My children are totally into Harry Potter this year. Tristan has read the entire series over the past five months and Potter mania has taken over his life. With this in mind, I thought it might be fun for the children to make Christmas tree ornaments with a Hogwarts theme. The glitz of Christmas was the inspiration for these kid-made Golden Snitch ornaments. And Tristan came up with a second Golden Snitch design as well!
Golden Snitch Supplies
- Styrofoam ball
- Gold foil paper
- White glue mixed with a little water to make a mod podge-like solution
- Glue brush
- Scissors
- Feathers or paper
- Brad fasteners
- Christmas Ball Topper
- Clear varnish (optional)
- Jingle Bell
How To Make the Golden Snitch #1
Prep your area with newspapers or craft mats to prevent and glue mishaps.
Cut the gold foil paper into narrow strips, and then into smaller pieces. This will help them lay flat on the round ball without too many wrinkles.
Tristan set up little holders to keep the balls from rolling away and leaving a sticky mess. He covered some little metal dipping bowls with tin foil to set the balls on. His version of this was even better than mine!
The kids spread spread the glue mixture onto an area of their styrofoam balls before smoothing down a piece of the gold paper. Then they spread a little more glue over the top of the paper to help hold it in place.
They continued in this manner until the entire ball was covered with gold paper. Some of the papers overlapped, and some didn’t, but of course, everyone has their own style and skills.
They patiently let their golden spheres dry overnight.
The next day I was preoccupied with some work and they took it upon themselves to finish up their snitches in their own ways. I had suggested using feathers painted silver. Kallista chose a couple of colourful feathers from their craft cupboard and pressed them into the snitch using brad clips. It worked quite well.
Tristan chose to go a different route and drew his wings on paper, making a template for himself first. Then he cut them out and drew a pattern on them. Although I think they look a little like ears, when you actually see a snitch, the wings are quite large, so it works.
The final step was to attach a little bauble topper to the balls and add some ribbon to allow them to hang on the tree. Of course, if you want to use this without putting it on the tree, you can omit this step.
If you would like to add a little more durability to your Golden Snitches, put a quick coat or two of clear varnish over the whole ball and let it dry.
Golden Snitch #2
I happened to have a bag of tiny silver jingle bells sitting out for another craft and Tristan spotted them. The light bulb in his brain lit up! He had a plan…and then an upgrade to the plan when he saw a single gold jingle bell. He scooped it up and went about his mission in secret. When he reappeared a short time later, he had simply stuck a couple of feathers into the bell for wings, secured them with a bit of clear tape, and he had a musical snitch!
So there you go, two fun ways to make a Harry Potter-inspired Golden Snitch for the Christmas tree. In a few years you can look back and remember the inventiveness of the kids and the wild and wacky ways they lived in a fantasy world whenever they had a few spare minutes.
Are your children obsessed with the Harry Potter series, or another book? Then click through the links below to discover more ornaments inspired by great books! Many thanks to Mama Miss who has organised another great blog hop, bringing together the best kid bloggers around!
- Rainy Day Mum
- Preschool Powol Packets
- My Bright Firefly
- Happy Brown House
- The Life of Jennifer Dawn
- Schooling Active Monkeys
- The Mama Workshop
