Candy Cane Wreath Ornaments for Kids
If you’re looking for an easy homemade Christmas craftt for toddlers and preschoolers, this simple candy cane wreath ornament is perfect. All you need is cardboard and tissue paper to make it.
These candy cane wreath ornaments are very easy to make, so they’re perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. You can chose your own colours for these ornaments, but I really like how the red and white tissue paper give the little wreaths a candy cane effect.
The supply list is short! You most likely already have everything you need. 🙂
Supplies:
- red and white tissue paper
- cardboard (cereal box weight)
- glue
- hanging thread
I love using tissue paper when I’m crafting with children. It’s one of my go-to craft supplies. First of all it’s really inexpensive. You can pick it up at any dollar store, or better yet, just save it after unwrapping birthday presents, Christmas presents etc. Secondly, tissue paper is a really versatile craft material. We’ve used it in many of our season crafts. It’s easy to work with. It can be fluffed up, crumpled up, used with mod-podge and paper mache, and it comes in every colour of the rainbow.
Best place to get lots of free tissue paper:
I score most of our tissue paper at baby showers and birthday parties. If it’s just being crumpled up, and thrown in the trash, I offer to give it a second life here in my daycare. I’ve done that a few times, and I think we now have more tissue paper, than we could ever possibly use. 🙂
Instructions:
1. Cut a wreath out of your cardboard. If your cardboard is brown, you’ll want to give it a quick coat of red or white paint. Our cardboard was white so we skipped that step. FYI
2. Cut a few 3×3 squares each of red and white tissue paper.
Have your child crumple the tissue paper and glue it onto the wreath. There’s an opportunity here to talk to your child about colours and patterning. Look at a real candy cane, or a picture of one, and point out how the colours alternate: red, white, red, white… Assure your child that their wreath will look beautiful no matter how they chose to decorate them, but that they could experiment with patterning if they wanted to.
One of our 3 year-olds chose not to add any red at all, and I thought it was pretty cool that he made the conscious decision to just stick with one colour for his wreath. And have a look. It was really gorgeous!
It was sweet too, at home-time, another 3 year old showing Grandma her ornament, and as they walked out the door I heard her say “We had to do a pattern. First you do a red, and then you do a white..”. Hearing stuff like that just makes my heart happy. 🙂
3. Glue your tissue paper to your wreath.
Squeezing a glue bottle is a great exercise in motor control and co-ordination (squeezing, aiming, touching down and controlling the flow of glue takes a lot of concentration), but for my really young ones, I put out a small bowl of glue, and some paint-brushes.
Looking good, and they’re not even ready for hanging yet!
To finish up, punch a hole in the cardboard and thread a loop of metallic thread or ribbon through.
Don’t they look yummy?
More easy candy cane crafts and activities:
Paint Chip Candy Canes
Tissue Paper Candy Canes
Golf Ball Painted Candy Canes
Easy Paper Candy Canes
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
