These cute homemade DIY Elf Peg Doll ornaments are easy for both adults and kids to make. These Christmas decorations were made by my 3-year-old daughter with my assistance.
These handmade elf peg doll ornaments were inspired by the book “The Christmas Wish.” It is the story of a little girl named Anja who dreams of one day becoming one of Santa’s Elves.
You may also like these DIY Rainbow Peg Dolls and The Ultimate Eco-Friendly Gift Guide for Kids.
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Elf Peg Doll Ornaments Inspired by The Christmas Wish
These may look detailed, but they are surprisingly easy to make. My daughter and I made them in a morning.
Young children work best in short segments so we worked for 5 – 10 minutes at a time. We took breaks between each step to allow for drying and/or to give my daughter a break.
Elf Peg Doll Ornaments: Materials
- Wooden Peg Dolls (This set contains enough for this project and others listed at the bottom of this post.)
- Painter’s Tape
- Round Doll Pin Stands (optional – we used these to help paint and dry peg dolls.)
- Christmas Red Acrylic Paint
- Christmas Green Acrylic Paint
- Multicolor Felt Set or Red Glitter Felt
and Green Glitter Felt
- Glue Gun with Glue Sticks
- Paint Brush Set
- Singer Sewing and Craft Scissors Set
- Metal Ornament Hooks
- Sharpie Oil Paint Marker Extra Fine Black Paint Pet (optional)
- Mod Podge Matte
(optional)
Elf Peg Doll Ornaments: Directions
- Tape off heads of peg dolls – Use painters tape to tape off the heads of the peg dolls. This makes it really easy for your child to paint the bodies of the dolls without getting paint on the heads. Yup… that’s the secret.
2. Invite your child to paint peg doll bodies – We used one girl peg doll and 5 boy peg dolls shown above. The girl is Anja and we painted her body green. We then painted two boys green and two boys red, but you can make as many as you choose in whatever color you like. While painting these we learned that placing the taped heads into the round doll pin stands listed above made it really easy for my little one to hold onto it to paint, and set them down to dry.
3. Trace and cut felt for elf caps – Draw a circle 10 centimeters in diameter onto card stock or onto a piece of a cereal or cracker box out of your recycle bin. Cut the circle in half, and then in half again. Use this quarter of a circle to trace as many felt caps as you need in the colors you are using. Alternatively, you can trace the circle and cut the felt circle into quarters. We made 2 green caps, 2 red caps, and 1 glitter red cap for Anja.
Note: I recommend using sewing scissors to cut felt–regular scissors don’t cut felt very well. Please make sure that you are confident in your child’s scissor skills if you will be allowing them to cut the felt. Sewing scissors are sharp and dangerous.
4. Make elf caps – Fold one side into the middle. Use glue gun to place a dot of glue towards the bottom edge then fold the other side over to make it stick. Work fast, the glue dries quickly. Or you can sew them using a blanket stitch to make them look nice and pretty. I opted to use a glue gun so my daughter could make them. Next, glue up the seam towards the tip of the cap if desired. I held the felt while my daughter operated the glue gun. Last, Place glue along the inside bottom edge of the cap and glue on to the head of the peg doll.
Note: Please do not allow your child to use a glue gun if they are not mature enough to handle one. They are hot and dangerous tools. If you would like to let them give it a try, teach them how to handle it safely first.
5. Poke ornament hooks through hats – My daughter wanted to do this, but I told her it was a job for mom. Carefully poke one end of the metal ornament hook through the felt cap about 1 centimeter from the tip.
6. Dot on faces (optional) – Once finished, my daughter wanted me to put faces on them. Use a black paint pen to dot on a simple face. For more detailed instruction see DIY Rainbow Peg Dolls or Peg Doll Boat Craft. (The peg doll pack listed above will give you enough to make these too!)
7. Apply Mod Podge to seal and protect (optional) – I recommend doing this, but you don’t have to. If you are going to make faces on the dolls, I would suggest doing this step last. It’s best to dot the faces on after the caps are in place. If you are not going to make faces on the dolls, I would suggest doing this right before placing the caps on the heads to give it some extra sticking power.
These elf peg doll ornaments inspired by “The Christmas Wish
This post is a part of the 10 Days of Kid-Made Ornaments Inspired by Books Blog Hop. Click on the link to see all of the amazing book inspired ornaments from over 70 bloggers!
Below you will find links to all of the bloggers that posted on Day 2 of the series:
Salt Dough Ornaments | Artsy Momma
Easy Clay Kid’s Ornament | Heart of Deborah
Wooden Sled Ornament | Fireflies and Mud Pies
Fingerprint Christmas Tree Ornament | Sugar Aunts
Vintage Inspired Jar Ornament | Mama Miss
Felt Robin Christmas Ornament | Mum in the Mad House
Very Hungry Caterpillar Craft | See Vanessa Craft
Santa Christmas Ornament | Inspired by Familia
Muddy Paws Ornament | My Bored Toddler
You may also like:
- DIY Rainbow Peg Dolls
- Peg Doll Boat Craft
- Acorn Peg Dolls
- Fairy Peg Dolls
- Monarch Butterfly Peg Dolls
- DIY Rainbow Colored Wooden Blocks
- All Season Hand and Fingerprint Tree
- Beautiful Gifts Kids Can Make
For more ideas follow my DIY Christmas Pinterest board.
Follow Nell @ Rhythms of Play’s board DIY Christmas Ideas on Pinterest.
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These are adorable Nell!!
Thank you! I’m so glad you like them 🙂
Oh these are just so adorable and look great hanging too
Thank you! They look wonderful on our tree!
Your Elf Peg Dolls are just so attractive and sweet. I think we need a tribe of them in our home.
I’m so glad you like them! We just trimmed our tree this evening and I have to say that they look lovely with the rest of our wooden ornaments.
This is too cute. I seriously want to make it with or without my toddler!
You should! My daughter loved making these with me. I’m lucky that she loves to paint and craft. 🙂
Such detail plans and infirmation! These will be easy to replicate with the clever tips you shared. Pinned tweeted, and G+ thank you!
They are a lot easier to make than they look. I’m so glad you like them!
Love these! I’m going to have to search for that book 🙂
My kids are going to love these! Thanks for the tutorial!
You’re so very welcome! I’m so glad you like them and will be making some with your kids. You are right, they are going to love them. Ours looked great on our tree until they disappeared… into my daughters purse because she loves them so much. I don’t blame her, she did make them. 🙂
Beautiful! – – Love this paint tip (masking tape the heads!!!)
These are adorable! I love simple holiday crafts like this. So cute, and so meaningful! Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad you like them! Thank you for the kind words. It makes this all worth the while. Happy Holidays! 🙂