DIY cinnamon ornaments are a fragrant holiday craft perfect to do with kids

Christmas is nearly here, which means it’s the perfect time to work on some fun holiday crafts with your kids.

One craft that’s perfect for both adults and children is cinnamon ornaments. If you’ve never made them before, they’re not only quite easy but will also make your tree smell like fresh cinnamon.

You’ll find recipes from brands like McCormick and Pillsbury, both calling for pretty much the same ingredients. You’ll need applesauce, ground cinnamon, cookie cutters, a drinking straw and a ribbon. Pillsbury’s recipe also calls for cloves and nutmeg for an even stronger holiday scent and adds glue to the mixture to make it all stick together even better.

You can choose to bake them, then let them cool for a few hours until dry, or skip the oven altogether and let them dry on a wire rack for several days. Just an FYI: even if you don’t add glue, you probably won’t want to eat these, as they are most likely not very tasty.

You can keep the ornaments simple by just cutting the dough and inserting a ribbon, or you can decorate them with paint markers or icing. Some of the shapes you may want to create that would be beautiful once decorated include snowflakes, Christmas trees and gingerbread men.

This version of homemade cinnamon ornaments from Wholefully uses glitter, puffy paints and rhinestones for decorating. It also recommends some fine-grit sandpaper for buffing any rough edges. You can see a video of the process below:

If you’re up for making some ornaments but want something a little different, take a look at these adorable tealight snowmen.

You’ll need battery-operated tealights, red ribbon, red pipe cleaners, red pom-poms, black felt, a black permanent marker, an orange permanent marker and a glue gun with glue sticks. You’ll use the pipe cleaner and pom-poms to make earmuffs, the felt for a top hat and the ribbon for a scarf. You’ll then color the flame portion of the candle orange for a carrot nose and use the black marker to create eyes and a face.

Will you be making some ornaments for your Christmas tree this year?