These simple clear glass Christmas ornaments are easy for toddlers and preschoolers to make with a handful of seasonal odds and ends and a clear ornament. Great for fine-motor development, and lovely to hang on your Christmas tree or for your kids to give as a gift.Â
I usually keep it to one craft on any given day because, as much as I could sit on my kitchen floor and craft ALL DAY LONG, the Hooligans do actually have a craft-overload limit.
Don’t get me wrong, quite often one of the first things they ask when they come in the door in the morning is “are we making a craft today” (ok, seriously kids, it’s December, would we ever NOT make a craft on a day in December?), but if it takes too long, some of them start to get antsy.
Anyway, this morning’s twig and raffia stars were so quick and easy to make that we crafted again this afternoon after nap time.
We made a very simple craft using some clear glass ornaments. The toddlers and preschoolers loved filling their ornaments with random, small items I’d gathered from the craft cupboards and around the house. Filling the ornaments was a great fine-motor exercise, and the kids were thrilled to see all of the little objects and their clear glass ball come together as a beautiful ornament to hang on the Christmas tree.
Simple Clear Glass Christmas Ornaments for Tots
Supplies:
- clear glass ornament (or plastic)
- assorted small items such as:
- beads, artificial berries or flowers, buttons, tinsel, glitter etc.
For this craft, you’ll get some clear glass or plastic Christmas ornaments with a removable top. You can find these at Walmart or Michael’s crafts.
Your kids are going to fill the balls with various small Christmas coloured objects to turn them into festive Christmas ornaments.
To fill our ornaments, we used red, green and white buttons, red vegetable netting from a  package of clementines, a silver tinsel garland that I cut up, artificial snow, and artificial berries.
I gave each of the kids a clear glass ball, and they gathered placed all of the odds and ends on a tray on the floor for them to gather around. Then they set about filling their ornaments.
This was a terrific fine motor activity and a great one for strengthening pincer grasp as they had to use their thumbs and forefingers to pick up the tiny objects and drop them into their ornaments.
When they’d filled their ornaments, I helped them to add a little artificial snow.
Then we popped the top back on our ornaments, and gave them  shake to mine everything up.
We finished by adding a ribbon to the top of our ornaments so they could be hung on the Christmas tree.
Note:Â One of our glass balls had a sharp glass spur inside of the opening. Check to make sure yours are smooth before giving them to your toddlers for filling. Dropping items into the ornaments shouldn’t be an issue but if you’re stuffing something inside – tinsel for example, you may want to use a pencil to push it down into the ornament.
Alternatively, you could use clear plastic ornaments instead, and not have anything to worry about.
You may also like:
Snowman Face Ornaments with Clear Plastic Balls
Snowman Belly Ornaments with Clear Plastic Balls
Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
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grammie411 Marilou
Thank you for EASY things to do with little ones. It makes it much easier on this Grammie when all 3 can do a craft at the same time.
happyhooligans
You’re welcome, Marilou! I know exactly what you mean. 🙂 I have to keep things simple here because I too am crafting with a handful of hooligans at any given time. 🙂
Tami Miller
This craft is perfect for my in-home child care / preschoolers. Thanks for the great idea!
Melissa (@craftyscientist)
Love these ornaments – so creative and pretty! Just wanted to let you know I featured your post in my roundup of glass ornament crafts here. Feel free to check it out if you want and hope you like it! : )
happyhooligans
Thanks so much for sharing our ornaments, Melissa. That is quite the round up! Beautiful!
Ross Farquhar
Could you fill the ornaments with colored water???
happyhooligans
I think you’d have a hard time getting the lid to be leak-proof, Ross. It’s quite a flimsy, light-weight little foil thing.
joan barnes
Where do i buy the glass ornaments from live in the u.k.
Kelsey
It’s great how you utilize different & unexpected materials with all your crafts. Thanks for such inspiring and fun ideas!