How to Make a Pinecone Reindeer Head Christmas Ornament

Pinecone reindeer ornaments are easy for a class or crafts group to put together in one session.

A pinecone reindeer-head Christmas ornament adds a natural touch of whimsy to a Christmas tree. It is especially fun for children to make and easy for a class or crafts group to put together in one session. This project uses small, closed, curved pinecones to make the reindeer heads, not the open seed-scale type. Make a bunch of them to add to the Christmas tree or to put on top of wrapped Christmas gifts.

Things You'll Need

• Pinecone
• Small red pompom
• Two googly craft eyes
• Brown craft foam or brown paper
• 2 thin twig end pieces, 2 inches to 4 inches long
• Fine red glitter
• Hot glue gun
• Glue stick
• 1/8-inch red ribbon, 4 inches to 6 inches long

Instructions

1. Put glue all over the surface of the two twig pieces, then sprinkle them with the fine red glitter. Set them aside to dry.

2. Glue the two eyes two-thirds of the way up the convex side of the curved pinecone. Then glue the small red pompom at the lower tip of the pinecone.

3. Cut two small pointed ears from the brown paper or brown art foam sheet. Use the hot glue gun and glue the twig antler pieces to either side of the top of the pinecone. Then glue one ear over each antler against the head.

4. Fold the piece of ribbon in half and tie the ends in a knot to create the hanging hook. Hot-glue the folded, uncut end of the ribbon loop to the pinecone in the open middle area, between the two antlers. Let it dry 20 or 30 seconds to make sure it bonds well enough.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to find twigs that have smaller additional sections to look more like antlers, not just straight twigs. If that isn't an option, glue a couple of smaller pieces to the main twig to give the antlers additional points.

• Supervise the use of the hot glue gun with children. It heats up like an iron.