It is our family’s custom to decorate the house for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Since we are all home that day – and we don’t like heading out to the Black Friday sales – we spend the Friday after Thanksgiving setting up our tree, hanging the lights, and listening to Christmas music to put us in a holiday mood.
My kids love decorating the Christmas tree, and over the years they have contributed a number of kid-made ornaments to our Christmas tree decorations. Today I’m sharing a simple sand-filled ornament your kids will enjoy making and you will enjoy displaying.
Note: For more Christmas activities and printables, see my Christmas Activities for Kids page.
For this activity, I gathered the following materials:
- Craft sand
(we used red and green for Christmas, but you could do any colors you want)
- Clear ornaments to be filled
- A spoon to scoop the sand up
- A funnel to help pour the sand into the ornament
- A bowl filled with play dough used to keep the ornament standing upright while working
The kids scooped sand with their spoons, and used the funnel to ensure as much sand as possible actually made it into the ornament.
We watched the sand pour into the ornament.
And we watched as the layers began to form.
We filled the ornament all the way to the top, then inserted the cap to close it up. Because the sand is heavy, I recommend using hotglue to seal the top on to avoid any spills or messes.
This ornament is ready for the tree!
More Christmas resources
More Christmas crafts from Gift of Curiosity:
- Q-tip painted Christmas tree
- Craft stick reindeer
- Paper plate reindeer craft
- Christmas tree ribbon craft
- Cinnamon Christmas ornaments
- DIY Christmas snow globes
- Fine motor Christmas craft
- Gingerbread man craft
For more Christmas activities your kids will love, see my Christmas Activities for Kids page and my Christmas Activities for Kids Pinterest board.
Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Christmas Activities for Kids on Pinterest.
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Love this! So easy, but great for fine motor skills (and fun)!
Very cute…and fun for the kiddos. However, question for you…Do the tops pop off with all the weight of the sand? How do you keep them from coming off? Thanks 🙂
I use hot glue to keep the tops on.