This Elf Clay Pot Ornament craft is one of our super cute Christmas crafts for kids. They’ll have fun creating it whether or not you have a visiting elf on your shelf.

They will love transforming plain mini clay flower pots from the craft store into adorable elf ornaments to hang on the Christmas tree. If you don’t want to hang them, they would look adorable on a shelf too.

It’s a great project for preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school children to make at home or school. They’ll love making a new ornament for the tree!

Black text at top reads Elf Clay Pot Ornaments. Black text at bottom reads Christmas Craft for Kids. Two finished elf clay pot crafts arranged by a garland of evergreen. One elf is painted with lighter skin tone and one is painted with darker skin tone. They are wearing green felt hats.

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Elf Mini Terra Cotta Flower Pot Ornament

Children will have fun painting the clay pots and transforming them into little elves.

This project makes an excellent family activity and it works great as a classroom art project too!

Younger kids may need assistance with cutting out the felt pieces and assembling their elves.

If doing this as a group activity, I recommend prepping the felt pieces ahead of time.

Older kids can complete this project with minimal assistance.

Two completed clay pot elf head ornaments sitting next to each other in front of evergreen garland. Both elves have green felt hats and collars. One has lighter skin tone and one has darker skin tone.

These flower pot elves make a great homemade Christmas gift. They are Christmas ornaments that you can hang year after year.

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For assembly, I recommend using a low temp hot glue gun, but you can also use my favorite tacky craft glue. The craft glue will take longer to dry between steps and may not hold as well as hot glue long term.

It’s the perfect craft activity to go along with reading Christmas picture books for kids!

More Christmas Crafts for Kids

Twine, mini clay flower pots, scissors, googly eyes, black marker, acrylic paint bottles, green, light brown, and peach craft felt, and glue gun for clay pot elf craft.

Clay Pot Elf Craft Supplies:

Printable CLAY POT ELF CRAFT TEMPLATE
Mini Clay Pots (2.5” in diameter)
Acrylic Craft Paint in Flesh Tone Colors, Kelly Green, and Pink
Craft Felt in Bright Green, Kelly Green, and Flesh Tone Colors to Match Paint
Natural Jute Twine
2 Googly Eyes per clay pot
Gold Tinsel Pom Poms
Red and White Baker’s Twine
Black Permanent Marker
Low Temp Glue Gun or Tacky Craft Glue
Scissors
Paintbrush
Pencil with New Eraser

You can use tacky craft glue for this project, but you will have to wait for it to dry. Using a hot glue gun will also make the finished ornament more durable.

How to Make a Mini Clay Pot Elf:

First you will need to download and print out our printable Clay Pot Elf craft template (available for free using the form at the end of this post) or plan to draw and cut out your own pieces freehand.

Paint the rim of the 2.5” clay pot with kelly green acrylic craft paint. Let the paint dry and apply a second coat, if necessary.

2 clay pots next to each other with the top rim outside the flower pots painted kelly green. Paint bottle sitting to the left.

Then flip the mini pots upside down and paint the rest of the clay pot with your choice of flesh tone acrylic paint. Set aside to dry and apply a second coat if needed before moving on.

Two clay pots flipped upside down. Bottom rim of both is painted green. One pot is painted a darker skin tone and one is painted a lighter skin tone.

Glue two googly eyes to the side of each elf head with a glue gun and glue sticks.

Dip a new pencil eraser (or an item of similar size and shape) in pink acrylic craft paint and press it lightly against the side of the clay pot twice to make rosy cheeks.

Two painted clay pots with googly eyes and round pink painted cheeks. Pink paint bottle to the left and hot glue gun to the right.

Next, cut out the Clay Pot Elf Patterns and use them to trace and cut out pointy felt ears. (Use matching flesh tone colors of paint and felt.)

Light brown felt elf shaped ears glued to sides of one clay pot. Light colored felt ears cut out and laying in front of the other flower pot. Scissors and hot glue gun to the right.

Attach the felt ears to the right and left of the elf clay pot with a glue gun and glue sticks. Use where you placed the eyes and cheeks to determine ear placement.

Trace and cut out a collar from bright green craft felt. Then create a zigzag pattern by cutting out triangles along the long edge of the rectangle.

Light green felt strip cut with one jagged side laying in front of both clay pot elf heads. Clay pot on the right has green felt glued around the bottom like a collar and gold pom poms glued to the points.

Glue gold tinsel pom poms to each point on the collar with a glue gun and glue sticks. Then glue the collar onto the rim of the clay pot.

Cut a 12” length of natural jute twine and tie it in a loop with a knot. Push the twine loop through the hole of the pot, leaving the knot inside. Use a glue gun to secure the knot and loop in place for hanging the ornament.

To make the elf’s hat, trace and cut out the large rectangle pattern using kelly green craft felt. Trace and cut the hat trim from bright green craft felt.

Demonstrating how elf hat with trim should look with dark green felt cut in larger rectangle and thin strip of light green felt cut out with one jagged side.

Make another zigzag pattern by cutting out triangles along the edge of the thin hat trim rectangle. Then glue the trim to the larger hat piece along one side.

Glue the hat around the clay pot just above the ears and glue the seam at the back of the hat to create a cylindrical shape.

Showing where to glue on the felt hat to clay pot elf. One elf has hat being added and the other is turned around to show where to glue the seam.

Cut a 10” length of red and white baker’s twine and tie it in a bow securely around the felt to create the elf hat. Make sure the twine loop is sticking out through the top of the hat.

One felt elf hat has red and white twine tied around it to give it a finished hat look.

Finally, take a permanent black marker and draw a smile from cheek to cheek.

Two finished clay pot elf Christmas crafts with smile added using black marker.

Now your mini clay pot elf is ready to be used as a cut place card for Christmas dinner, a fun gift tag on a holiday present, or as a Christmas ornament!

Christmas Coffee Filter Crafts for Kids:

Elf Clay Pot Christmas Ornament Craft

Yield: 1

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: $10 or less

Make a cute elf ornament using a small clay flower pot with this easy Christmas craft for kids!

Materials

Printable CLAY POT ELF PATTERNS
Mini Clay Pots (2.5” in diameter)
Acrylic Craft Paint in Flesh Tone Colors, Kelly Green, and Pink
Craft Felt in Bright Green, Kelly Green, and Flesh Tone Colors to Match Paint
Natural Jute Twine
2 Googly Eyes per clay pot
Gold Tinsel Pom Poms
Red and White Baker’s Twine

Tools

Black Permanent Marker
Low Temp Glue Gun or Tacky Craft Glue
Scissors
Paintbrush
Pencil with New Eraser

Instructions

First you will need to download and print out our Clay Pot Elf craft template or plan to draw and cut out your own pieces freehand.
Paint the rim of the 2.5” clay pot with kelly green acrylic craft paint. Let the paint dry and apply a second coat, if necessary.
Then flip the mini pots upside down and paint the rest of the clay pot with your choice of flesh tone acrylic paint. Set aside to dry and apply a second coat if needed before moving on.
Glue two googly eyes to the side of each elf head with a glue gun and glue sticks. Dip a new pencil eraser (or an item of similar size and shape) in pink acrylic craft paint and press it lightly against the side of the clay pot twice to make rosy cheeks.
Next, cut out the Clay Pot Elf Patterns and use them to trace and cut out pointy felt ears. (Use matching flesh tone colors of paint and felt.) Attach the felt ears to the right and left of the elf clay pot with a glue gun and glue sticks. Use where you placed the eyes and cheeks to determine ear placement.
Trace and cut out a collar from bright green craft felt. Then create a zigzag pattern by cutting out triangles along the long edge of the rectangle.
Glue gold tinsel pom poms to each point on the collar with a glue gun and glue sticks. Then glue the collar onto the rim of the clay pot.
Cut a 12” length of natural jute twine and tie it in a loop with a knot. Push the twine loop through the hole of the pot, leaving the knot inside. Use a glue gun to secure the knot and loop in place for hanging the ornament.
To make the elf’s hat, trace and cut out the large rectangle pattern using kelly green craft felt. Trace and cut the hat trim from bright green craft felt.
Make another zigzag pattern by cutting out triangles along the edge of the thin hat trim rectangle. Then glue the trim to the larger hat piece along one side.
Glue the hat around the clay pot just above the ears and glue the seam at the back of the hat to create a cylindrical shape.
Cut a 10” length of red and white baker’s twine and tie it in a bow securely around the felt to create the elf hat. Make sure the twine loop is sticking out through the top of the hat.
Finally, take a permanent black marker and draw a smile from cheek to cheek.
Now your mini clay pot elf is ready to be used as a cut place card for Christmas dinner, a fun gift tag on a holiday present, or as a Christmas ornament!

Notes

You can use tacky craft glue for this project, but you will have to wait for it to dry. Using a hot glue gun will also make the finished ornament more durable.

Younger kids may need assistance with cutting out the felt pieces and assembling their elves. If doing this as a group activity, I recommend prepping the felt pieces ahead of time.

Darcy Zalewski

Darcy is the founder of “Life With Darcy and Brian,” where she combines her love for education, board games, and crafting to create engaging learning experiences for kids. Her creative projects and writing have been featured in outlets like The Toy Insider, CafeMom, Mom.com, Parents.com, Country Living, and The Pioneer Woman.