I love using Christmas as an excuse for my kids to make things for family and friends. I remember doing lots of fun Christmas crafts when I was growing up and I want to give my kids the same memories. This year, I needed something super easy that both my 11 month old and 2 1/2 year old could participate in to some extent. I came up with these cute Christmas mosaic ornaments.
We made these in two parts. My baby made the mosaic tiles and my toddler put together the ornaments. This let both participate and make something special for loved ones. We made these for Christmas, but you can adapt the idea into all sorts of holiday fun. You can make mosaic valentines, mosaic Easter eggs, or mosaic 4th of July fireworks.
How to Make Mosaic Ornaments
Supplies:
- Styrofoam
- Plastic bag
- Acrylic Paint
- Modge Podge
- Foam sheets
- Christmas cookie cutters (optional)
- White glue
- Ornament hooks
Creating – The Mosaic Tiles:
My son made the mosaic tiles the same way he has painted before. To start, I cut up a Styrofoam takeout box into big flat pieces. Then, I placed all the pieces in a large plastic bag and squirted paint all over the top. I used green, red, and yellow paint to make it Christmasy.
Next, I tripled checked that the bag was fully closed and gave it to my son. He sat on it, hit it, and smeared the paint all over. This gave the Styrofoam a fun marbled look and was an easy and clean way for my son to help make the ornaments. Then, I let the paint dry.
Lastly, I cut the Styrofoam into a bunch of little square mosaic tiles. I really like how shiny and fun they looked, but the paint did crack a bit. I wish I had used Modge Podge before cutting it to seal it and avoid the cracking.
Creating – The Ornaments:
Before my daughter took her turn, I did a bit of prep. I cut a bunch of different Christmas shapes out of foam sheets. To get the shapes, I traced my Christmas cookie cutters.
Then, my 2 1/2 year old daughter glued the mosaic tiles her brother had made on to each ornament. Since we made so many ornaments, we did this over several days to fit the attention span of a toddler.
Lastly, I poked ornament hooks through the top of each one. Then, we wrapped them up and my daughter picked which ornament went to each person. For the one we kept, I wrote the year on the back to help us remember when our kids made it.
Outcome of the Mosaic Ornaments:
I love how simple these ornaments were to make and how both kids could help. They turned out pretty cool looking even though two really little ones made them. I would loved to see what an older kid could come up with. They could do some really neat patterns. I will definitely reuse some of the ideas from these mosaic ornaments for future crafts. If you like these, make sure to check out my other Christmas crafts too.
