Here’s a quick and easy Christmas craft for your toddlers to make today.
We actually made these simple Styrofoam Initial ornaments last year just before Christmas, but the season was over before I got around to sharing them with you. Flash forward a year, and the Christmas crafting season is upon us again. Man-oh-man, how did we get here so quickly?
I’m not sure if you’ve seen the huge collection of Christmas crafts that my toddlers and preschoolers have made over the years. You can check them out here on my Hooligans Christmas Pinboard. There are LOTS. We LOVE crafting at Christmas time.
One of the things you’ll find with most of our crafts is that we keep things really simple and budget friendly. We almost always craft with materials from our recycle bin, and we keep a supply of inexpensive dollar store craft accessories on hand as well. I get a kick out of making really cool, beautiful stuff out of things that were bound for the trash.
Today’s initial ornament is a perfect example if I do say so myself. Let me show you what went into this little project.
You may also like our yarn wrapped initial ornaments and our painted initial ornaments.
To make our Styrofoam Initial Ornaments, you’ll need:
- metallic paint – we used Creatology brand, but I couldn’t find those on Amazon, so here’s a set by Plaid.
- styrofoam meat or produce tray (always sterilize in the dishwasher first)
- paintbrush
- Glitter Glue
- craft gems
and sequins - large traceable letters or letter stencil
- hole punch
- cording or ribbon to hang your ornament
and 
or letter stencil
I started by tracing everyone’s first initial on the bottom of my styrofoam meat tray. The hooligans were all learning their letters at the time, and took great pride in recognizing their own letters when I held them up.
Then each hooligan used the end of her paintbrush to add texture to their letters. They pressed dots into the styrofoam and made lines and squiggles for the paint to settle into.
And then, they decorated their letters, first with a coat of paint,
and then with the glitter glue.
Then they pressed sequins and craft jewels into the glitter glue.
When our ornaments were dry, I punched a hole in the top of each initial, and threaded a length of cording through as a hanger.
So simple, and so pretty!
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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.
Laura Foutz
Hi Jackie! ! need to find the tutorial for the thumbprint reindeer ornament-I save all your posts and saw it once-thought I’d saved it-can you please add it an upcoming post? Thank you so much!
happyhooligans
Have a look through the timeline photo album on my facebook page, Laura. It’s not an activity of my own, so it’s not here on my blog.