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Natural ornaments and Christmas Decorations for Kids to Make

I love shiny and sparkly things but there is something about wood, leaves and other natural materials for kids to use to make ornaments and decorations at Christmas Time. It’s the perfect time of the year to go for a nature walk to collect materials that you can use and then get creative to decorate the home with these Natural Ornaments and Christmas Decorations to make with kids whether they are for the tree, door or home.

Collage of 4 nature crafts to create with kids this Christmas, twig snowflakes, cinnamon ribbon trees, orange and apple slices and trig trees

We often take a walk and over the autumn have collected quite a collection of objects on our nature table including leaves, twigs, chestnuts and stones. Natural Ornaments add a rustic element to the home and I think to make beautiful ornaments that even the youngest children can help you make.

10 Natural Decorations to Make with Kids for CHristmas

We’ve collated together 10 fun ideas for kids, and you to make, ranging from some for the youngest members of the family to others that do require some tools to complete but would make fabulous decorations that you can be proud to bring out year after year and add your home and tree.

Pine Cone Weaving Ornament To Make with Kids

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simple toddler craft for christmas to create decorated pine cones

Pine cones make lovely ornaments and we have two simple ideas that toddlers upwards can do to create simple pretty ornaments for the tree – first off pipe cleaner weaving with the pine cones to create simple colourful decorations that you can hang.

Mini Pine Cone Christmas Tree Decorations for TOddlers to Create

Use glitter pipe cleaners or stick to one colour the choice if yours. Or add mini pompoms to the pinecone to create a decorated pinecone that resembles a mini decorated Christmas Tree.

Love pinecone crafts but live in an area where there are no pinecones – then did you know that you can buy pinecones to decorate and use for creating decorations.

Glittered Pine Cones for the Christmas Tree

You don’t even have to do anything fancy with the pinecones – just add glue and glitter and you have a simple but sparkly ornament to hang from the tree – find full instructions here on Mom Spotted.

Free to print Christmas Charades games for families with young kids

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Beaded Pine Cone Decorations for KIds To Make

Paint the pinecones green and then add decorations, like the pompoms, and pipe cleaners we added or how about something very simple with adding some beads like Paging Fun Mums have done.

Fifteen Beautiful Rustic Pine Cone Crafts to create this year for Christmas and Winter Decorations to bring the outside in for your home.
Check out the Pine Cone Decorations and Ornaments YOU can make below.

Pine Cone Ornaments and Decorations for Christmas that you can make.

Gum Nut Ornaments for Kids

Pinecone Elves from Red Ted Art
Pinecone and gum nut elves for the Christmas tree.

Create little elves for the tree using pine cones (or gum nuts) as Red Ted Art has. I would love to add different colours for each member of the family having their own ornament.

Never heard of gum nuts but love the look of these little elves then why not buy a bag of them to add to your natural crafting supplies for this Christmas.

Ornaments made with Twigs and Sticks

So many twigs around at the moment, the leaves have almost all left the trees and the twigs are bare as well as the many leaves that have been blown off in the autumn winds.

Just with items from your craft box, you can create some pretty ornaments that will be a lovely addition year after year to your tree and the kids will remember making them. These simple scrap ribbon twig trees from Fireflies and Mud Pies are a perfect example and so easy to do with children, they would make a perfect after school activity.

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Threaded Twig Christmas Tree Decorations

wooden twig trees one with painted dots made into ornaments for Christmas
Twig Christmas Tree Decorations.

A bit for the tinkerers and older children as well as yourself these gorgeous twig trees do require some tools, but plain or painted they make a lovely addition to the decorations to bring out each year from Michele Made Me.

Twig Christmas Tree Stars

stars made with twigs laid out ready to decorate the home with natural materials for Christmas
Twig Stars from decorating for Christmas

If you’ve seen the popsicle star ornaments they are so easy to swap to a natural ornament using twigs and create a beautiful rustic decoration that you can make as big or as small as you want – I think they would make a lovely alternative to a wreath on the front door this year. Sense and Simplicity has a full step by step on how to make them.

Twig Snowflakes

simple ornament for the christmas tree made from twigs with twine, buttons and pine needles
Twig Snowflake Decoration for Christmas

Combine twigs and other natural elements to create some beautiful rustic snowflakes, like the twigs you could make them small for the tree or large to decorate the home with. A full tutorial can be found on Little Things Bring Smiles.

Dried Apple Christmas Tree Decorations

dried apple decorations for the Christmas tree
Dried Apple star ornaments for the Christmas tree.

If you cut an apple the right way then inside you will find a star. These apple slices can be easily dried and together with dried orange slices you can create pretty natural ornaments for the Christmas tree. Read the instructions on how to dry apple slices for decorations.

Dried Orange and Lemon Slice Decorations

Dried Orange and Lemon Slices for Natural Decorations for the home

Drying your own orange and lemon slices is really easy the kids can cut and slice the oranges and then dry them in your oven. An alternative is to dry whole oranges. You can combine them both to create your own garlands, wreaths and decorations for the home. Read instructions on how to dry orange slices and our guide on drying whole oranges.

orange tea light holders with cloves in for natural scent and beautiful light at Christmas a simple DIY for you to make

Why not create a real feel of Hygge in the home with the kids and make some beautiful orange tea light holders that will scent and light your home.

Rustic Twig Christmas Ornaments

Keep it really simple and virtually free (well the cost of a pipe cleaner) and create some rustic Christmas trees that kids can help with – I love the tip for killing off the critters that hang around in this how to from Stow and Tell U.

Ten beautiful Christmas Twig Crafts for you and the children to make and decorate the home with from Stars to Santa something for everyone to try.
Twig ornaments to make with kids and for you.

If you love Twigs then check out Twig Crafts for Christmas as well.

LEaf Ornaments for Christmas Decorations.

Don’t discount the leaves – you can presevere your autumn leaves following one of the 6 ways over on Red Ted Art and then use them to add to your natural decorations for Christmas. You could combine them with the dried orange slices above and make your own wreath.

10 Natural Ornaments for the Kids and you to make
Simple Natural Ornaments
Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

6 Comments

  1. Hi Cerys, Thank you so much for featuring my twig Christmas tree ornanments in your collection. These are all such fun natural projects for little ones to make.

  2. What wonderful simple creations for the great grandchildren to make…thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving

  3. Sunny lea says:

    These are lovely, here in nottinghamshire rightbnow we have an abundance of twigs, beautiful colour foliage and flora to collect for crafts like these.
    A lovely idea. Particularly loving the large twig snowflake door decoration for this year. Thank you

  4. These are simply beautiful. I think we might be collecting pine cones this weekend. So beneficial for fine motor skills for those chubby little fingers too.

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