Kidmade Christmas Banner – Suncatcher Ornaments

by Meghan

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My favorite part of every holiday is decorating for the season. And no surprise, my kids love to be involved every step of the way! Last year, we made this fun stenciled Nutcracker banner for our family room fireplace. This year, we created this kidmade Christmas banner of sequined ornaments for their playroom. And there’s still time for you to make one this year too!

Let your kids help create their own Christmas decor with this simple Suncatcher Christmas Ornament Christmas Banner. A great craft for kids of all ages, from toddlers to teens. Make as many as you want and string them up in front of your windows to capture the fleeting winter light! | Kids Crafts | Christmas Craft | Holiday Decor | DIY |


Kidmade Christmas Banner

My oldest daughter decorates EVERYTHING. Her room has ‘decorations’ hanging from every knob and peeking out from every nook and cranny. She re-invents socks, stuffed animals, game pieces, playing cards and hair accessories as holiday decor for every holiday. And after we put up the Burlap Nutcracker Holiday Banner we made last year in the family room, she declared we needed a Christmas banner for their playroom as well. And since I truly believe playroom decor should be kidmade – I embraced her enthusiasm.

Making Suncatcher Ornaments

The girls’ playroom is really a sunroom – it gets great light year-round, even in the dull dreary winter months. So to make the most of it, we created their Christmas banner with a series of suncatcher Christmas ornaments strung together on twine.

To make your suncatcher ornaments and turn them into a Christmas banner, you will need:

Supplies

Dessert size paper plates
Contact paper
Xacto knife
Assorted sequins
Pipe cleaners
Hot glue
Twine

I LOVE using contact papers for crafts, especially with younger kids, because it removes a lot of the mess and frustration glue sometimes creates, and gives instant gratification.


You can always find solid colored dessert sized paper plates at the Dollar Store and Wal-Mart in their party sections for $1 per package. I grabbed one each of green and red for the Christmas banner. I prepped the plates before the girls sat down to have everything ready for them to just decorate. Use an Xacto knife to cut out the center circle from each paper plate. Then, cover the opening with a circle of contact paper, with the stick side up. You will want to cut the circle of contact paper to be slightly larger than the opening, and smaller than the plate overall.

I used our favorite Dollar Store dip tray to hold all the sequins (which have long since become assorted!), and let the girls decorate away!

Different Decoration Tactics by Age, Personality

I  made one to demonstrate how to place the sequins on the contact paper, but other than that, gave the girls very little direction for how to decorate their ornaments. I love watching the difference in their techniques driven both by their ages and personalities. It’s a great fine motor skill challenge either way!

My 5 year old, who has a bit of my Type A, perfectionist tendencies, placed every sequin with the precision of a surgeon.

My 3 year old, who is much more of a fast-paced, free spirit, took more of a pinch a handful and sprinkle approach…

You Might Also LOVE: New Year’s Eve Suncatcher Craft for Toddlers

(Free printable for all years in post!)

String Ornaments into a Christmas Banner

Once they were done decorating, I cut pipe cleaners in half and used them to form loops for the ornaments. I hot glued the ends down on the back of each plate. Once they cooled, my 3 year old helped me string them on the twine, for another little fine motor skill challenge.

I strung them up across our playroom window, and they love seeing the sun shine through their Christmas banner all day, and the Christmas tree lights twinkle off it at night!

Catch this one too late Christmas? You can do the same thing for New Year’s! We love this Paper Plate New Year’s Eve Party Banner.


There’s still plenty of time to pull this one off before the big day – it makes a great afternoon activity while the kids are home from school before Christmas too! If you would like a little more refined look to your holiday decor, be sure to check out our Nutcracker banner from last year, complete with printable stencils, that the girls helped me make as well!

 

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Let your kids help create their own Christmas decor with this simple Suncatcher Christmas Ornament Christmas Banner. A great craft for kids of all ages, from toddlers to teens. Make as many as you want and string them up in front of your windows to capture the fleeting winter light! | Kids Crafts | Christmas Craft | Holiday Decor | DIY |

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3 comments

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3 comments

DIY Christmas Crafts For Teens and Tweens - A Little Craft In Your Day August 20, 2018 - 12:17 pm

[…] Suncatcher Christmas Ornament Banner […]

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Mary December 4, 2017 - 2:06 pm

I really like this idea. I work with many preschoolers and toddlers and this is fun, decorative and most of all easy. Did you use contact paper on both sides of the plate or just on the back side?

Reply
Meghan December 5, 2017 - 11:21 am

I just used it on the backside and left it exposed since I hung it up high above the kids’ reach… but if you put it down lower or did it as a take home craft at your library, you could absolutely add a piece on the front to seal it closed. Hope your kids have fun with it!

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