The holiday season is in full swing now, and as a mom I am always looking for fun things to do with the kids. One of my favorites is making homemade ornaments.
These homemade ornaments are so easy to make and the kids have a wonderful time helping create them. You only need three ingredients: 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of water. I love having my daughter help measure out the ingredients. She loves helping in the kitchen, so giving her the opportunity to help measure the ingredients is a blast to her.
Once you dump all the ingredients in a bowl, you just knead the mixture until it is smooth dough. This part can be difficult, so I would recommend the parent do it. Little hands can help for fun, but they will definitely need assistance to make sure it all gets mixed properly. Once it is a smooth dough, take a rolling pin and roll it out to the desired thickness. Then you can use cookie cutters to make the shapes of the ornaments. One thing to make note of is to make sure not to forget to make a hole for the string! I use the end of a straw to make the perfect size strong hole.
I like making a few round circle ornaments along with the cookie cutter ones, that way I can make handprint or footprint ornaments as a keepsake or use them as gifts for the upcoming holiday. To do that, you just roll the dough out and make a round shape with a round cookie cutter. If you don’t have a circle shape cookie cutter, you can use the bottom of a cup as the shape. Then place your kid’s hand on the shape and press down for a few seconds to make sure the imprint is in the dough.
Once you have all your shapes and ornaments cut out, you’re going to bake them in a 200-degree oven for two to three hours. And that’s it! That is how easily you can make homemade ornaments. I love doing this when my kids are young, doing their handprints and footprints, but even as they get older it is a fun activity. They can pick out the cookie cutter shapes and after the ornaments bake and cool, they can paint them. This is a great homemade gift idea for the kids to give their grandparents as well.
I hope you get to make these precious ornaments and memories with your family this year. I know I will be.
ANN BURNS is a Morgantown native, raising two young children with her husband, Drake. She writes weekly columns for The Dominion Post. Contact her at Columns@DominionPost.com.
