Welcome to the magical world of holiday crafting, where simplicity meets heartwarming tradition! This incredible 2-ingredient cinnamon ornament recipe is an absolute must-try activity to share with your children this festive season. It’s a wonderfully engaging Christmas craft and a fantastic DIY ornament idea, perfect for personalizing your own tree, creating thoughtful gifts for loved ones, or even crafting unique Christmas gift tags for presents. Imagine the joy and the delightful aroma filling your home!

Have you ever encountered the delightful charm of cinnamon applesauce ornaments? They are incredibly fun to craft, whether you’re making them as heartfelt gifts or simply enjoying a creative Christmas craft session with your kids. This cinnamon ornament recipe is renowned for its simplicity, making it ideal for even the littlest hands to create beautiful decorations at home or during playdates with friends.

Easy Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments: Your Guide to Festive DIY Decor

Among the myriad of Christmas ornaments for kids to make, this two-ingredient wonder stands out. It’s arguably one of the easiest and most budget-friendly options available, requiring just two common household items: applesauce and ground cinnamon. Once crafted and dried, a simple, pretty ribbon transforms them into charming hangers for your Christmas tree or thoughtful additions to holiday gifts.

Every year, our family cherishes the tradition of engaging in a special holiday activity together. Beyond creating lasting memories, this particular craft offers the added bonus of producing beautiful decorations for our tree, and they can even double as wonderful, personalized gifts! If you’re looking to expand your holiday crafting, you might also enjoy making peppermint ornaments using candy canes for a different sensory experience.

How to Make Cinnamon Ornaments: A Step-by-Step Guide

Easy Christmas ornament crafts are truly the best way to embrace the holiday spirit, both at home and in educational settings. These delightful ornaments make fantastic keepsakes to send home with children during the holidays, perhaps wrapped with a festive bow. Teachers, if you’re searching for an engaging and aromatic art project for your holiday activity center, these cinnamon applesauce ornaments are an absolute must-try. They require minimal supplies and offer maximum creative fun!

Essential Ingredients for Your Scented Ornaments

The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity. You only need two core ingredients to bring these fragrant ornaments to life:

1. Ground Cinnamon: This forms the aromatic base and gives the ornaments their distinctive color. A high-quality ground cinnamon will provide the best scent and color.
2. Applesauce: The applesauce acts as the binder, holding the cinnamon together to create a workable dough. Opt for unsweetened applesauce to avoid stickiness and ensure the focus remains on the cinnamon aroma.

For an extra layer of homemade goodness and a truly unique touch, you can even make your own applesauce using our Instant Pot applesauce recipe. Preparing a larger batch means you’ll have some delicious, healthy, and homemade applesauce to enjoy later as a snack, in addition to using it for your crafts!

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments: Tools and Tips for Crafting

Beyond the core ingredients, a few simple tools will ensure a smooth and enjoyable crafting experience. You’ll definitely need a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, to prevent sticking and make cleanup a breeze. Cookie cutters are essential for giving your ornaments charming festive shapes – think stars, trees, gingerbread men, and more! These allow for endless creativity and make the process accessible for all ages.

If you’re working with older children, consider letting them take the lead. They can enjoy rolling out the dough themselves on small cutting boards and using plastic knives to create their own unique designs. It’s often wonderful to witness the creative shapes and forms they come up with when given a little freedom, fostering their imagination and fine motor skills.

• Rolling Pin: A rolling pin is incredibly helpful for achieving an even thickness in your dough. This consistency is key for ensuring your ornaments dry evenly and maintain their shape.
• Straw or Skewer: Use a straw or skewer to poke a hole at the top of each ornament. This crucial step creates a space for a ribbon to be threaded through, allowing for easy hanging. Make sure the hole is big enough for your chosen ribbon!
• Mixing Bowl: A sturdy mixing bowl is needed to combine your applesauce and cinnamon. Choose one large enough to allow for easy kneading by hand.
• Optional Decorations: Once your ornaments are completely dry, the fun doesn’t stop! Puffy paints, glitter glue, metallic markers, or even regular Sharpies can be used to personalize and decorate your creations. One year, we experimented with Sharpies to draw funny faces on our ornaments, which was a great hit and added a whimsical touch!

Many lovingly refer to these as cinnamon applesauce ornaments, and it’s easy to see why. The crafting process begins by combining your core ingredients in a mixing bowl. While a spoon works well initially for stirring, you’ll quickly find that your hands become the best tools for kneading the mixture into the perfect clay-like dough. The ideal texture should be firm enough to hold its shape beautifully but pliable enough to roll out smoothly and cut with ease. This hands-on process is fantastic for sensory play with children.

One of the most enchanting aspects of making these ornaments is the incredible, warm aroma that permeates your home throughout the entire process – from mixing to baking and drying. It’s akin to baking homemade gingerbread cookies or our cake mix gingerbread men cookies, but with one crucial difference: these are for decorating, not for eating! While the scent of cinnamon is undeniably delicious and evokes the true spirit of Christmas, remember these beautiful creations are destined for your Christmas tree, filling your living space with a festive, natural fragrance, rather than your tummy. They are designed to be admired, not consumed!

Basic Steps for Crafting Your Cinnamon Ornaments:

Follow these simple steps for a successful batch of fragrant homemade ornaments that will bring joy for years to come:

1. Prepare the Dough: In a large mixing bowl, combine room temperature applesauce with ground cinnamon. Begin with the quantities specified in the recipe card below as a guide. Mix thoroughly with a spoon initially, then transition to using your hands. Knead the mixture until it forms a firm, consistent, clay-like dough that is no longer sticky.
2. Adjust Consistency: Dough consistency is key. If the mixture feels too sticky to handle easily, gradually add a little more ground cinnamon, kneading it in until the dough becomes manageable. Conversely, if the dough appears too crumbly and doesn’t hold together well, add a tiny bit more applesauce, one teaspoon at a time, until the desired texture is achieved.
3. Roll Out the Dough: Prepare your workspace by lightly dusting your surface with cinnamon, or for a cleaner method, roll the dough between two sheets of wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it reaches an even thickness of approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch across the entire surface. Consistent thickness helps ensure that all ornaments dry uniformly.
4. Cut Shapes: This is often the most exciting and creative part for children! Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut the dough into a variety of festive shapes like stars, snowflakes, hearts, or traditional Christmas figures. Carefully transfer the cut shapes to your parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving a small space between each one.
5. Create Hanging Holes: Before baking, it’s essential to create the holes for hanging. Take a straw or a skewer and gently poke a clean hole at the top of each ornament. Ensure the hole goes all the way through the dough and is wide enough to easily thread a ribbon or string through once the ornament is dry and hard.
6. Bake and Dry: Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 93 degrees Celsius). Carefully place the baking sheet with your cut ornaments into the preheated oven. Bake for approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes. The low heat helps to slowly dry and harden the ornaments without burning them, while also intensifying the wonderful cinnamon aroma.
7. Air Dry: After baking, remove the ornaments from the oven and carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. This allows air to circulate around them. Let them air dry for an extended period, typically 24 to 48 hours. To promote even drying and prevent warping, flip them over every 12 hours or so. They should feel completely hard and dry to the touch before proceeding to the next step.

Once your beautiful cinnamon ornaments are completely dry and hardened, you have two wonderful options: you can either leave them plain to showcase their natural charm and rich scent, or unleash your creativity with various decorations to make them truly unique.

Creative Uses for Your DIY Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

These versatile and fragrant DIY ornaments offer a multitude of fun and festive uses, extending their charm far beyond just hanging on a tree:

• Decorate Your Own Tree: The most obvious, yet most cherished, use is adorning your own Christmas tree. The natural look, rustic charm, and delightful scent will significantly enhance your holiday decor, creating a truly inviting atmosphere.
• Thoughtful Gifts: Handmade gifts carry a special meaning. Wrap a few finished ornaments in clear plastic wrap or small cellophane bags, tie them with a pretty ribbon, and gift them to friends, family members, or neighbors. They make unique, heartfelt tokens of appreciation during the holiday season.
• Personalized Gift Tags: Elevate your gift-giving by replacing traditional paper tags with these charming cinnamon ornaments. Simply tie an ornament to your Christmas presents with a piece of twine or ribbon. It adds a rustic touch, a beautiful visual element, and an extra layer of fragrant delight that makes any gift feel more special.
• Festive Garland: For a stunning decorative accent, thread several ornaments onto a thicker ribbon or a piece of rustic burlap string to create a charming burlap garland. This looks absolutely stunning draped across your mantelpiece, strung along a staircase railing, or even adorning a doorway or window frame, spreading its lovely scent throughout the room.
• Party Favors: If you’re hosting a holiday gathering, these ornaments can serve as lovely and memorable party favors for your guests to take home. They’re a small, personal gesture that will remind them of the joyful occasion.
• Classroom Keepsakes: As mentioned, for teachers, these are perfect projects for students to make. Each child can craft an ornament to take home, serving as a tangible memory of their holiday classroom activities and a sweet gift for their families.
• Scented Drawer Fresheners: Beyond the holidays, these can be placed in drawers or closets to add a subtle, natural cinnamon scent, making them useful long after the festive season.