Kid-Made Sparkly Craft-Stick and Jingle-Bell Christmas Tree Ornament

I’ve been trying to decide what type of Christmas ornament my 4-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, should make for her parents. I finally decided on an ornament that would be pretty and would have a fun feature for Zoey’s new baby sister, Sophia. (Shhh! Don’t tell Zoey’s parents!)

Both Zoey and I like to make sparkly crafts, so I chose a sparkly craft-stick ornament but one with an added jingle bell to create a fun listening activity for Zoey to do with Sophia.

I saw the craft stick Christmas tree with jingle bell at Buggy and Buddy. Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy has three different ideas for the ornament surface, so be sure to check them out. I decided to go with acrylic paint to make the tree bright and colorful. I’ve used stained craft sticks when Zoey was younger, but I wanted the brighter look for this. This ornament would be easily adapted for a variety of ages.

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Christmas Picture Book Inspiration

I rarely have battery-operated anything for kids, but there are a few battery-operated books that I like as a way to give children an extra inspiration to read. Little Blue Truck’s Christmas isn’t a Montessori style book. The animals and truck have human-like qualities. But it’s a fun, sweet book for Christmas. It’s also a fun counting book for young children. Zoey’s four years old and didn’t need it for counting, but we used it as a reinforcement for the concept of subtraction. At the end of the book, the Christmas tree lights up, which fit with our sparkly Christmas tree ornament.

Materials Used for a Craft-Stick  and Jingle-Bell Christmas Tree Ornament

• Colored Craft Sticks or natural wood craft sticks (regular size – not jumbo)
• Acrylic paint or tempera paint (plus paint brush) if you use natural wood craft sticks
• Apron if you use paint
• Hot glue gun for assembling tree and attaching strings
• String (I used crochet thread)
• Jingle bell for each ornament
• Craft Gems
• 1/4″ ribbon
• School Glue or Craft Glue
• Tray (plastic or wooden) if you want to have the activity available as a Montessori-style activity
• Small containers for gems (can use Q-tips for glue if preferred)

Painting Craft Sticks for a Craft-Stick Ornament

Zoey enjoyed the painting process. Then, to finish in time, I used a hair dryer to dry the craft sticks.

Montessori-Inspired Geometric Shape Activity to Create a Craft-Stick Christmas Tree

When the craft sticks were dry on both sides, I asked Zoey if she could use 3 of the craft sticks to make a triangle. She did it without difficulty. For a younger child, you could do this part and let the child watch as you assemble the ornaments.

Completing the Craft-Stick and Jingle-Bell Christmas Tree Ornaments

I used the glue gun to make the triangles and add the strings for hanging and to attach the bell.

Zoey concentrated on adding the acrylic gems to each ornament.

I like to add the child’s name and year to the back. Zoey can write her own name this year.

Obviously, adding a book to the ornament work is optional. We’ve had a lot of fun doing it this way, though!

We both love how the ornaments turned out!

Do you have a kid-made Christmas ornament project this year?

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