Get into the Christmas spirit with some recycled cardboard ornaments. This activity is easy enough for preschoolers if an adult prepares some pre-cut shapes for them to decorate.
You might also like our printable nativity set
I adore kid-made ornaments. They’re so much more special than store-bought ones.
As keepsakes, they’re wonderful because you can pack them away, forget about them, then get a lovely surprise when you pull them out again the next year. Of course, you will add to the collection with some new hand made beauties.
This is a “prettier” remake of some baubles my kids made as preschoolers. The girls absolutely LOVED this craft. We made soooo many cardboard decorations that we ended up turning them into Christmas bunting and giving some away as gifts.
Of course, older kids and adults can make these too. This is an activity that can be modified to suit a wide range of age groups.
As a bonus, you get to upcycle some of the cardboard boxes we’re all ordering more of at this time of year with all our online shopping!
Make this project your own
When it comes to decorating, feel free to put your own stamp on this project. My kids decorated some of their ornaments very simply with markers, while some were paint-and-glittered. Other ornaments got the “full bling” treatment with plastic jewels and sequins.
If you want to go more eco-friendly with your crafting, you could scrap the plastic sparkles and decorate with painted Q-tip dots and patterns, or patterns drawn with Posca pens (affiliate link). Similar to the way we decorated the potato stamp baubles shared earlier this week.
The beaded strings are optional, but they add an extra special something, don’t you agree? It’s also a fun way to sneak in some extra fine motor skill practice.
Let’s get started …
How to make Cardboard Shape Ornaments
You Will Need
- Heavy recycled cardboard
- Acrylic paint
- Jewel stickers and sequins to decorate
- Craft glue
- String
- Optional beads for threading
- A skewer or papercraft poking tool
- A cardboard craft knife (adults only), or sharp scissors
- A lead pencil for tracing
- The Christmas Shape Template, free for our subscribers. To get your copy, enter your details in the form below
How To
Print the template out. Cut out the shapes.
Trace the shapes onto recycled cardboard and cut them out.
Paint the shapes any colour you like.
Use a skewer or papercraft tool to poke a hole in the top.
Thread with string and beads.
Decorate your bauble with sparkles, sequins or painted patterns.
Now all that’s left to do is hang them on the tree!
Happy Christmas to all our readers!
More recycled Christmas crafts
- Make a paper roll shadow box ornament that resembles a snowglobe
- Here’s a light-up mini Christmas tree made from an egg carton
- We also have an adorable pair of egg carton angels
- Make a set of DIY angel wings from recycled cardboard
- Here’s a super cute paper roll reindeer!
