10 Homemade Natural Christmas Ornaments

Are your store-bought ornaments clashing with your tree this holiday season? Maybe they’re starting to look a bit too flashy and you’re looking for some ways to bring some earthy vibes to your home. Are you looking to bring a bit of nature indoors this Christmas season? You know, in addition to the living tree that’s already taken over the family room! Or maybe you can’t have a real tree but want to somehow still have some natural elements this Christmas. Well then, this compilation of homemade natured themed Christmas ornaments is perfect for you! 

For these Christmas decorations from natural materials, you can use items from your own backyard to create beautiful and fun Christmas nature crafts. Not everyone keeps miniature trees, jars of buttons, and swaths of felt on hand for just such an occasion as once-a-year ornament-making. So using cheap, easy-to-find natural materials, I’ve put together a list of ideas for really cool DIY Christmas ornaments from nature. These nature Christmas ornaments project ideas will supply your kids with a craft for later and get them outside for some fresh, crisp air too! These natural ornaments are so fun to make and a great way bring a little nature in with your holiday decor.

Natural Ornaments You Will Want To Make

Every year I decorate our family Christmas tree with my kids. We have a large artificial tree and boxes of ornaments stuffed full. We go through our ornaments, deciding which ones to put on, and which ones to keep as fillers if there is any space left over. I always decide to put on our personal ornaments first, the ones we were gifted with growing up, or we bought matching ones for the whole family, or those that the craftier of us made. Those fraying or unglued ornaments made with tiny kid-fingers always make me smile, and are the first on the tree, hanging proudly as a declaration of childhood time well spent.

Looking through the nature Christmas ornament ideas of today, I found a lot of cool ideas, many that outstripped the simple ornaments we used to make. I love how glitter and acrylic paint can turn practically anything into an ornament! During my childhood, we rarely had a surplus of crafting supplies and mostly had to make do with what we could find in the yard. Twigs, acorns, pine cones and the like are all readily available, and my kids enjoyed turning them into a fun craft activity for those chilly days stuck inside. I love our Christmas ornaments made from natural materials because they are extra special since we gathered the materials ourselves.

10 Nature Christmas Tree Ornaments

I hope you enjoy these natural Christmas craft ideas as a simple way to not only invite nature in but also as a special family bonding time. Warning, before making these DIY natural Christmas decorations, you’ll want to consider investing in some glitter. It’ll be worth it.

Let’s start off this list of Christmas ornaments made from natural materials with sticks!

Stick Stars

This project for homemade Christmas ornaments made from nature uses twine and twigs together in the shape of a star. These stick stars make cute ornaments or can also be strung on a banner and used as decorations for the mantle. They turn out pretty neat. Get the full tutorial at AllenDesigns

Twiggy Stars

Next on this list of nature themed Christmas ornaments is a similar star design. These twiggy stars are along the same line as the Stick stars but they use hot glue and colorful natural raffia paper ribbons. If you have bits of ribbon or lace too small for presents, let your kids wrap them around the star ornaments for extra glamour! You can get the whole tutorial at happyhooligans.ca

Stick Letter Ornaments

Or instead of stars, have your kids glue sticks together in the shape of a letter, and then wrap them with twine, string, or yarn! Simple, cheap, and neat, these natural wood Christmas tree ornaments can even be given as gifts! See the full tutorial at 3squeezes

Glittery Pine Cone Ornaments

I never before knew the power of glitter until I saw these pine cones making some of the coolest ornaments ever. With just some glitter and ribbon your child can make a pretty ornament! Now to find some pine cones…I’m going to have some of these on my tree this year! Get the full instructions at MomSpotted. These are such pretty homemade Christmas ornaments.

Pine Cone Owl Ornament

This project is a combination of nature’s findings to make a cute owl ornament. There’s probably quite a few different creatures you can make from just some pine cones, leaves, and acorn shells.  How many Christmas ornaments made out of nature can you come up with?

Glittery Acorn Ornament

This acorn project is as simple and classy as the pine cones. Just paint the acorn tops with craft glue and coat in glitter. Then add some holiday string (with a dot of hot glue) and you’ve got nature made Christmas ornaments, for free! Or you can order them on Etsy. These are some of my favorite DIY natural Christmas ornaments!

Pine Cone Acorn Ornaments

These homemade Christmas ornaments from nature melds acorns and pine cones for a new look. Of course, there is also glitter. They’re super pretty and the supplies are free in nature.

Maple Dragonfly Ornament

This project for DIY Christmas ornaments from nature uses just twigs, maple tree seed pods, and paint to make a nice dragonfly ornament. With just these simple supplies, there are multiple animals and insects you can create from sticks and helicopter pods. Read about how they made theirs at filthwizardy.com

If your backyard is closer to a beach than a forest, check out these homemade nature themed shell Christmas ornaments. I’ve always wondered what else collected shells could be used for. Here are two ideas that turn out pretty neat. Again, the creative powers of glitter and paint!

Glitter Shell Ornaments

With just glue and glitter you can make some beautiful glitter shell ornaments and then use string and an optional pearl bead for hanging. Get more ideas at marthastewart.com

Santa Shell Ornaments

These crafty santa shells take a bit more work and quite a bit spruced up. You can find them here on Etsy.

If you are looking for more simple ideas, there are always the classics like wood slices, dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks, clippings of holly leaves, or strings of cranberries.

DIY Nature Ornaments Conclusion

One of the best ways to make homemade Christmas decorations is by using natural items and a little creativity. I hope we have given you some fun ideas to start with and feel free to add twists to make them your own. It is the perfect way to add a little life to faux trees and it is so much fun! This Christmas time, create a new family tradition and get out your hot glue gun and some craft supplies from Mother Nature and find fun ways to make homemade natural Christmas decorations.

I hope you enjoy these natural Christmas crafts. There are so many cool ways to use natural materials to make ornaments. What are your favorite natural materials to make Christmas ornament crafts with? Do you  have any favorite DIY ornaments from nature that you made growing up?

Let us know what you and your kids think of these DIY ornaments from nature!

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