There is something so precious about handmade ornaments that kids create hanging on your Christmas during the holiday season. They take such pride in them as they gift them to a loved one. Then year after year they truly are a treasure you uncover from the kid made ornaments from your ornament box and watch your child proudly hang on the tree. Must confess my heart melts just a bit looking at them. Capturing how a child writes at each age is so adorable as well.
I’m going to share with you a handmade ornament idea using your child’s name. It’s perfect for if your child is a beginning reader or elementary school for fun!
Do you have your handmade ornaments on the tree from when you were a child?
This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.
One of my favorite Holiday Stories is a book about a young boy learning to read and Santa takes him on a reading adventure in his sleigh on Christmas Eve as his helper with his book. The story is called Santa’s Book of Names by David McPhail. It’s available on Amazon for $6.99 or find it at your local library to read with your child.
Santa’s Book of Names by David McPhail
Personalized Name Ornament
Materials Needed
- Santa’s Book of Names
- Recycled Cardboard Box
- Scissors
- 15 Pipe Cleaners
- Marker or Pencil
- Snowflake Shaped Confetti
- Jingle Bells
Here’s how to make it:
1. Have your child write their name with a pencil on the recycled cardboard that you’ve cut to lay flat. 2. Now take that style of their writing duplicate it into large block letters that are connected. (You can also just make block letters in standard format too) Be sure to make the letter wide enough for the pipe cleaner to wrap around, approx 1/4 to 1/2 inch.
3. Cut around the block letters to create a cut out of your child’s name or a family member’s name. My daughters made one for everyone in the family to hang on the tree. Use a hole puncher to make it easier to get inside of the letters {Great for fine motor practice for kids}
4. Use the pipe cleaner wrap to around the recycled cardboard to form each letter in the name. Encourage them to push the pipe cleaner down tight to lay closely to the cardboard. This will take several pipe cleaners to do 6-10 depending on the length of your child’s name.
5. Next at a few snowflakes to decorate the name and a bell. Simple attach with a few more shortened pipe cleaners. This is a great way to cover up any areas you were having trouble getting the pipe cleaner to cover the cardboard nicely.
6. Attach a few more snowflakes to one last pipe cleaner and attach to the name from behind to use as a ornament hanger for your tree or even attach to gifts this year for under the tree personalized gift tags.
Don’t have the supplies on hand? Click to buy on Amazon.
Jingle Bells 1-Inch, 18-Pack, Silver
Keep creating family names for more ornaments that your child can read on the tree too!
This post is part of the 10 Days of Kid Made Christmas hosted by Mama Miss
#KidMadeChristmas
Go check out the other kid made ornament ideas featured today at
Here’s the schedule for the 10 Days of Kid Made Christmas.
Come join the fun and share your own on this link. Use #KidMadeChristmas to follow!
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Looking for more ideas with kids for the holidays?
Explore these 50+ Christmas Activities for Kids or 100 Christmas Books Every Child Should Read Before They Turn 10!
These are such a cute decoration and you can create new ones as the family grows 🙂
What a great idea! How creative!
What a great idea – love it Kim!
Thank you so much for this idea and explanation. This is useful other times but is a nice idea to help kids stay busy at Christmas.
I like this idea so much. I can see doing this project year round. It's a great way to explore names.
What a great idea! This can be such a sweet gift for grandparents.
What a sweet way to add names to a Christmas tree! This will be great letter practice for my preschooler too 🙂
I love that book, too! Very clever ornament.