Making Ornaments with Boys

As I watched my 14 year old son tenderly place Humpty Dumpty on the Christmas tree, out of reach of his little brother and sister, I realized what an opportunity handmade ornaments represent. We made this ornament when he was 5 years old, and it is still "his precious." Now that I have a girl, it's easy for me to forget that boys can love making things too. Our family will be doing more crafting together on these dark, winter days between school and dinnertime...

To make Humpty Dumpty:

1. Empty an egg by making 1/8" holes in the top and bottom with a straight pin, and blowing through one hole, so the contents of the egg spills out of the other (into the sink)

2. Wash out the egg, by running water into it and blowing it out again.

(If you wonder whether or not this will be fun for your son, trust me, he will love it, it's gross.)

3. The pants are shiny wraping paper glued to the bottom 1/3rd of the egg, trimmed in narrow ribbon.

4. The arms and legs are 1/4" wide elastic, glued in place.

5. The hands and feet/shoes were drawn and colored on white paper, cut out and glued in place (4 of each, so you have both sides of the elastic covered.)

6. The face was drawn on the egg with a sharpie permanent marker.

There is no hanger because the egg will break if you mess with the hole too much, so we place it on the tree. If you wanted to glue a ribbon on top though, outside the hole, that would probably work too.

I know a lot of you are making things this year with felted sweaters. Here is some inspiration from FeltSewGood.