How To Make Nature Ice Ornaments | Easy Winter Craft

If you haven’t noticed, we are loving winter around here! We decided to try these nature ice ornaments and they are the simplest winter craft we have done. They were so fun to make, especially for my older boys! 

Nature Ice Ornament hanging in tree

There is something about the pretty white snow and fun winter crafts and activities that fill our cup. This craft gave us a great excuse to bundle up and go for a nature walk to find our items we wanted in our ornaments. (I’m a sucker for a good outdoor activity :)) We then got to warm up inside while we created our nature art, with hot chocolate of course!

This activity is a great way to decorate a bare tree and create a winter piece of art out of natural materials. These diy ice ornaments turned into beautiful ice sun catchers when the sun hit them just right. We will for sure be making these again next year again as they became a quick favorite in our house. 

Muffin tin, nature finds, twine, scissors & 2 pyrex dishes sitting on table

Materials

  • Ornament container (muffin tin, ice cube tray, pie plates, cake pan and glass pyrex dishes work well for this)
  • Nature finds (ie. pine cones, twigs, pine needles)
  • Water
  • Twine or piece of string
  • Scissors

How To Make Your Nature Ice Ornament

First you need to bundle up and go for a nature walk with your kiddos. Let them lead the way to find their treasures they want for their ice ornament. 

child standing at pine tree finding items for his nature ice ornament

You can then warm up inside and create your ornaments. Have your kids take their nature treasures and arrange them in their ornament template containers just the way they want. It’s okay if some pieces float or stick out a little. My boys liked having their own containers so they could make their own ice ornaments.

Once you have your nature materials where you want them you can add your ribbon or twine. I found that wrapping the twine around some pine needles worked best to keep it in place. I tried to position it towards the center of the ornament so when they started to melt they didn’t immediately fall from the tree. 

Tin of ornaments with twine taped to side

If needed, tape the piece of twine or string to the side of the container to keep it from falling into the water or container next to it.

You can then pour water into your containers and set outside. It took about 4 hours for our ornaments to freeze. 

ice ornaments outside waiting to freeze

Bring the containers inside to get the ornaments out. The ones in my non-stick muffin pan pulled right out of the pan. If you are having a hard time getting your ornament out just run some warm water (briefly) on the bottom of the container and the ornament should pop out. If you still can’t get it out, put a splash of lukewarm water over the top of the ornament to loosen it up.

Take the ornaments outside to decorate your front porch or outdoor tree and enjoy! 

Tree full of nature ice ornaments

Ideas For Decorating Your Ice Ornament

I love that there are so many different ways you could make these nature ice ornaments. Here are a few ideas that I have on my radar to try next time!

  • If you wanted to add a few extra pops of color you could include cranberries, orange peels or orange slices
  • You could add bird seed as a sweet treat for the outdoor creatures in your backyard
  • You could use sprinkles to provide some extra fun, I would recommend adding these after the water has had some time to freeze so the colors don’t mix and make your ornament brown.
  • I love how these colored ice ornaments turned out with a little food coloring added to them

Don’t Forget To Pin For Later!

Pinterest Pin for Nature Ice Ornaments

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