Bow Tie Pasta Ornaments
These bow tie pasta ornaments are SO CUTE! This fun and simple Christmas craft for kids is super easy to make, and it’s so pretty and festive!
Create a Christmas tree shape using dried pasta noodles then decorate it with colourful buttons, pom poms, or rhinestones as the Christmas ornaments. This activity is lots of fun, and it’s a great way to keep the kids busy during the holiday season!
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How to Make Bow Tie Pasta Ornaments
Materials:
- Acrylic paint(green and brown)
- Cardboard
- Bow tie pasta
- Button stickers
- Foam star sticker(s)
- Twine
Equipment:
- Small bowl(or paint palette)
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Paint a piece of cardboard
- Add green paint to a small bowl or paint palette.
- Paint a piece of cardboard that’s about 7 inches across and 9 inches tall. (The size of the cardboard doesn’t have be exact, but we recommend somewhere around this size.)It’s helpful to place the cardboard on a foil lined baking tray or something else that protects your table/working surface.
- Continue painting until the whole front of the cardboard is covered.Allow it to dry, then add a second coat of paint if needed.
Step 3: Add pasta to the cardboard
- Set the bow tie pasta out on the cardboard in a rough tree shape, leaving room at the bottom of the cardboard for a tree trunk.We placed 4 pieces of pasta in the bottom row, 3 in the second, and 2 on the top row.
- To connect the pasta to the cardboard, lift up one piece at a time and add a line of hot glue to the center of the pasta.You can also use school glue or tacky glue, it just takes longer to dry.
- Flip the pasta back over and press it into place.Repeat until all 9 pieces of pasta are glued to the cardboard in a tree shape.
Step 4: Paint the pasta tree
- Use brown paint to create a thick tree trunk at the bottom of the cardboard.Our tree trunk is almost as wide as the center 2 pieces of pasta.
- Paint the glued on pasta with the same green paint that you used on the cardboard.
- Once the brown paint is dry enough, glue a piece of pasta horizontally on the tree trunk.
- Then paint the pasta on the tree trunk brown to match the cardboard below.Allow to dry.
- Paint a second coat of paint on the pasta and allow it to dry.
Step 5: Cut out the Christmas tree shape
- Once the paint is dry you can cut out the Christmas tree shape from the cardboard.We found it easiest to make several angled cuts following the outer shape of the pasta.
- Then you can cut towards the middle of the tree to finish off your tree shape. Cut as close to the pasta as you can, even cutting a little behind it if you can.
- Continue on the other side until the whole tree is cut out.
Step 6: Decorate the pasta Christmas tree
- Add buttons, pom poms or rhinestones onto the cardboard between the noodles to decorate your tree.
- Attach a glittery foam star sticker to the top of the tree. You can also cut a star shape out of craft foam or yellow paper and glue it on.
- Cut a piece of twine, about 8 inches long, and fold it in half. Flip the tree over and place the loose ends of the twine towards the top.
- Add hot glue over the twine ends. Hold them until they stay in place.
- Your bow tie pasta Christmas tree ornament is complete!
Helpful Tip:
- If you don’t want to use hot glue, white school glue or tacky glue will work as well. You’ll just have to wait a little longer for the glue to dry.
What type of noodle is used to make these pasta ornaments?
We used dried bow tie pasta (also called farfalle pasta) to make these pasta ornaments. The shape of the pasta looks just like the branches of a Christmas tree!
Can I make a 3D bow tie pasta Christmas tree?
Yes, you can definitely make a 3D pasta Christmas tree! We made a Christmas tree using shell pasta last year (and it was SO PRETTY!), but you can also use bow tie pasta and overlap each layer a bit.
What type of paint is used on these bow tie pasta ornaments?
We used inexpensive acrylic paint to cover the cardboard and the dried pasta, but you can also use tempera paint. Or dye the pasta beforehand using food colouring or liquid watercolour paint.
Is there an easy way to cut out the Christmas tree shape?
If you want a really nice Christmas tree shape you can print off one of our Christmas tree templates! Then trace the tree shape of your choice onto the cardboard after painting it and cut out the shape. Then you can glue the noodles onto your precut Christmas tree shape.
What can I use as Christmas ornaments on my bow tie pasta Christmas tree?
We used button stickers, rhinestone stickers, and pom poms to decorate our pasta ornaments. You could also glue on sequins, a ribbon “garland”, or cut circles from paper or felt.
This bow tie pasta Christmas tree ornament is super cute! It’s so fun to use noodles to create festive art that can go on your Christmas tree!
Here’s even more Christmas tree craft ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
