So easy, a 3.5-year-old can do it!
December 15th, 2007
Spoiler alert! If you are one of Annalie’s grandparents, aunts, uncles, or godparents, this post is about what Annalie made for you all for Christmas this year. You might want to come back and read this December 26th.
We never managed to get up to Paint ‘N Pottery for Annalie to make Christmas gifts for relatives this year. With Christmas fast approaching, I figured I’d better come up with another gift idea for her to make. So we made some cinnamon-dough ornaments a couple of days ago.
They were so easy! I doubled the first recipe on this page, and added a bit more applesauce during the kneading when it seemed dry. Annalie helped with the measuring, mixing, and kneading, all of which were much less messy than I thought they would be.
Even when it came to rolling out the dough, Annalie was able to do it by herself, which was surprising, because she’s terrible at rolling out play-dough. She was able to easily press the cookie cutters and straws (used to make holes for hanging the ornaments) into the dough, only needing a little help to make sure the holes weren’t too close to the edge. She even used a toothpick to add details to some of them.
It takes a couple of days for the ornaments to dry out, and then we’ll add some ribbon for hanging. If we want to we can embellish them by gluing on sequins or buttons, or even paint them, but they’re nice in their natural state too. We’ll add some pretty ribbon or raffia for hanging from the tree, and I’ll write Annalie’s name and the date on the back of each ornament with a Sharpie. I’m thinking that when the cinnamon smell wears off, a coat of spray-on acrylic sealer could prevent them from crumbling to bits.
For the price of some cheap ground cinnamon, applesauce, and glue, we made twenty ornaments, more than enough for all the relatives and friends on our list. It is such a no-fuss craft that when my friend Bekah happened to drop by with two of her kids while we were making them, her 3.5-year-old and 18-month-old each made an ornament, too. We had a great time making them.
Cheap. Easy. Fun. We’ll definitely be doing this again.
To see more photos, go to Making cinnamon dough ornaments – a photoset on Flickr.
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oooo, oooo, ooooo, awesome! I am going to do this!!!Thank you, and cute pics and love the cutters you used, I am just so excited!
These look so sweet! Annalie looks like she had a great time! I love projects like this.
Those are fantastic! Great idea!
I love her pink silky pjs – those are pjs in the first pic right? Sweet whispy sleeves.
The craft is fabulous – I’ve bookmarked it, but Annalie is, of course, much cuter.
Wow! That’s awesome! She looks like she had a great time!
What an awesome idea and Annalie looks so comfortable being crafty. It looks like a great time was had by all and memories were made that will last a lifetime.
Thanks, Linda! Yeah, we do a lot of crafts, so Annalie’s pretty used to them. Really, the main reason I wanted kids was to have an excuse for all the 64-boxes of crayons, construction paper, and glitter I had lying around. ;-)
sorry, I looked!
THese are fun ornaments to make! We’ve made them several times over the years…we decorate the kids’ bedroom trees with them, and their rooms smell so yummy!
Try adding clove or allspice, or experiment, to liven up the scents! Once I even ground rosemary (I love!) and lavender to mix in with original recipe.
Cheers
That’s OK that you looked—you still don’t know which ornament YOU are getting. :-) I like the rosemary idea. I will have to remember that for next year!
Fabulous, your such a crafty (in a good way) person! Annalie is gonna grow up to be the next Martha Stewart (in a non-prison sorta way)with all of the talent her Momma is sportin’!
Aaaaaand Ashley wins best comment award for cracking me up with her parenthetical asides! “Non-prison sorta way”—hee hee!
Well done, Annalie!
What a great idea, Bethany! You are such a good Momma :)
Thanks for a stellar idea! My niece is coming over to play next Friday and I had just thought about a gingerbread house, but this could be something she could keep and we could make year after year. excellent! Thanks!
You are most welcome. See, this is why I blogged about it. I just knew someone out there needed to know about this craft. :-)
Of course she can roll dough. She takes after you!
As a receipient of the ultra cool snowman ornament, re-named “Little Bethany” (hair is hidden under the cap), I can attest to the ornament’s awesomeness!! Not only that… it smells good enough to eat!! I must remind myself there is glue in there and that I should not, in fact, eat it. I am going to try to make an ornament or two this weekend using your instructions. Wish us luck!!
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