Follow our step by step tutorial below to make a wreath, a candy cane, and a snowflake! These kid-friendly beaded ornaments are great for home or school and they look great hanging on the Christmas tree!
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What type of beads are used for these beaded Christmas ornaments?
We mostly used tri-beads in fun Christmas colours for our ornaments. These beads have 3 “arms” that interlock when the beads are placed together. One of the other bead types we used on our wreath and snowflake ornaments is round faceted beads. Facets are the many flat areas on the bead, which helps them catch the light. We also used small bicone beads on the snowflake, which look like two cones connected at the base. These beads are also faceted. Finally, we used sunburst beads on the ends of the snowflake, which are beads shaped like a sun or star, with 6 flat edges.
How many beads do I need for bead Christmas ornaments?
The amount and type of beads needed for each ornament varies. You don’t have to follow our exact patterns, but if you do, here’s the precise number of beads you’ll need per ornament:
Wreath: 6 red faceted beads and 48 green tri-beads Candy Cane: 14 red tri-beads and 30 white tri-beads Snowflake: 6 clear faceted beads, 36 light blue tri-beads, 6 bicone beads, and 6 sunburst beads
Do I have to use pipe cleaners to make these beaded Christmas ornaments?
Pipe cleaners make these beaded Christmas ornaments a really kid friendly craft, but you can also use jewelry wire. If you’re going to use wire, we recommend using a 20 gauge wire to make these DIY ornaments. This wire should be strong enough to keep the ornament’s shape, while being thin enough that the beads will fit on it.
What other beaded ornament shapes can I make?
We love the classic Christmas shapes that we made for this tutorial, but there are a ton of others that you can make! Icicle ornaments are really easy to make. You can use clear and blue beads, or you can even make multi-colored icicles. Leave the pipe cleaner straight and allow different sizes and shapes of beads to give the icicle dimension, or create a spiral with the beaded pipe cleaner. You can also make a star, gingerbread man, angel, or Christmas tree. Or bend several pieces of pipe cleaner into a 3D ball ornament shape. For some of the more detailed ornaments you may want to use wire instead of pipe cleaner, since it will hold its shape better.
It’s so much fun to make these beaded Christmas ornaments! Use your favourite type of beads in your favourite colours to create these super pretty and easy holiday ornaments.
Here’s even more fun Christmas craft ideas:
Christmas Perler Beads
Melted Bead Candy Canes
Pipe Cleaner Wreath Ornaments
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
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