Cinnamon Ornaments

My students have been busy bees this month making crafts, cards and other projects to give their family members for Christmas.  One of our favorite projects is the "Cinnamon Ornament."

Here is the recipe we used.  I found ground cinnamon at Costco in big containers for only $2.50.

We mixed the dough together like playdough.  No cooking necessary!

The kiddos played with the dough, and then they rolled it out-- thick is good-- and used Christmas cookie cutters to make shapes.

It was messy, but our hands (and the classroom) smelled so good!

We doubled the recipe above, and got about 30 ornaments from the batch.

We put parchment paper down on the cookie sheets and wrote the students' names next to the ornaments.  Then we poked holes through each ornament using a straw.

Teaching preschool is not a neat and tidy job.  This is what the center looked like when we were done!

You could let the ornaments air dry for 3-5 days.  Or, if you're like us and are waaaay behind schedule due to 2.5 snow days last week, you can bake them in the oven at 200* for a looong time.  We baked them for about 4 hours.  Yum!  

When they were dry, we labeled them with a sharpie marker. 

Next, the students painted glue on the front of the ornament and added (a lot!) of glitter.

 

The ornaments need to dry again!

We threaded a pipe cleaner through each hole to make a hanger.  Here's a finished ornament:

This project is a bit labor-intensive, but it is full of learning opportunities.  The students measured and mixed the ingredients.  They used their fine motor skills to roll and cut the shapes.  They counted and arranged the shapes on the tray, then used their fine motor skills again to paint and sprinkle glitter.

My own older children made these ornaments when they were preschoolers (6-7 years ago).  They still smell wonderful when we put them on our tree, even after all this time!

Do you like to make homemade Christmas ornaments with your kiddos?