Looking for a way to document your Christmas Around the World studies this year? I’ve got a quick and easy tutorial to help you make flag ornaments with your kiddos.
My kiddos and I look forward to learning about Christmas celebrations in other countries each year as December approaches. That’s why I’m always looking for hands-on activities to go along with our studies and it’s where these Christmas Around the World Ornaments come into the picture.
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Exploring Christmas around the world with my kids has long been one of my favorite homeschool traditions. Each year my children and I choose a handful of countries and spend the month of December reading about Christmas traditions from those countries, cooking recipes from their holiday meals, and making crafts to help us remember our time studying these places and how the gift of Jesus is celebrated among their unique cultures.
Along with the books, food, and Christmas crafts, we make flag ornaments to place on our Christmas tree as a way to document the countries and Christmas traditions we’ve studied throughout the years. If you’re celebrating Christmas around the world in your homeschool like us, I invite you to make these fun and easy flag ornaments to accompany your own studies.
How to Make Your Christmas Around the World Flag Ornaments
One of my favorite things about these ornaments is that I usually have all the needed supplies on hand when we make them each year. If you do a lot of art projects in your home, you most likely have these on hand also.
I don’t know about you, but I’m always happy about homeschool projects that don’t require extra purchases! Here’s what you need:
- acrylic craft paint in assorted colors (We like this Craft Smart assortment)
- paintbrushes
- craft ribbon or ornament hooks
- craft glue
- a pencil
- something round for tracing (We used mason jar rings this time.)
- cardboard scraps
- heavy-duty scissors
- photos of flags
If you have a children’s atlas or book of flags, use it to determine the specific paint colors you need for any flags you want to create. If you don’t have an atlas or flag book, you can find photographs of flags through a quick internet search. Be sure to keep your flag images on hand during the project to provide examples for painting and help with accuracy.
Step 1: Prepare the discs.
Begin by preparing the discs. Create your ornament discs by cutting out several strips from a cardboard box using heavy-duty scissors. There are no specific dimensions needed for these strips, but they should be wide enough to use for tracing the ornaments.
Once the strips are ready, trace circles onto them using a pencil and jar or lid as a guide. When there are enough circles for your desired number of ornaments, cut them out using the heavy-duty scissors and set them aside for the next step.
(If you prefer not to use cardboard boxes, predrilled wooden slices can be substituted for this part of the project. Start with the next step if you use the wooden discs instead of cardboard.)
Step 2: Sketch & paint.
Using the example photos as a guide, lightly sketch a flag design onto a disc with a pencil. It also helps to pencil in the needed paint colors on the sections of each flag. Writing in the needed paint colors makes it easier to differentiate between similar designs while the painting is in progress.
When the designs are penciled in, paint the flags one color at a time. For example, if you have several flags that need red paint, paint all of the red sections on each flag before moving on to another color. This allows time for drying before adding new colors. Once all the sketched designs are painted on the flags, place them somewhere to dry.
Step 4: Add the hangers.
Lastly, add the hangers. Cut strips of craft ribbon to your preferred length or gather your desired ornament hooks. When the fronts of the discs are completely dry, turn them over and add a small dab of craft glue to the top center of the back side.
Then gently press ribbon loops or hooks into the glue and allow them to dry. Repeat this process for each of the flag ornaments.
Be mindful of the glue placement in this step. Depending on the hanger position, the same basic flag design could represent France or the Netherlands. The same is true for Ireland and Ivory Coast. In fact, there are many flag designs that present this same challenge when it comes to correct positioning.
If you use the wooden discs instead of cardboard, skip the glue. Just thread the ribbon or insert a wire hook through the predrilled opening.
When the hooks are secured, add the ornaments to your Christmas tree and enjoy! :)
Looking for more ways to study Christmas in other cultures with your kids? Don’t miss 100 Christmas Around the World Resources for Your Homeschool.
