Ball ornaments are traditional in most homes across the country. Shiny balls, decorated Styrofoam balls, small ball ornaments and large ones - youll see all of these when the Christmas season rolls around. Those kinds of ornaments are fine for adults, but for kids, try something a little different this year. Let kids take those ordinary ball ornaments and turn them into adorable and whimsical character ornaments instead! Use a glass ball ornament to make one type of Christmas character and a Styrofoam ball to make a different kind. If youre using a glass ball start by giving the character a set of wiggly eyes from a craft store. Or, draw eyes on with a magic marker. A nose can be made from a tiny pom-pom, a button, a piece of felt or a marker.
If youre using a Styrofoam ball you can paint it to be the color you want or you can leave it white. If you paint it, use tempera paints; they dont melt the Styrofoam like some other paints will. For the Styrofoam ball characters, do the same as with the glass balls, and give them wiggly eyes, a marker nose or other facial features.
No matter what type of ball youre using glue a piece of ribbon around the "waist" of the Christmas character. Tie it in a bow or omit the bow and use the ribbon as a belt. Instead of ribbon you can glue on a slender strip of felt, paper, cloth or twine. The character comes to life with the addition of the strip around the waist. Suddenly, the Christmas ornament appears to have a large belly and a happy look on his or her face. One type of arms and legs you can make for the glass ball ornaments is made from folded paper. Fold a long strip of paper, accordion-style, and glue or tape them to the ornament. If youre using a Styrofoam ball you can use pipe cleaners to make arms and legs. You can even glue on Barbie doll shoes or just roll the ends of the pipe cleaners so that there is a small circle on each end of the arms and legs. A hat for the Christmas character can be a Santa hat from a craft store or a cone-shaped piece of felt. Or, make hair for the silly character out of cotton balls, yarn, thread or doll hair. Make some characters silly, some cute, some adorable. Make little characters from small glass or Styrofoam balls and larger ones from large ball ornaments. Turn the ornament into a Santa, an elf or another character. This craft is just one more way that kids can enjoy simple Christmas tradition - in a new way!
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