Interesting in making some fingerprint ornaments with your kids? If so, stick around because I’m going to share how we made ours this year!

Why handmade Ornaments are special

Growing up, there where two big chests that sat under the basements stairs. (Old ones that were made from some kind of metal and weighed about as half as much as an elephant.) When the last Thanksgiving festivity was over, Christmas was ushered in as those two chests were laboriously carried up the stairs to the living room.

All of us kids would inevitably crowd around to see the sparkles, manger characters, and handmade ornaments that had our names and year scribbled on the back with sharpies.

If you could see Christmas magic, it more than likely, would have twirled out of those Christmas boxes like fairy dust right before our dancing eyes.

Thirty-something years later, those dusty boxes still get pulled out. And the bell that I made in Sunday school with the little Polaroid of my smiling face plastered to the front of construction paper is apparently still a functioning ornament.

I really don’t hold onto a lot of things. However, I’m with my mom, handmade chronicles of my kid’s childhood are pretty priceless.  Therefore, we are contributing to our own Christmas boxes this year (much lighter plastic ones, though 😉 ) with these fingerprint ornaments for each of the kids…

 

Fingerprint Ornaments for Kids

These fingerprint ornaments are super easy and fun to make. Let me give you a quick overview of the materials needed then we will jump right into the instructions.

Materials Needed for Fingerprint ornaments:

• Acrylic Paints (Two or three colors)
• Numbers
• Ribbon (I used Gingham Ribbon)
• Ceramic or Wood Christmas-Shaped Ornament
• Black Sharpie Marker

Instructions for fingerprint ornaments:

1. Create the Elf’s body by using your child’s painted thumb. For the head, use their index finger.  (When using Acrylics, make sure you supervise your kids and have them wash their hands right when they are finished.)
2. Once the paint is dry, take your sharpie marker and go to town. Draw on hats, scarfs, or mittens. Give each elf a characteristic that resembles the child making it.
3. Put the ribbon through the ornament hole, add your number charm, and tie off.

I got most of the supplies for this craft from our local Hobby Lobby. Since my kids are still pretty young, they did the fingerprint part, and I did the sharpie. (If they were a little older,  they could have easily done this without too much help from me.

I chose the number charms to represent their current age, but you can use any type of charm that would be meaningful to your kids.

I love the way they turned out. Though, if I make them again, I would probably add a little cuff line at the top and around the toe of the stocking to add a little detail and color to the finish product.  Perhaps I’ll get around to that…

We made one for each kid. Then of course, we had to make ONE more for their Nana that lives far away…

 

 

More Christmas Ideas

Looking for some more fun ideas for the Christmas season?  Here are some other Christmas crafts for kids, as well as, gift ideas, and printable resources to get you started!

• Experience-Based Gift Ideas for Kids
• The Ultimate List of Non-Toy Gift Ideas
• DIY Fingerprint Ornaments
• DIY Wood-Slice Ornaments
• Scandinavian Fruit Soup
• Christmas Counting Busy Book
• DIY Bird Feeder Ornaments
• DIY Stocking Christmas Countdown Garland (Cricut Craft)
• Printable Indoor Christmas Scavenger Hunt Clues
• DIY Scented Dried Orange Garland

What are your favorite handmade ornaments?