Make Monday: Printed Paper Cookie Cutter Ornaments

I had been trying to rack my brain on some ideas for safe ornaments to hang on the tree for my curious, touch everything toddler. We put up our Christmas tree finally on Saturday only to have Judah take half of the tree decorations within reach down. He has been carrying the ornaments all over the house, playing with them any chance he gets.

It is probably a good thing we did not put up any breakable glass balls on the tree as well as our sentimental homemade cookie dough ornaments we made our first year of marriage. What few nice ornaments we do have remain towards the top half of the tree, out of reach.

So this week's project is designed to create a safe, fun ornament that your toddler/preschooler can enjoy and be proud of showing off: homemade cookie cutter ornaments. And you do not mind if they end up being played with.

Supplies
cheap cookie cutters
printed Christmas paper or wrapping paper scraps
Elmer's glue
ribbon
scissors
pencil
hole punch

Instructions
First, trace the outside shape of the cookie cutter onto the front of your printed paper with a pencil. Cut out the shape from the paper and hole punch the top of the shape so that the object will balance when hung. Turn over the cookie cutter and line the edge with a tiny squeeze of Elmer's glue. Turn the cookie cutter back over and press onto the stenciled shape with the glued edged. Make sure the printed paper faces the front of cookie cutter. Let the glue dry before tying some ribbon through the hole. Hang the cookie cutter ornament onto the Christmas tree so that the paper backing lies next to the tree.

Lessons Learned
This project is a little above a toddler's age group, making it a project more for older kids. However, Judah had fun playing with the cookie cutter shapes and picking out the paper to match each cookie cutter. He even attempted to help glue the ornaments. To actually glue proved to be a bit tricky but we found that Elmer's glue still was the most effective and easiest form to use as long as you apply it to directly to the edge of the side of the cookie cutter you want to glue down onto the paper.