Help! I need some easy paper ornament ideas to make with a toddler (age 3). Thanks!
Trace one foot and both hands (of the toddler) on to construction paper. You will have to cut them out. The foot becomes the reindeer's face (heel is the mouth end). The hands are the antlers. Glue the antlers to the face, draw or use bits and pieces to make the face, poke a hole near the top and tie a loop of yarn through it.
You could also cut small snowflakes and let them glue glitter to them.
You could do a paper chain. Cut the paper in long strips and link and glue them.
Does it have to be with paper? If so I would just cut shapes out of cardstock and let them decorate with pens, glitter, and sequins.
Another easy and fun ornament craft is to make dough and let them use cookie cutters to make the holiday shapes. Bake then they can paint them. Super easy and the finished product is a little more substantial then paper.
Have fun!
Well, a toddler usually can't manage crafts on their own. Oh wait, you said they were 3 right? So they're a pre-schooler. That's a whole different age developmentally and skill levels. Toddlers are just learning to walk and "toddle" around.
Here are some of my favorite links for crafts for pre-school age kids.
You can find tons of different crafts on this site. Not just ornaments.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/
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Family Fun magazine is my favorite magazine for craft ideas.
They call it something else now but it's an awesome site.
https://www.google.com/search?q=family+fun+magazine+chris...
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This is my search results for your topic. There are tons of different options and each one is awesome!
https://www.google.com/search?q=christmas+crafts+for+pres...
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This is one of my favorite easy ornaments, not just paper though. Take a big piece of clear contact paper and tape it down to the table sticky side up. Let the child sprinkle small bits of tissue paper, tinsel, glitter, ribbon etc. onto the sticky side. Best if they don't totally cover the surface, but leave some areas of the sticky surface. Then place another sheet of clear contact paper on top and press together. If you have a rolling pin, let the child use that to flatten the pieces together. Then take a cookie cutter or other stencil to trace shapes on the contact paper. Cut them out and use a hole puncher to punch a hole at the top. Tie a piece of ribbon through the hole to hang ornament. These turn out really pretty! We made a bunch one year and used them on packages.
If you have any paint, draw a Christmas tree shape on the paper and let him paint it green, then use his fingers to make fingerprint ornaments. (Or, cut out a green tree shape and do color finger ornaments.)
I recently did something similar for my DD. Because we live so far away from family, I printed off pictures of her aunts and grandparents, and let her decorate "frames" for them. Then I added the picture and some ribbon, and now she can see her family on the tree. :)
Simple: cut out a color of cardstock you like into a star shape. Don't have a stencil to use? Easy to make a template (draw a star you like, then copy it onto a piece of cardstock and cut, there you have your original.) or get a cookie cutter, an ink pad and use a stamp pad to stamp the shape onto the cardstock. (Felt also works well with this. Just did a bunch of gingerbread men.) Then, cut it out, let kiddo decorate one side with markers, or put dots of glue on and let her shake glitter over it. (If you do this in a box lid with sides, it's easier to clean up.) Use a hole punch and make a hole for a ribbon to hang, or use embroidery floss, poke a hole with a needle after the creation is done/dry, and make a loop with some floss and knot. Simple.
I have also done green construction paper/cardstock trees with star stickers or other small, shiny stickers you might find. If you do a larger tree, you can use the garage sale dots (no prices on them) which may be more manageable for little fingers. Do hanging loops as mentioned above.
I've also done this with three year olds-- the felt shape (cookie cutters) made twice (use two per ornament) -- use notions or trimmings to decorate as you choose (for our gingerbread men we are doing rickrack and beads, googly eyes, fabric markers), use tacky glue to affix items to create a cute/pretty ornament on one shape piece, then when you are done with it, take another and make a 'sandwich' of them with a loop of ribbon at the top for hanging. Glue all together-- voila, cute ornament that kids can handle!
Christmas countdown construction paper countdown (you staple links
to each other & tear one off each day)
Cut out trees from green construction paper & have them glue on decorations w/glue stick (they can be cut out stars, balls etc from construction paper again)
Round circles cut out w/a hole punched out at the top that they coolor &
stick stickers on to resemble ornaments
Styrofoam balls they can glue jewels onto
Pipe clearners that you bend into shapes like a Christmas tree or blue star etc.
I know you said paper...but heres my 2 cents...
My 3 year old and 6 year old loved making salt dough ornaments, so easy and they came out very nice! They painted them with water colors today and I used a sharpie to put their names on the back and the year.
You could also do popsicle stick type ornaments, saw lots of cute ones doing a google search.
