Use the first initials of family members to create these DIY kid-made Christmas ornaments with beads and jewellery wire.
They’ll ensure that everybody is repped on the tree this festive season.

This is one of those projects that requires minimum materials but leads to some maximum engagement.

You will need:

A variety of beads
Jewellery wire or pipe cleaners

How to create your own beaded kid-made Christmas ornaments:

Bend your jewellery wire into the shape of the letter that you want.
This can take some experimentation based on the letter that you are making. Some letters with sharp points are easier to shape AFTER you’ve strung all the beads on.

If you don’t have jewellery wire, pipecleaners work just as well.

Twist one end of your letter to create a “stopper” to prevent beads from sliding off.

Bring out the beads and bead, bead, bead away. We also introduced threadable pom poms and fabric scraps. The fabric scraps had slits cut in the middle.

My 2 younger ones lost interest in the beading after 2.4 seconds, so I modified the activity for them. I cut their initials out of a cardboard box, let them go to town with watercolour paints and markers and they still get their place on the tree.

My eldest spent a whole morning creating personalised Christmas ornaments for various family members.

Once the beading is completed, twist the end of the wire or pipe cleaner to keep all beads in place.
Add a ribbon and your kid-made Christmas ornament is now ready to hang on the tree.

INCOMING TEACHER TIP:
Names are a perfect place to start getting young readers and writers excited about alla the letters.

As you talk about the names of family members, point out how a name starts with a CAPITAL but is followed by lower case letters.

Most of us Kindy teachers inwardly groan when an incoming student proclaims “I CAN WRITE MY NAME!” And then we watch as they spell their name ALL IN CAPS. It is our job to then unteach this.

We get it. Capitals are much easier to write on the letter formation front. But model it correctly from the start and save time later down the track.

Need more Christmas crafts ideas? Check out my Christmas eBook, The 12 Oh Creative Days of Christmas.