Christmas Ornaments

Book Ideas: Max and Ruby’s Christmas Tree by Penguin Young Readers Group
"It's Christmastime, and Ruby is teaching Max how to hang ornaments on the Christmas tree. But for every traditional ornament that Ruby hangs, Max hangs a silly one of his own."

Koala Christmas by Lisa Bassett

"When Wally and Carrie Koala break their Christmas tree bulbs and balls, Piper the lorikeet helps them make 'magic' decorations."

Merry Christmas, Mouse! By Laura Numeroff
"Join Mouse from 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie' as he decorates his Christmas tree in a holiday counting adventure."

The Silver Christmas Tree by Pat Hutchins
Squirrel is decorating his tree for Christmas and is not satisfied with how it looks until a star magically appears at the top of his tree. When he wakes up, the star is missing. So squirrel goes in search of his star and asks all his friends if they've seen it.

Songs and Rhymes:

Christmas Candy

I took a lick of my peppermint stick (Pretend to lick candy)

And was it ever yummy! (Lick lips)

It used to be on my Christmas tree. (Form tree shape with hands.)

Now, it's in my tummy!(Rub stomach)

Deck the Halls
Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Don we now our gay apparel, Fa la la, la la la, la la la.

Troll the ancient Yule tide carol, Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Activity Ideas:

Idea #1: Plastic Ornaments

Read one of the stories and then have your child decorate their own plastic ornament ball.

I found some clear plastic ornaments at Michael's craft store that open in half, but any plastic ornament will do (My mom found some colored ones at the dollar store). You'll also want some stickers, paint, glitter glue, string or pipe cleaner etc...

Have your child decorate the ornament with stickers

Then have them paint around the stickers (or on top of them like my two year-old did:) )

Then decorate with glitter glue and set aside to dry.

Attach a string or pipe cleaner for hanging and place it on the tree!

Idea #2:"Stained Glass"Ornaments

Read one of the stories and then make your own "Stained Glass" ornament.

You'll need glue (diluted with water), a paint brush, one piece of wax paper (cut into a circle), and small squares of tissue paper.

Using the paint brush, paint on some diluted glue onto the wax paper. Then add tissue paper squares until the whole circle is covered.

Paint more glue over the top and set aside to dry.

When it's all dry, cut around the circle to make a clean edge and then punch a hole through the top and add a string for hanging.

Idea #3: Styrofoam Ball Ornaments

Read one of the stories and make a homemade ornament. You'll need one Styrofoam ball, a paperclip, paint, sequence or glitter glue, etc...

Put some glue on the end of a paper clip and push it into the top of the ball. This will be used for hanging as well has a handle for the kids to hold while they paint and decorate their ornament.

Paint the ball.

Add sparkles or whatever else you want--ribbons, buttons, jewels...

Let dry and then hang with a string.

Idea #4: Ornament Patterns

Make ornament patterns using Christmas stickers. I started a few patterns on a piece of paper and had my daughter finish the pattern. This is too hard of a skill for a toddler to do. 3-5 year-olds are just beginning to understand this concept with practice. Do it together, saying:"Green, green, orange. Green, green, orange. Green--What comes next?"


Idea #5: Decorate a tree with ornaments

Read one of the stories and let your child have fun decorating a tree with ornaments. I had a hard time giving up control of my living room tree; so I got a mini tree for her to decorate with some of my old ornaments.