Here is a simple idea for an easy Christmas Ornament to create with your elementary students!
We make these puzzle piece ornaments every year in second-grade for parent gifts. They are inexpensive to make and parents love them. These Christmas Ornaments are wonderful keepsakes and parents can hang them up year after year. (see photos at bottom of post)
All you need are puzzle pieces, a one-inch ring cut out of cardstock or tagboard, some green and red paint, a student photo and a bow. The bows we use we find at Dollar Tree as well as the puzzles.
Teacher hack: Use inexpensive red fingernail polish to create the berries.
This year, I used my Cricut machine to cut out the rings (Best idea ever!) The centers were perfect circles which we used to make our gift tags. I will never. cut. out. circles. again. ever.
In our classroom, we create these Christmas Ornaments for parents in a few stages to let the glue dry. First, students glue the puzzle pieces around the ring, and two layers tall has worked best for us. Students can use either the shiny side with the puzzle image or the back, cardboard side. Both sides work, they just create a different finish.
Secondly, once the glue has dried, we paint the puzzle pieces green. For this step, if you are in a bit of a time crunch, you can spray paint the wreaths.
Then, students use the red fingernail polish to create the berries. The bows I found this year had a twist tie in the center which was perfect for attaching them to the ring.
To create the student photos, I use my iPhone in Portrait Mode and the Stage Light setting. This setting will create a circle around the person and makes everything else black. No more fooling around with the black dollar tablecloths for a background! #amen
Once I have taken all the photos, I use the Walgreens app and send them to be processed. I cut them out to fit the ring and hot glue the student picture to the back of the ring, and pop in a piece of ribbon for a hanger.
Finally, use another ring or a complete circle to seal the back with a bit more hot glue. Wrap up in a bit of tissue and you have a parent gift they will treasure for years! Need a quick inexpensive student gift? I wrote a post on Homework Passes, check it out here. You can see the Homework Passes in my store here.
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Until next time,
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