Happy Star Ornaments

Make a super cute set of happy star ornaments from polymer clay to decorate for Christmas. The finished stars make cute keepsakes you can enjoy year after year and add a splash of colour to your tree.

This craft is best suited to older kids, teens and tweens because polymer clay can be stiff to work with. You could modify this activity for younger kids by using air-dry clay and painting it, or try the super light, soft modelling clay that comes in bright colours. You could alternatively make a batch of salt dough and paint it afterwards.

This easy Christmas craft was first published in 2016 and has been updated and republished for today’s audience.

You might also like our printable paper ornaments

Polymer clay is so bright and fun! These Christmas stars have to be one of the easiest things you can make with it too.

I always find it a little stiff at first, but once you warm it up in your hands it becomes soft and malleable like plastecine.

While I’ve turned our stars into tree ornaments, they would also make sweet earrings that you could hand out as a handmade gift, or hang on on a necklace as a pendant.

How to make Happy Star Ornaments

(affiliate links included below)

You will need:

Polymer clay in a range of colours (I’ve used yellow, red, white, black and purple)
Wire and jewellery-making wire cutters
String
A small star-shaped cookie cutter
Optional flexible cutting mat. I’ve discovered that using one of these makes the clay much easier to work with and also stops it from leaving smears of colour on our kitchen table.

How to:

The clay will be very stiff at first and you need to pull off a small piece and roll it in your hands or on a plastic mat to soften it up. Once it is nice and soft flatten your piece into a small round disk and press the small star-shaped cookie cutter into the disc to create your star.
Roll two small white balls for the eyes and a small red, pink or purple sausage for the mouth. Press them gently onto your stars.
Roll some very tiny black balls to create pupils for the eyes
Cut a small length of wire (approx 10cm), twist it around a pencil to create a loop and trim any messy ends off. Poke this into the top of the star. This step will probably be too tricky for younger kids, an adult will need to do this. If you are working with younger kids and using air-drying clay you can use a larger cookie cutter and simply poke a hole in the top of your star with a skewer for the string.
Bake in the oven following the manufacturers directions on your packet of clay. I’ve found their directions for baking times to be very vague, but as a general rule bake on a low heat for 20 minutes (oven temperatures vary considerably so its hard to give an exact cooking time and temperature).
Tie string through the loops and hang on your tree!