Simple, beautiful ornaments are my favorite. They’re easy to make with your kids, but they also hold up and are lovely to pull out and hang on your tree each year. Wooden Ornaments also pair well with a Christmas tree story time and Christmas Tree picture books happen to be some of my favorite Christmas stories.
Christmas Tree Children’s Books
These two books are two of my absolute Christmas stories for kids. They also both celebrate the immense Rockefeller Tree and it’s tradition of using the lumber for Habitat for Humanity.
This tradition and reminder of what we can do with our hands and some lumber is what inspired these ornaments.
Red and Lulu
by Matt Traveres
This stunning and moving story is one of my new favorite Christmas books. It is about two birds who live in a huge tree and get separated when one day it gets carted off to New York City to be the Rockefeller Christmas Tree. This book tells a beautiful, suspenseful story while warmly capturing the wonder of New York City, winter and Christmas along the way. It is a story of Christmas traditions, miracles, true love and new beginnings. A must have story for any Christmas picture book collection.
The Carpenter’s Gift
by David Rubel
This book tells the story of the first tree in Rockefeller Center. It is a beautiful story about hope and Christmas that I discovered a few years ago. I shared it with our kids for the first time after their first New York adventure and it inspired our Kid-Made Ornament one year.
Simple Wooden Ornaments
These ornaments are so easy, but they look beautiful no matter how your child personalizes them.
Materials
- Branch Slices
- Chalk Markers
- Ribbon
- Drill (if they don’t come pre-cut)
Set Up
If you don’t buy branch slices with a hole pre-cut you will need to prep your ornaments by drilling a hole in the top of each.
Then set out a basket of ornaments and your chalk markers. You may also want to cover your table or give each child a work mat, but chalk markers do wipe off the table fairly easily.
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Activity
What I love most about these ornaments is how simple, yet beautiful they are. This is a completely open ended project.
Have your kids each take an ornament and then draw whatever they want. For little guys this will mostly be unrecognizable. Older children might make Christmas trees or snowflakes or hearts. Either will turn out beautiful.
When they are satisfied with their pictures, just slip a ribbon through the hole, tie and you’re ready to hang it on the tree or gift it.
Simple, beautiful, creative Christmas.
