motor for the little ones and, this is the best, completely mess-free! 

Grab these clear plastic baubles and festive pompoms and you’re ready to go.

Sea glass Christmas ornaments 

I love these sea glass Christmas ornaments from Red Ted Art – really, really stunning and would look just as good hanging in the window as on the tree.  If you don’t have any sea glass, try white buttons on green-colored salt dough as in the ornament on the right-hand side. 

Such fun and beautiful toddler Christmas ornaments to make this Christmas.

Pony bead Christmas ornaments for toddlers

These melted pony bead ornaments can be done with any metal Christmas cookie cutter you have to hand, along with some pony beads.  Simply bake in the oven and the colorful beads will melt into the shape of the cutter. 

You’ll find the instructions at @simpleplay.withsteph.  

Popsicle-stick snowflake Christmas ornaments

Look at these popsicle-stick snowflake Christmas ornaments from The Best Ideas For Kids. They look fun ornaments to make with toddlers.  And aren’t they just too cute?! Once the craft sticks are glued together, you can hand this one straight over to little ones to get busy with. 

(Stock up on colorful rhinestone stickers, sequins, sparkly pompoms and bells here.)

Easy salt dough Christmas tree ornaments

I made these salt dough Christmas ornaments with my toddler and preschooler. They loved making them and I must say, having come up with the decorating part of this on the spur of the moment, I’m a bit chuffed at how well they came out!   Our favorite keepsake ornaments so far.

Simply make salt dough Christmas shapes, then decorate with star stickers and glitter.  

Bird Seed Ornaments

These bird seed ornaments from Crafts By Amanda are perfect for getting toddlers outside and interested in nature.

Cut shapes out of cardboard, spread with peanut butter and sprinkle bird seed over. Then hang these as decorations outside, wait and watch!

Fun glitter Christmas ornaments for toddlers

Got a toddler that loves glitter?  These glitter ornaments from Aileen Cooks are just the ticket for any kid, big or small, or adult for that matter, that loves a bit of sparkle. So that’s pretty much everyone then?!

Simply open a clear plastic ornament, coat the inside with modge podge and get sprinkling.  Here are some snowflakes to stick on after.

A fun and easy Christmas ornament to make with toddlers.

Pipe cleaner Christmas tree ornaments

These pipe cleaner Christmas tree ornaments from Red Ted Art are simple yet very effective.  I think this’ll be a Christmas ornament best made with your toddler, they’ll need a bit of help. My daughter especially is going to love threading the beads on (at the grand age of 2.5 she loves anything involving beads!)  

(Grab your colored craft sticks, pipe cleaners and beads here.)

Candy cane Christmas tree ornaments

These candy cane ornaments from Simple Fun For Kids are one of the simplest Christmas ornaments to make with toddlers.  The beauty of them is in the mixing of the red and white salt dough, so no decoration is needed.

Santa’s belly Christmas ornaments for kids

Wait up, look at this easy peasy idea – maybe these Santa’s belly ornaments from Making Of A Mom are the simplest to make with toddlers? Red pompoms, felt glue and clear plastic ornaments are all you need for this cute Christmas ornament for kids.

For more crafts all about the jolly big man, try these Santa crafts for toddlers, including plenty of Santa hat crafts.

Paper straw Christmas ornament for kids

This paper straw Christmas ornament and craft from The Keeper of the Cheerios will be a good challenge to preschoolers and first-graders (to measure and cut the straws of decreasing length).  Simplify for younger toddlers by marking the straws or getting them to just do the sticking.

(Buy some of these colored craft sticks if you want to skip the painting part; snowflakes and festive paper straws here.)

Nature Treasures Christmas Ornaments

Here’s another fun and educational Christmas ornament for toddlers that starts outside. Make these Nature Treasure Ornaments from The Unschooled Project after a good foraging activity in your backyard or local woodland.

Collect acorns, leaves and other random bits and bobs to fill your plastic baubels with. Then simply place your natural treasures inside and hang on your tree.

Fun Rudolf wood slice Christmas ornaments

These homemade Rudolf wood slice ornaments from Conservamome are another simple idea yet toooo cute.  

What a cute and clever way to turn wood slices into Rudolfs to hang on the tree. I can’t wait to make this Christmas ornament with my toddlers.

I can see poor old Rudolf ending up with more than 2 ears though and a few too many eyes since that’s the way a lot of our crafts go at the moment, but we shall see.

Grab your wood slices, googly eyes, mini clothespins and pompoms here.

More nature-inspired ornaments here.

Wrapping paper baubles

These wrapping paper baubles from Simple Fun For Kids are another super easy DIY Christmas ornament to make with toddlers.  They can practice their scissor skills, cutting up some pretty wrapping paper and will then have fun stuffing it into the plastic bauble.  No-mess = no-stress!

Apple Star Ornaments

Combine dried apple and orange slices to make these beautiful Apple Star Ornaments from Rainy Day Mom. What a lovely sensory experience for toddlers that will fill your house with the warm cozy aromas of Christmas!

Love crafting with your kids? 

Here are some more crafts aimed at toddlers & preschoolers:

• 40 Easy Dinosaur Crafts For Preschoolers
• 50 Fun Transportation Crafts for Toddlers
• 31 Cute Cat Crafts for Toddlers
• 35 Simple Monkey Crafts for Preschoolers
• 15 I Like Myself Activities {Free Worksheet}

Cookie cutter Christmas ornaments for kids to make

Rather than salt dough, these cookie-cutter Christmas ornaments from Red Ted Art use store-bought air-dry clay reducing your prep-time to almost zero!  Aren’t they just so simple and effective?  A gorgeous and simple Christmas ornament to make with toddlers.

Wine cork Snowman ornament

Adorable snowman ornaments from Janine Huldie, made from a wine cork no less!  I particularly love the ear muffs. 

My kids have a thing about snowmen for some reason (they loved making these snowmen cards) and will definitely manage to slap on some white paint.  Then they are going to love drawing on the eyes, mouth and buttons and finding a warm cozy scarf and a set of earmuffs.

Popsicle stick Christmas ornament

You’re going to have to make the basic tree shape of this popsicle stick Christmas ornament from Simple Mom Project for your toddler, but leave the decoration part to them.

There’s no need to limit the decoration just to buttons. I can definitely picture a bit of glitter coming out of the cupboard for this one!  Such a cute and easy Christmas ornament for kids to make.

40+ easy activities handpicked for busy moms of kids aged 2 to 6 years – because Christmas needn’t be chaotic or cost a fortune!

Create gorgeous hand and footprint art with your little one

Help your kids write Santa a letter and receive a reply

 

 

Fill & stick snowman Christmas tree ornament

Styrofoam balls, snowman stickers and a clear plastic bauble is all you need for this fill & stick snowman Christmas tree ornament from DIY Crafty Mama.  Another simple and fun Christmas activity come craft for kids.

As long as your little one has got past the stage of stuffing everything into their mouth, this will be a fun Christmas ornament to make with toddlers.

Homemade cinnamon Christmas ornaments to make with toddlers

These homemade cinnamon ornaments look a lot like salt dough, but they’re not.  They’re actually made from applesauce and cinnamon – yum!

Never mind about whether these ever get hung on the tree, it’ll be a fun sensory experience for little ones to quietly smoosh and mold the dough, the scents of Christmas wafting across the room…

Decoupaged Christmas star ornaments

These decoupaged Christmas star ornaments will be fun for kids to make. Festive but a little more subtle than others; not too “bling” as we say in the UK!  I guess that could change depending on who’s in charge of sprinkling the glitter, though, right?  

Grab some polystyrene stars, modge podge and patterned tissue paper and get decoupaging.

Toilet roll snowmen Christmas craft

Who doesn’t like a craft made from a toilet paper roll or two?! These toilet roll snowmen from Red Ted Art are the cutest.  Not strictly Christmas tree ornaments, but could easily be hung on the tree with the addition of a loop of thread.   

This’ll be a fun Christmas ornament to make with toddlers who love snowmen.  Mine will love making these, particularly dressing them – check out those hats.  Click the link for the tutorial.

Spaghetti Christmas ornaments to make with toddlers

These spaghetti Christmas tree ornaments were a hit with my toddler and preschooler.  The only difficulty was getting them to not eat the dried pasta!  Like most little kids – pasta, particularly spaghetti (or worms as they call it), is their absolute favorite food (savory that is…) 

If you haven’t already stocked up on silver spray for Christmas, now is the time to.

Simple Christmas Ornaments Made From Nature

Try these beautiful nature Christmas ornaments from Attempting Montessori that you can hang in your windows as suncatchers all year long! Yes, these lovely ornaments should definitely not be confined to the festive season.

All you need is cardboard and contact paper, plus items your little nature-lovers want to display.

Craft stick Christmas tree ornament craft

These craft stick Christmas tree crafts & ornaments from Little Bins For Little Hands are very simple in concept, but little ones will probably need a little bit of help with the yarn wrapping.  I just love the sparkly pompom tree decorations! 

Such a fun Christmas ornament to make with toddlers.

More Christmas tree crafts here.

Love free printables?

Try these, including some for the festive season:

• 7 Free Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt Printable PDFs for Kids
• 10 {Free & Editable} Santa’s Nice List Certificate Printables
• 30 FREE Printable Christmas Bingo Cards {5 Festive Sets}

Nutcracker Christmas ornaments for kids to make

These Nutcracker peg doll Christmas ornaments are such a classic and will add a bit of sophistication to your Christmas tree. My daughter will love helping with these, particularly making that frilly skirt – she’s all about princesses and fairies at the moment.

Clay pot snowman Christmas ornament

Here’s a fun Christmas ornament to make with toddlers.  They’ll will love sticking the googly eyes on, to create this super cute clay pot snowman from Intelligent Domestications and then wrapping him up warm with scarf and earmuffs.   

Clothespin reindeer ornament

Old-school clothes pins are the basis for this sweet Clothespin reindeers, cute Christmas ornaments that toddlers will love to make.  Younger kids may need help sticking the clothes pins together at the beginning (strong wood glue will do) but can then be left to decorate with mini googly eyes and wreath.

Christmas clay pot ornaments

Another mini clay pot here, this time a Christmas tree ornament from Darcy and Brian.  Looks very simple to make in concept, as long as your little one is safe with paint and paintbrush.  So that would be a no, right? Only me? 

Perhaps make these Christmas ornaments as a team effort with your toddler. Do the painting out of sight and leave to dry.  Then all that’s left is sticking and gluing which can be the job of your toddler in tow.

Extra special KEEPSAKE Christmas ornaments for toddlers

Everyone loves a handprint craft – here are some with a festive spin. As well as some fingerpaint and finger print crafts and other Christmas DIY ornaments with a keepsake element.

Salt dough handprint ornaments

Perfect for the littlest hands are these homemade salt dough handprint ornaments from the Best Ideas For Kids.   A gorgeous Christmas ornament to make with toddlers and babies. 

If only I’d come across these when my two were a bit smaller.  My eldest’s hands are a little big now.  The Christmas ornament would knock our tiny tree down for sure!

Want to try some handprint craft templates?

We have a few templates that are free to download:

• Cute Free Fall Handprint Craft Templates
• Free Father’s Day Handprint Craft Templates INSTANT DOWNLOAD
• Adorable Valentine’s Day Handprint Craft (Free Templates) 

Thumbprint Christmas lights ornament

This thumbprint Christmas lights ornament from The Moody Blonde will be fun to make with toddlers, the whole family even.  Each family member could add a print or two. Very pretty and a lovely memory for many years to come. 

A clear plastic bauble, paint, a marker pen and some steady finger print makers are all you need!  To make it white, fill with faux snow.

Fingerprint clay Christmas ornaments to make with toddlers

These fingerprint clay ornaments from Thimble & Twig are just gorgeous, aren’t they? These are a must-try this year. I may even add the year to mark the occasion.  Time to invest in some number and letter stamps!