I may be shooting for the stars here, but this year, I put up my bare Christmas tree on Nov 1 and I have every intention of filling it with hand-crafted ornaments made by my three-year-old by the time Christmas comes around.

Is it ambitious? A bit… All I can say right now is that I’m glad I didn’t get a bigger tree…

From dangly things made from Luckin Coffee sleeves to a snow globe filled with sugar, so far the one we had the best time making is the little winter house.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• cardboard
• scissors or exacto knife
• hot glue gun
• glue
• colored clay (for decorations)
• paint (for decorations)

Instructions:

1. Measure and cut out the shapes for your frame. Voilà. The majority of the work is done!

2. Roll out little balls with light molding clay to use as decorations later.

3. Let them go crazy with the paint

4. Fire up your hot glue gun and put your house together. Careful, I burned my fingers multiple times during this part.

5. Brush a layer of glue on the roof (or anywhere else you want add decorations to) and let your kid take over.

You’re basically done! Let it dry overnight before drawing on the details. I ended up poking a small opening at the very top, poking a balloon string through it, and sealing it up with more hot glue so that we can securely hang it on the tree. 

The whole process took only around 40 minutes and there was barely anything to clean up. It’s a great afternoon holiday project for some quality time with the kids at home. Enjoy!

Minimize screentime at home. Search #JingkidsCrafts for more ideas.

Images: Mina Yan