This weekend we loaded up on the holiday activities, not only is our house now adorned with 10,000 lights and our counter sticky with cookie frosting, we also made a slew of homemade Christmas ornaments, which was my favorite part of the weekend!

Do you have a favorite family holiday tradition? One thing I love about homemade Christmas ornaments  is opening up our box of ornaments each year and looking at what we made years past. We even have a couple ornaments my husband made as a child, which still look sweet 35 years after they were made. I hope that today’s ornaments are still being hung on a tree in 2050!

Today I’m joining  70+ bloggers in participating in 10 DAYS OF A KID-MADE CHRISTMAS: Kid made-Ornaments inspired by books. This is a yearly series hosted by the wonderful Melissa of Mama Miss and if you love making Christmas ornaments there is no better place to find inspiration. Each blogger brings you a homemade and KID-MADE ornament idea inspired by a children’s book. We based our ornaments on a classic, The Mitten
by Jan Brett.

The Mitten is a beautifully illustrated book with so many  Scandinavian style details. Before we stared this project I asked my daughter to look through it and add chose some images in the book to use for inspiration. She gravitated to the lovely embroidered holiday details in the corners of each page page so we decided to make ornaments that had a woven look to them. Gather up some yarn, string, and craft sticks and join us in making Yarn Trees.

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Homemade Christmas Ornaments: Yarn Trees

Materials

• Craft Sticks
• Variegated Yarn and/or string like this 
• Craft Sequins
• Tacky Glue
• Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors

Instructions

Depending on the age of your child adults can assemble the bare trees first. Older children can participate in this step if they are comfortable using sharp scissors and hot glue gun.

• Step One Cut your craft sticks. For each tree you will need four different sizes: 4” 3”, 2” and 1 ½”.
• Step Two Hot glue the trimmed sticks to a vertical stick to form the shape of a tree with about ½’ space in between each row.
• Step Three Using your scissors, cut a small notch ½” from each edge on the bottom stick. This will help the string/yarn have something to stop it from sliding off the edge.
• Step Four Ask you child to choose a color of yarn or string, then cut a roughly 3’-0″ section of string to start with. Tie it to the bottom or top of the tree.
• Step Five Weave away! I showed my children how to weave the string in and out of the sticks but there really is no right or wrong way to do it. The only important thing is to make sure they pull the string taut each time so it doesn’t bunch up and bubble.

• Step Six Continue wrapping until you run out of string. If desired cut another length of strung and tie to the loose end and continue wrapping/weaving. When the ornament is complete tie off or hot glue the loose end to the back of the ornament.
• Step Seven. Add sequin “ornaments.” Fit these into the woven string or glue them directly to the yarn using tacky glue.
• Step Eight (optional) Adults only. Trim the ends of the wood diagonally to give the ornament a conical shape.
• Step Nine Cut a small piece of string and tie a loop to the top of the ornament to act as a hanger.

You’re done! Hang ‘em on the tree!

Looks Like

Jan Brett of course! Jan Brett is a prolific author/illustrator whose children’s books are well known for their detailed illustrations and their references to various cultures. The Mitten
has a marked Scandinavian feel and other books she’s written have details influenced by her trips to Africa, Japan and more. My kids love her books for their rich details and the timeless nature of the stories, some of them are based on folktales and classic children’s fairy tales. Ms. Brett said she knew she wanted to be an illustrator even when she was child and would spend hours drawing and reading. I love hearing about creative people that never gave up their dream but rather stuck with their childhood passion and became successful as Ms. Brett has done. Check out some of her books here.

More

Are you ready to see loads more Christmas Ornaments inspired by children’s books?

Start here:

Then see my fellow bloggers sharing their kid-made ornaments today:

Wood Slice Ornament from Happy Brown House

Jingle Bell Ornament from Mosswood Connections

Harry Potter Potion Ornaments from Lemon Lime Adventures

Swim Swim Ornament  from Sunshine Whispers

Yarn Trees from Babble Dabble Do

Baby Jesus Ornament from Modern Preschool

Nectar Ornaments from Lemon Lime Adventures

Christmas Stocking Ornament from EDventures

Snowflake Ornament from Preschool Powol Packets

Dinosaur Ornaments from Glittering Muffins

You can also show off your own kid-made ornaments in this link party!

Fill your child’s life with more art, design, science, and engineering!

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