I adore homemade Christmas ornaments and have quite a collection that the children and I have made over the years. Some of our favourites are our Handprint Angels which look so pretty free-standing or as a tree topper and our super easy homemade Candy Cane craft. You can see all of our Christmas crafts for children here.
This week we’ve been busy crafting some more pretty things to hang on the tree and I have simply fallen in love with our new Paper And Bead Christmas Tree Decorations. They are so bright and cheerful, and such a simple idea!
Supplies To Make Paper Christmas Tree Ornaments
(This post contains affiliate links for UK and US readers. I found some fabulous products on Amazon for this project.)
We used this fabulous book of Origami paper. It has over 400 sheets and the colours and patterns are colourful and bright. They’ll be great for all sorts of craft projects not just origami and the price is a bargain.
I was delighted with the beads I ordered from amazon for this craft project. Just perfect! They look even prettier in real life than they do in the picture! A great variety and a fab price.
- Needle and Thread
- Glue
- Scissors
How To Make Paper & Bead Homemade Christmas Ornaments
We cut our origami squares into 3 strips, each 5cm wide. If you don’t have origami paper you could always use Christmas wrapping paper instead. Then we applied glue along one edge and loosely rolled each one up to make a tube. My children found it helpful to roll the paper up around a thick pen.
Once we had a lovely pile of colourful paper tubes we set to work cutting them to different lengths to make a Christmas tree shape.
Then all that was left was to thread them up. My 8 year old managed this fine all by himself but younger children might need a bit of help. We started with a thread doubled and long enough to go through the whole Christmas tree ornament and have 5 cms or so either end for tying. We laced a few beads onto the thread first and stopped them falling of by tying a knot. Then we laced on each paper tube starting with the biggest. In between each tube we threaded another bead. When you push the needle through the paper tube, the tube flattens a bit but don’t worry because it just pops straight back out again with a little squeeze.
Once we got to the top of the Christmas Decoration we threaded on a couple more beads and then tied the thread off to make a loop for hanging the homemade ornament onto the tree.
We think these Paper and Bead Trees make such pretty homemade Christmas decorations. Of course you can use any colours of paper or beads that you fancy to match your colour scheme or your children’s favourites. Why not have a go at cutting and arranging the tubes into different shapes too?
Do you have a favourite Christmas activity for doing with the kids? We love hearing from you, leave a comment below, come and chat on Facebook or sign up to our email updates.
More Fun Christmas Ideas To Try:
Shell Louise says
December 2, 2014 at 10:04 amI love these! If I had seen this post earlier, I’d have put this as one of our advent activities for this year. I’m pinning it so I can use it next year 🙂
clairetiptop says
November 29, 2014 at 12:04 pmwhat a great christmas craft
Clare @Emmy's Mummy says
November 27, 2014 at 1:55 pmThose are so pretty
Will have to try with Emmy
Kara says
November 27, 2014 at 12:43 pmI think eliza and isaac will really enjoy doing this
Rachel says
November 27, 2014 at 10:19 amOh wow what fun and so colourful too x
Louisa says
November 26, 2014 at 4:31 pmThese are beautiful and would be lovely hanging from a window all year round.
Carly Markham says
November 26, 2014 at 3:54 pmLove this idea they are very pretty decorations
Adventures of Adam (Emma Edwards) says
November 26, 2014 at 10:59 amThese would make wonderful presents too
Sara-Jayne says
November 26, 2014 at 9:56 amThose are so pretty!
Mellissa Williams says
November 26, 2014 at 8:43 amThat’s a lovely bright and colourful decoration. Great linky too, wish I had something to link up!
Jenny (@gingerbread_mum) says
November 25, 2014 at 11:42 pmThese are so sweet – Pinned!
kneadwhine says
November 25, 2014 at 10:16 pmAn unusual decoration – I’m sure D would love to have a go at them! I really love the candy canes. Simple but lovely.
Sonya Cisco says
November 25, 2014 at 8:33 pmOh those are beautiful! Pinning to remind me!
Chris at Thinly Spread says
November 25, 2014 at 5:36 pmI love the colours so much! A bright and cheerful craft for Christmas – lovely!
Kate Thompson says
November 25, 2014 at 5:20 pmOh those are fantastic- and we have LOTs of origami squares and beads to try 🙂
Laura says
November 25, 2014 at 3:35 pmCute and effective! I bet they had a blast making these!
Cerys from Rainy Day Mum says
November 25, 2014 at 12:18 pmTHey are so cute, I’ve seen similar with twigs and beads but the kids wouldn’t be able to have a go at those because of the drill (at the moment) these we could have a go at and they would love.