Home-made Christmas balls

You can buy solid white expanded polystyrene balls (in different sizes) and transparent plastic balls that separate into 2 halves. Here are a few ideas to help you transform these balls into Christmas balls that you'll look forward to taking out of their box each time Christmas comes around again....

Transparent plastic balls Plastic balls, complete with a hook for hanging, which can be opened up to be decorated and then closed again.

Ball with glitter galore... Open up the ball and apply the glue/varnish spray. Sprinkle with silver glitter. Leave to dry. Draw arabesques all over the ball using a tube of silver glitter glue. Glue on the rhinestones (here we use Swarovski 5mm White Opal Sky Blue rhinestones) at the end loops of the arabesques.

Gold star ball Open up the ball and apply paint for glass (here we're using Pebéo Vitrea 160 glass paint in Sun yellow and Paprika colors) in order to color the inside of the balls (using a narrow applicator sponge).

As soon as the paint is dry, cut out a pattern in a paper napkin, remove the upper layer of the paper and apply glue to the back of the pattern, using the spray glue. Wait a few minutes, then stick it to the inside of the ball (on the area that is most orange).

Using paint for repositionable painting (of the Windows Color type, here we're using imitation lead outliner and glitter paint or Fun & Fancy glass paint), draw stars onto a plastic sleeve and after it has dried, transfer the patterns to the front of the plastic ball. The design will stick fast because paint for glass is flexible and will adapt to the ball's curves without wrinkling.

Expanded polystyrene ball decoration

Here we have a ball completely covered in a patchwork of seed beads in shades of bronze and copper. >> see detailed instructions for making this design

Polystyrene balls that are easy for kids to decorate...

Red ball with glitter finish : a ball is fixed to a polystyrene surface while it's decorated. It's painted red and while the paint is still sticky, rolled in a paper plate full of glitter. This is an easy design for even the very youngest (using paint specifically designed for the under 3s). Paper patchwork ball : Here the ball is covered in pictures cut out of magazines and stuck on using a glossy liquid glue/varnish.

This ball has been decorated with squares of cloth, cut out using decorative-edged scissors and fixed to the ball with wooden toothpicks or cocktail sticks if working with children (or otherwise with small pins) so as to leave no space uncovered. By Loïc, 6,who'sin kindergarten

Where can you find the materials for these designs?

• the glue/varnish spray (in the store "Materials for arts and crafts")
• the ball in transparent plastic or polystyrene
• the Swarovski crystal rhinestones
• there are seed beads in the store"Jewelry and beads"