Kid’s Fingerprint Handmade Christmas Ornaments
I’m super bummed that morning sickness made me miss out on prime Christmas crafting time. I’ve been waiting all year to do Christmas crafts though, and I’m not going to let the fact that Christmas is only a week away stop me! So stick around for some last minute Christmas inspiration, or pin the ideas for next year. You know from my 12 Days of Handmade Christmas Ornaments series last year, that I love to make ornaments for our tree. I made these cute clay ornaments with the kids to hang on the tree this year, and I love how they turned out! For more fingerprint and handprint ornaments, click here. Make sure you also look at all of my other homemade Christmas ornament tutorials!
My favorite part about these is that the little hearts are made with my kids’ fingerprints.
(This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.)
Supplies Needed:
- polymer clay (see note at bottom of post)
- holiday cookie cutters
- drinking straw
- gold acrylic paint
- paint brush
- rubber letter stamps
- gold paint pen (optional)
- ribbon
- foil (to line cookie sheet)
I was hoping this would be a more “hands on” project for my kids to do, but the modeling clay ended up being pretty difficult to work with. You might try a different kind of clay, but then again, that might not hold the fingerprint and stamp details as well. Knead the dough in your hands to soften it. Roll out the clay with a rolling pin (I used the one from our play-dough set).
Cut out a shape with a cookie cutter.
Use a drinking straw to poke out a hole in the top.
Help your child use their pointer finger to make a heart shape in the clay with two fingerprints.
Use some regular old rubber letter stamps to stamp the name of your child above or below the fingerprints. If I had a number stamp set, I would have stamped the year as well, but I was trying to just use what I had.
Place the ornaments on a baking tray lined with foil. Every clay is different, so read the instructions that come with yours or look them up online. For this FIMO soft clay, I baked it at 230Āŗ F for about 20 minutes. Seems to have done the job. Keep in mind that it won’t completely harden until cooled, and you can always cook it longer if it doesn’t seem long enough.
Once your ornament is baked and cooled, you can write the date on the back with a pretty, gold Sharpie. If you had number stamps, and stamped the front, skip this part.
Take some gold acrylic paint and paint the inside fingerprint heart. Also push some paint into the inside of the letters.
Take a damp paper towel and wipe the outside of the letters clean before the paint dries.
Once the paint is dry, put a ribbon through the hole, and hang it on the tree. I’m sure I’ll treasure these for years to come! I’ve also got a little video at the top of this post to show you the process. If you have an ad blocker, you might need to turn it off to watch it.
note: The kind of clay I used was Fimo Soft. Even after kneading it a lot, it was still pretty hard. Fine for me to work with, but not for the kids. Looking around online a bit, it looks like Sculpy III is the softest of the polymer clays. It will just show other fingerprints and mistakes more easily. Make sure to wash little hands well after handling the polymer clay. Also, there are other ways you can soften the clay. Check the comments below for tips from other readers.
Take a look at these other fingerprint and handprint Christmas ornaments.
And take a look at these other Christmas ornaments that kids can make:
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Can you use air dry clay? I canāt find āpolymer clayā at our local Michaelās.
Will modelling clay work?
I can’t find such nice rubber stamp letters like yours! Where did you buy them? Love this idea! Thank you š¤
Thank you for this awesome gift idea for my Kinders!
This had to be 40 years ago when my kids were little, but I bought a tub of white Play-Doh. It worked wonderfully. I let it self dry in our sun room, but not in the sun. I used Christmas cookie cutters that left imprints of Santaās face and tree imprints on the tree ones. They were so cute and so easy. I used whatever was a popular kids paint back then. But I have never, ever been able to find a large tub of white Play-Doh again. Or the cookie cutters that I lost over different moves along the way. I guess now I can Google it. Lol. But itās easy, safe and they turn out bright white. Iām going to google right now. Good luck and best wishes.
How many ornaments did one package of clay make? Thanks!
I bought an 8 oz package and there was enough to make the three ornaments and probably one or two more? Iām not really sure, but I know there was extra. I could have probably made more if I had rolled it out a little thinner. Just be careful you donāt roll it out too thin because you donāt want them breaking.
hey!
I’m planning on making this with my kindergarten class of 30 using salt dough instead. I will update you on how it goes!
Ooh yes! Please let us know how the salt dough turns out! That would definitely be a more economical solution with that many children.
Did the salt dough work well?
this is such a great idea. I plan on making them with my grandchildren this year. Do you use the mini cookie cutters or just the regular?
Thanks! Just regular size ones work. Enough room for fingerprints and their name. š
I did this craft except I used my infant’s whole hand since she was so little. I used Sculpey III instead of the other and it came out so handsomely! I had about 13 oz of clay and was able to make four ornaments (one for my husband and I, one for my parents, his parents, and then one for the great-grandparents!) Thank you so much for the clever idea. I will cherish this ornament for all of my days <3
Awe! I love that you got to make one with his whole hand! Thank you for the quantity details. I’m sure that will be helpful to someone reading this!
I just made these with my 6 yr old granddaughter, she lloves bed it ! We try to make all the grandparents and Aunts and Uncles something every year ! These are super cute thank you so much ! Just in case some of your readers don’t have stamps we used toothpicks to write the name and date on them , it works really well and she was able to write on them herself !! Just waiting for them to cool so we can paint them. Also using Martha Stewart gold paint and finishing with Sculpey gloss glaze. Hoping everyone treasures these for years to come ā¤ļøļø?
These are such great ideas!!! Thank you for sharing. So glad it worked well for you. š
I love this idea. Was just about to start when I realised I didn’t have any letter stamps let alone number stamps. Did you use a particular size of stamp? I just know I’ll end ordering the wrong size if I don’t ask.
Thank you!
The ones I have are really old, but they stamp a letter about 1/4″ tall.
instead of stamps you could write their name and date on the ornament.
I have 11 grandchildren and 1 great grand daughter. How much clay would I need? I guess I’m asking how many do you get out of one package? Thank You
It’s been a while since I made these, but here’s the answer I gave someone else: So I bought an 8 oz package at Michaelās and there was enough to make the three ornaments and probably one or two more? Iām not really sure, but I know there was extra. I could have probably made more if I had rolled it out a little thinner. Just be careful you donāt roll it out too thin because you donāt want them breaking. I think the package was like $8-$10, but there is always a 40% coupon online to make it cheaper. If not, you can use competitors coupons as well. Joannās lets me use a Michaels, a Hobby Lobby, and a Joannās coupon all in one purchase. Michaelās will only let you use one coupon. Hope that helps!
Do you think this would work with air drying clay?
I’ve never used air drying clay before, so I can’t really say. It would all depend on if the clay will hold the details like the fingerprints and how well the extra paint will wipe away. You could try dipping the stamp itself into some paint or ink before you stamp the clay. That way you wouldn’t have to worry about wiping it away later. Sorry I can’t be more help. Come back and let us know if you try.
I love this idea and am looking at doing it with my class as apart of the Christmas gift. I was hoping to get an approximation on how much clay you used for each decoration as I would be carrying this activity out with 30 children. Want to make sure I have enough clay!! Thanks.
So I bought an 8 oz package at Michael’s and there was enough to make the three ornaments and probably one or two more? I’m not really sure, but I know there was extra. I could have probably made more if I had rolled it out a little thinner. Just be careful you don’t roll it out too thin because you don’t want them breaking. I think the package was like $8-$10, but there is always a 40% coupon online to make it cheaper. If not, you can use competitors coupons as well. Joann’s lets me use a Michaels, a Hobby Lobby, and a Joann’s coupon all in one purchase. Michael’s will only let you use one coupon. Hope that helps!
I love this idea and mine can out just like yours. Although I will have to have my son press his finger harder next time
Thank you!
Oh yay! So glad yours turned out well!
Well, I did this and my sample had a few problems. One, I used Sculpey and it doesn’t look as white as your cute model. Also, I had trouble wiping all the gold paint off. So I just painted the whole thing and wiped off most of it. Still cute, but can anyone tell me about the color of the clay?
Oh no! Sorry you had a bad experience. Mine definitely turned out bright white. Maybe the Sculpey isn’t as white? Not sure about the paint. Maybe the Sculpey is more porous, so it holds onto the paint more? The FIMO was very smooth. Or maybe the brand of paint? I used Martha Stewart. Hopefully someone who works with clay more will see this and can chime in.
I made something similar with my preschoolers for mother’s day (grabbed the idea from a pin on a great blog ) and added a keychain. So I love this idea. I will caution using anything else besides sculpey or fimo. I had purchased paper clay,super soft, but the fingerprints were really hard to see. But with 44 children, $9 and a 40% off coupon was feasible. As a former sculpey user, it was hard to get fingerprints off, and this time it would be welcomed!
Just a suggestion,If you try this again for another project, grab a hand cranked pasta maker. I use to use mine a lot to soften very stiff sculpey or fimo clay. It’s a lot easier to soften hard clay. There are different thickness settings. It’s also a good small motor activity to get kids involved in.
Thank you for the tips Ashley! This was my first time ever using polymer clay, so I’m glad you commented. I’m definitely going to invest in a hand cranked pasta maker then. I have plans for more clay projects. I’ll add in the post for people to check the comments for tips.
What clay would you recommend using? These are so super cute!
The kind I used was Fimo Soft. Even after kneading it a lot, it was still pretty hard. Fine for me to work with, but not for the kids. Looking around online a bit, it looks like Sculpy III is the softest of the polymer clays. I haven’t used it though, so I don’t know if it’s soft enough for kids to use. Also make sure to wash little hands well after handling. There are lots of salt dough recipes out there that are great for kids. One of those might work well for this.
Also, apparently there are ways you can soften the clay with heat and other methods too.
these are great thank you for sharing
Thanks Patti! Glad you like them. š
love the idea. i’m a cub scout leader and am always looking for new ideas. thank you
You’re welcome! My husband is a scout leader as well. Fun! Just keep in mind that the clay I used was really hard. You might try something softer, or you will have to help them a lot.