Egg carton Christmas bells are a classic Christmas craft. With paint, sequins, ribbon and pipe cleaners, kids can turn a humble egg carton into beautiful bells that really jingle! This quick and easy craft is perfect for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten students.
Find more of our easiest Christmas crafts for young children here.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy craft for your toddlers and preschoolers to make for Christmas, egg carton jingle bells are perfect!
Older kids will lover our painted egg carton “vintage” ornaments.
With a little paint and a bit of “bling” your kids can transform a humble egg carton into a set of delightful Christmas bells to hang on the Christmas tree.
Egg carton bells aren’t a new idea by any means. In fact, I remember making them when I was a kid. This craft is new, however, to the Hooligans. While we’ve used egg cartons for plenty of crafts in the past (see our egg carton menorah, poppies and flowers), this is the first time we’ve used one for a Christmas craft.
Don’t pass this one by, thinking it’s too simple. This craft provides lots of opportunity for skill development and the results are so sweet. Your little ones will be so proud to hang their jingling bells on your Christmas tree this year.
Skill development:
Making egg carton Christmas bells helps children develop and strengthen:
- scissor skills – cutting the egg carton and bits of ribbon
- fine motor skills – gluing gems/ribbon
- eye-hand co-ordination – threading bells on pipe cleaners
Supplies:
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- cardboard egg carton
- paint brush
- paint (we use acrylic craft paint, but poster paint or tempera paint would work well)
- white glue
- sequins and gems
- ribbon and decorative cord
- pipe cleaners (we used metallic pipe cleaners)
- small jingle bells
Instructions:
Time needed: 30 minutes
How to Make Egg Carton Jingle Bell Ornaments
- Cut egg carton.
Using scissors, cut the egg carton into sections and trim uneven edges. Each section or “cup” of the egg carton will be a bell, so you’ll get 12 bells from one egg carton or 6 pairs of bells to string together.
- Paint the egg cartons sections.
Have your kids paint the egg carton sections in whatever colours they’d like. This is a good time to experiment with colour blending. We blended 2 different shades of paint for each bell.
- Decorate.
When the paint is dry, have your child glue gems, sequins and sparkly ribbon to the outside of their Christmas bell.
- Attach the jingle bell.
Push one end of a pipe cleaner down through the top of the egg carton bell and slide a jingle bell onto the pipe cleaner and twist to secure the bell. Push the other end of the pipe cleaner down through the same hole, leaving enough pipe cleaner at the top to serve as a hanger. Twist this end around the other piece of pipe cleaner to secure it inside the egg carton.
- If stringing a pair of bells together:
If you’re joining two bells together with a piece of ribbon or cording (see photo below), cut 2 pieces of pipe cleaner (one for each bell) an inch or so longer than the egg carton bell.
Push the pipe cleaner through the top of the egg carton, slide a bell on to one end and twist to secure. Twist the top end of the pipe cleaner to form stopperso it won’t slip through the hole in the egg carton. Repeat for the 2nd egg carton bell.
Attach a piece of decorative cord to join your two bells together.
- Hang your bells!
Hang your jingling bells on your Christmas tree and enjoy!
You may also like:
Painted Egg Carton “Vintage” Ornaments
Egg Carton Flowers for Kids to Make
12 Fine Motor Christmas Ornaments for Toddlers and Preschoolers
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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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