DIY Christmas Bear Ornaments from Bread Dough

Create cute DIY Christmas Bear Ornaments from bread dough and acrylic paint!  A fun project that even the kids can do!  Create unique ornaments for just pennies!  Want to know how?

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

Since 1992, I have been involved in an ornament club with about 15-20 friends and relatives.  Every year, we get together on the first Saturday in December to swap handmade ornaments.  Of course, that entails coming up with something original every year.  But you would be amazed at some of the awesome things that we have exchanged over the years.

This ornament was one of my ideas for the club.  It is created from a simple bread dough recipe and is actually a great project to do with your children.  Totally non-toxic and tons of fun.

For this project I used:

Bread Dough:
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of salt
Water

Other supplies:
3″ wood circle
Eye hook
Acrylic Paint
Clear coat varnish

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

Mix flour and salt together in a bowl and add water gradually, mixing with your hands until you have a dough consistency. It should not be sticky. If so, add a bit of flour.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

Now for the fun part.  Make an 1 1/2″ diameter ball, and top it with a 1″ ball.  Roll out the legs.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

Attach the legs to the body using a drop of water to adhere the two pieces.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

Add the arms the same way.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

I then created ears and a nose by forming smaller balls, shaping them and adding with a drop of water.  For the boy bear, I made a small train.  I assembled it on top of the circle to ensure a good fit. At this point, be sure to use a pencil point to make an indent in the top of their heads for the eye hook.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

The girl bear is put together in a similar fashion.  For her dress, I rolled out dough between my fingers and then flattened it, draping it over her legs and around her body.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

The girl bear needs a bow for her hair.  Of course.And for her, she gets a baby teddy bear of her own.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

All pieces are then put on a pan that is covered with aluminum foil and baked in a 300 degree oven for about 3 hours.  Be sure to turn the pieces over when they are about half way done to ensure that the bottom cooks all the way.  Your house will smell pretty darn awesome by the way.

Allow pieces to cool completely before painting.  Unfortunately, I allowed mine to cool at “dog level” and I had to remake one of my train pieces because Ralph ate it.  I’m sure he thought it was a train shaped doggie treat.

ralph dog

Once the pieces cool, you can start painting.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

The boy bear gets a plaid shirt and jeans.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament

The girl gets a plaid skirt.  Yep, I’m kinda into plaid. Screw the eye hook into the indent that you made in their heads.  (This is optional- if you don’t want to hang the ornament, you can leave it off).

The next step (and most important) is to give them several coats of clear, non yellowing varnish.  Be sure to turn them upside down and get the bottom also.  The nature of bread dough is that like any natural substance, it can have the tendancy to deteriorate.  Particularly if you live in a humid environment.  Oh, like say Atlanta, GA.  If you protect it with several coats of clear coat, you will not be disappointed a year or so later when it becomes a pile of flour dust.  Just sayin’.

Glue your pieces down onto your painted wood circles.  I used a strong bond type glue for the bears so that I wouldn’t have to worry about them falling off the tree and becoming doggie treats.

diy bread dough christmas bear ornament
diy bread dough christmas bear ornament14

The possibilities for bread dough are endless.  You could make a baby’s first Christmas by making blocks instead of the train and putting the baby’s name on them.  Or, you could get even personalize them!

Create some unique and fun to a make ornaments this year for your tree!

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