Christmas is such an exciting time for children. I love seeing my girls’ faces fill with wonder or joy at even the smallest of surprises or in response to our family traditions. I thought the lead up to Christmas provided a perfect opportunity to talk with Immy about these positive emotions – about how Christmas makes us feel and why we feel that way – and to capture some of these emotions as we talked, by working together to personalise some simple Christmas word glitter baubles for our tree.
Of course, this activity is limited only by your imagination. You could also decorate your bauble using this method and;
- Name(s)
- Date(s)
- A personal monogram
- Simple Christmas shapes
The finished results look fabulous on our tree!
Christmas Words Glitter Baubles
You will need:
- Plain, coloured Christmas baubles
- Glitter in a contrasting colour
- White PVA craft glue
- Small glass jar (the top needs to be small enough to sit your bauble on)
- Fine paintbrush (not shown)
- Bowl to hold glitter
- Tray to catch excess glitter (optional)
- Empty egg carton (not shown)
To make:
Once you have selected the words you would like to feature on each bauble, write them onto the ball with the glue. We tried two different methods. First straight from the bottle – although we had a small bottle with a twist cap to help control the flow of glue, I still found that a lot of glue came out, even when the cap was hardly open. The excess glue did wipe away easily while wet but this method didn’t allow as much control as I would have liked.
Next up, using a fine paintbrush I tried painting on the words with the glue. It was much easier to control the glue this way. Older children would obviously be able to do this step of the process themselves.
Next sprinkle on your glitter. Immy loves glitter so she took control of this step!
We worked over a tray to help contain any excess glitter spillage. Most of the time when we use glitter we actually work outside under our pergola. I would recommend this for anyone who isn’t a big fan of kids using glitter!
Once your word is completely covered, set the bauble aside to dry. I used an empty egg carton to rest the baubles on as they dried.
Once the glue is dry, hang the finished decoration on your tree and enjoy!
For more simple Christmas ornament crafts, check out this collection of ten Homemade Christmas Decorations for Kids to Make.
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
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