Last week, 老大 and I made trilingual craft stick ornaments! Since craft stick trees and snowflakes are easy to make, they would be fun activities throughout winter. On each ornament, we first wrote messages in my children’s 3 languages:
- Chinese: 圣诞快乐 (Shèngdàn kuàilè)
- Korean: 메리 크리스마스 (meli keuliseumaseu)
- English: Merry Christmas
Then we decorated the ornaments with shiny gems, stars, and strings and gave them as holiday gifts for her nanny, teachers, and friends! Everybody loved these handmade presents!
What you need for craft stick ornaments:
- Craft sticks (plain or colored)
- Tinsel cord or other festive ribbon
- Star stickers
- Jewel stickers
- Sharpie marker
The great thing about this activity is that most or all steps can be done independently by the child! This is really important so your child can be proud about making the craft stick ornaments. Plus the decorating is an excellent way to hone in on those fine motor skills!
How to make craft stick ornaments:
- Start with painting if you’re using plain craft sticks. If you’re using pre-colored ones, skip to the next step!
- Assemble the craft stick ornament trees into triangles and glue the ends together. For the snowflake ornaments, criss-cross each stick and glue the sticks together at the center.
- Write a message on each craft stick ornament.
- Decorate each ornament
- Wrap tinsel cord (or other pretty ribbon) around each ornament, which can also be used to hang the ornament!
If you and your children make craft stick ornaments, please let us know! Leave a comment below or tag @CHALKAcademy on Instagram! Happy crafting, friends!
Looking for other hands-on Chinese activites? Click here to see activities by subject!
Looking for Chinese gift ideas for children? Click here to see our gift guide!
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