This time of year is a special one. It gets a lot busier, but we also tend to make time for more special moments—even in the Montessori classroom. Kids’ holiday crafts, like painting ornaments, are a wonderful way to let kids work creatively and independently. I’ve painted ornaments with thousands of kids in classrooms and workshops during the holidays and they all love this holiday craft so much! And it’s something students and their families can keep for years to come! I have kids visit me every year to make a new ornament to add to their collection.
What makes this kids holiday craft great is that it’s simple to set up and you don’t need very many special items beyond a basic paint kit. I like using woodcraft ornaments because they’re better for the environment than plastic and safe to have around younger kids (versus glass ornaments).
Here are some tips for setting up this holiday art activity for your students (or kids at home too!).
Setting Up an Ornament Painting Station
Painting ornaments can seem like a messy project, but if you set up a special area for painting, it’s actually totally stress and mess-free—and really fun!
The space you set up should be in an area where children are allowed to get a little messy. I suggest using a drop cloth, especially if your students are painting inside. You should also provide smocks, aprons, or large old t-shirts for them to wear, so their clothes don’t get messy while they’re creating—some paints do not easily wash off clothes.
It’s much easier for kids to paint if their materials are at eye level and on a flat and sturdy surface (like a table). You may want to put a drop cloth or old newspaper on top of that too.
Ornament Painting Supplies
Here’s everything you need for this kids holiday craft of painting ornaments:
- Wooden ornaments – while ‘holiday shapes’ are fun to use, any shape will work
- Acrylic paint – you will get the best and longest-lasting results if you use acrylic paint
- Paintbrushes – put out a few sizes, including very fine/tiny ones for details
- Paint palette – any size palette will work for this holiday craft, even a paper plate
- Glitter – you can use any color you choose, I personally love white glitter for painting ornaments
- Smock – or another cover-up to protect kids’ clothes; acrylic will not come out of fabric
- Napkins – for wiping paintbrushes between color changes
- Jar – water jar to clean paintbrushes between colors
- Hairdryer (optional) – for older kids or adults to speed up the drying process and work on details
A note on ornaments: You can find unfinished wood craft shapes at your local superstore or craft stores, or you can find them online as well. You can even use glass orb ornaments, I would just be very careful with younger children. It’s also a great idea to recycle old ornaments! Kids will love adding to the designs or completely “destroying” a design to create their own new one.
A note on paint: For this activity, you want to use acrylic paint, because it’s the most durable and it’ll last the longest. (I still have ornaments my kids painted when they were young and I pull them out every year during the holidays!) It’s very important to use kid-safe, non-toxic acrylic paint—you can buy some here.
Where to Start: Choose the Right Ornament Painting Color Palette
I really encourage you to allow children to paint whatever they want—they don’t have to stick with traditional holiday themes. However, more than likely, they will choose symbols of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and other winter holidays. Most of the children I’ve worked with choose to paint shapes like stars, Christmas trees, Santas, and snowmen.
These are some great colors to start with:
- Red
- Black
- White
- Gold
- Silver
- Dark Green
- Yellow
- Orange
- Pink
- Purple
- Brown
- Burgundy deep red
If you don’t have all these colors, that’s okay; students will be able to make beautiful holiday ornaments with just three to four colors too!
Don’t forget, if students are using glitter for their ornaments, make sure they sprinkle it on their ornaments while the paint is still wet. If they wait until their ornament is completely dried, the glitter won’t stick and it’ll just fall off.
One Step Further: Download My FREE Kids Holiday Crafts Painting Checklist
If you haven’t done very many painting activities with your students, you’re in for a real treat—kids love this craft! It’s so simple to set up, you can do this with your students a few times during the holiday season. Or, you can expand on this activity and do rock painting and just painting on paper. The materials stay the same, the images, paint colors, and canvases are the only things that may need to change.
With any painting project, as long as children have the right painting materials, they will learn and have fun! If you want a free downloadable version of the paint materials listed above (plus a few more), get my Kids Painting Materials Checklist now by clicking here.
A Short Cut Just for You
Once you see how much your students love painting, you’re going to want to include it as a regular part of your curriculum. My Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum has 57 master lessons that walk students through everything they need to know to be successful at painting, from setting up a paint station and holding a brush all the way to creating beautiful nature landscapes and painting different types of animals!
Each lesson is part of a sequence and includes all the components, tips, materials lists, and instructions you need to ensure you will be able to actually teach your students to become skilled painters. All you have to do is simply follow the instructions and easily present the activities to your students.
Kids Painting Practice & Process Curriculum sets the foundation for their art education and will help them transform into little artists! To purchase the curriculum, click here.