Paper Strip Christmas Tree

Easy Christmas Craft for Preschoolers

We have been having so much fun creating Christmas crafts over the last few weeks. SO far we created beautiful ornaments, a recycled paper Christmas tree, played games and had lots of Christmas fun together. However, I have to say that this simple Paper Strip Christmas Tree craft might be one of my favorites. The kids had a blast creating it, and I love how it turned out! Their favorite part was adding the jeweled ornaments.

Paper Strip Christmas Tree Materials:

Brown paper for the base (although green would work great as well)
Masking tape
Green paper – cut into 4″ x 1/2″ strips
White Glue
Shallow container – for the glue
Jewels

Start by forming the brown paper into a cone. This will serve as a base for all the “tree branches”. We secured ours with masking tape.

We used a recycled Styrofoam food tray to pour our glue into. Dip the green paper strip into the glue, and place it on the tree.

Be prepared for lots of drippy glue:) Keeps adding branches until the tree is finished. They look cute as Charlie Brown trees too.

Set your drippy Christmas tree aside to dry.

Once the tree is dry add the beautiful jeweled ornaments.

This tree was so simple and cute to create, and only used 1 sheet of green paper, 1 sheet of brown paper, glue and a few jewels. A every inexpensive craft that would be easy to replicate with a number of children. You could also add pompoms, buttons, glitter, foam stickers, colored paper pieces, etc instead of the jewels to make it even more inexpensive.

Click on the link to find more creative Christmas inspiration.

Pompom Wrapping Paper

Have you seen the new Handpainted pompom wrapping paper from Anthropologie? It is so adorable! Although being a frugal mom, there was no way I could justify spending more on wrapping paper than the gift that the paper was hiding! So me and my daughter grabbed our glue gun and created our own Pompom Wrapping Paper. I must say it is equally adorable at a tenth the cost!

To make your own Anthropologie inspired pompom wrapping paper, you will need:

A roll of newsprint – or other neutral colored wrapping paper. I have mentioned before that we love our roll of newsprint. It costed us around $5 for a large roll. We purchased ours from our local newspaper printing company about 7 years ago. It gets used all the time and it still has tons of paper on it.
Small red pompoms – or any color you like
Hot glue gun
Natural twine – or yarn would work great as well
Plus all the regular gift wrapping items like tape and scissors

Cut a sheet of your newsprint larger than you would normally use. Then crumple it into a ball. Take care so it does not tear. You can open the paper up and then crumple it again until you have the desired look. Once you have it looking the way you like, wrap your gift like you would normally. I love the texture that the crumpled paper adds. Your kids will love crumpling up the paper for you! Finally gift wrapping that boys will want to join in on:)

Once your gift is wrapped, tie your twine around it. We created a little flower bow on the top of ours.

Take care when your little ones are using a hot glue gun! We have a special gun that runs at a lower temperature, but they can still get burned. My kids have been using the glue gun for a while now and they love it! It might not be considered a normal kid crafting item, but with proper guidance kids love using “real” craft supplies.

Simple glue the pompoms all over your wrapping paper in a random pattern. There is no need to cover the bottom since no one will be looking at the bottom of your present:) That will also cut down on the number of pompoms needed to cover your paper. You will want to make sure you glue pompoms onto the side of your gift though.

I love how this little gift turned out, and Bree was really proud of her creation as well. I love the 3D polka dot feel!

If you are looking for more gift wrapping inspiration check out what else we have created here.

Creative ways to teach kids the true meaning of Christmas

Christmas is a wonderful season. However, during the hustle and bustle, it is easy to loose sight of the real reason our family celebrates Christmas. I am participating in a collaborative blog hop where the focus is on the Nativity! I’m so excited to see what everyone comes up with! I decided to share a few creative ways to teach kids the true meaning of Christmas. We are focusing on spending time together as a family and while being reminded of the Nativity story.

We love to play games in our house so I decided to revamp a few of our old favorites. I ended up making a Christmas version of the game Guess Who, Hedbanz and creating a glow in the dark Nativity hunt. These ideas are a perfect way to spend a fun family night together, while being reminded of the Nativity story.

Guess Who – Nativity Style!

Our version is played the same as the regular Guess Who game, just with the characters from the Nativity. We have an older style Guess Who board that we bought at the thrift store a number of years ago. We removed all the regular Guess Who cards from our game and replaced them with the Nativity cards that I created.

I drew 24 characters from the Nativity and scaled them down to fit into the Guess Who board. I then printed the cards off in black and white, colored them and backed them on either red or blue paper (so we could tell which cards went with which boards). Once all the cutting pasting was done, we had a blast playing our new game. There was lots of giggles as the kids were asking questions to figure out which of the Nativity characters the other one had. Some of the questions were hilarious!

This simple game was a great way for us to connect as a family, and focus on the Nativity. I love when we can “sneak” teachable moments into everyday life!

Sorry there is no PDF for the Guess Who – Nativity Style yet, but I’m working on it. If you are interested just leave me a comment and can hopefully get one to you soon.

Nativity HedBanz

Kids love the fast paced silly HedBanz Game. It is a fun game where you try to guess the card that you have in your head band. It is fast paced since you are racing to guess who you are before the 1 min timer beeps.

Again we changed out the cards that came with the game with the Nativity cards I created. We spent the evening giggling and laughing as we each tried to figure out which of the Nativity characters we were wearing on our head. This was a silly way to focus on the Nativity and while having fun together.

You could also draw the cards yourself, or make cards with only the name of the characters printed on them. You could also just use a stretchy head band or tie fabric around your head to keep the card on. No need to be fancy, just have fun!

Sorry there is no PDF for the Nativity Hedbanz yet, but I’m working on it. If you are interested just leave me a comment and can hopefully get one to you soon.

Glow in the Dark Nativity Hunt

My kids think that any game played in the dark is way better! They love to play family Hide ‘n Seek in the dark and they always request it to be added to our family activities in our advent calendar each year.

I found a Nativity set at the thrift store for really cheap. It did not have to be pretty, but I needed it to have as many of the nativity characters as possible. I then painted each of the pieces with glow in the dark paint. I know, it seems funny to be painting them, but I promise your kids will have a blast hunting for the glowing baby Jesus! Like a regular hunt, hide the pieces throughout the designated space. You can do this indoors, or outside depending on the weather.

As the kids find the pieces have them tell you who they are and what roll they played in the Christmas story. Have them re-tell the story for you. You might be surprised at what they know and remember.

This little nativity set will not be placed on my mantel, but it will be a treasured part of your Christmas Advent! I’m sure like the family hide ‘n seek game, this glowing Nativity hunt will become a part of our yearly advent activities calendar!

Each of these fun games will get packed away along with the Christmas decorations each year. I hope that they become a fun Christmas tradition that my kids look forward to playing.

Here are some more great ideas on how to play together as a family while focusing on the nativity:

Try out this fun group game at your next Christmas party. The Right Left Christmas Game Based on the Nativity from Diva Girl Parties and Stuff. This is a fun way to do a gift exchange. You will need the right left story (which is printable from their site) and a gift to pass during the game.
Have a family Lego night and try out The Christmas Story: The Brick Bible for Kids. We don’t own it, but I know that it would be a hit in our house. What kids (or adults!) wouldn’t love to recreate the Christmas story in Lego’s?!
Why not have a fun movie night! The Very First Noel is my all time favorite Christmas movie! I know it is geared at the kids, but I love it. This story is told from the 3 Wise Men’s perspective and their journey to find the new born King.
The Truth in the Tinsel is also a wonderful resource! They have a wonderful advent calendar that you can purchase, plus their site is packed full of wonderful ideas on how to make the holidays meaningful!

We also made this adorable Stained Glass Nativity craft. It is so easy to make and perfect for creating with toddlers and preschoolers. For full instructions on how to make your own stained glass nativity, click on the link or the picture.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.theimaginationtree.com" title="The Imagination Tree" target="_blank"><img src="http://rainydaymum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/focus-on-the-Nativity.jpg" alt="The Imagination Tree" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Here is a list of all the blogs that are collaborating in the Nativity Blog Hop. They all have wonderful ideas to share, so hop on over that check out how they are celebrating the Nativity with their kids! Now onto the Blog Hop!

The Imagination Tree Living Montessori Now Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers My Nearest And Dearest Life At The Zoo Creative Connection for Kids This Reading Mama Adventures in Mommydom Train up A Child Rainy Day Mum 3 Dinosaurs Crafty Mom Share The Magic Of Play Sun Hats and Wellieboots The Fairy and The Frog Housing a Forest The Iowa Farmers Wife Preschool Book Club Craft o Art The Golden Gleam Here Come The Girls Mamas Like Me In Lieu Of Preschool Kids Creative Chaos My Small Potatoes Love Play And Learn Kids World Citizen

18 Christmas Tree Crafts

Creative collection of Christmas Tree Crafts for kids

If you’re looking for some great ideas for unique and festive Christmas Tree crafts and activities, you’ll want to make sure you check these out.

Christmas Tree Crafts and Activities

Make sure to click the link for full instructions for each project.

1. Your kids will love sculpting and painting these adorable Tin Foil Tree Sculptures from Reading Confetti

2. Make your own Christmas shirts this year from The Chirping Moms

3. Simple Paper Strip Christmas Tree with jeweled ornaments from Housing A Forest

4. I love this simple DIY Tree shaped Threading Toy constructed with salt dough from Mum Central

5. Make your own Christmas Cards this year using a little paint and string from JDaniel4’s Mom

6. Make a giant Felt Christmas Tree that the kids can decorate and redecorate all season long from Adventures at home with Mum

7. Help the kids make adorable Footprint Christmas Tree perfect for giving to Grandma from The Chirping Moms

8. Create super simple Christmas Cards with your toddler this season from Learn with Play at Home

9. Brighten your windows with this simple Christmas Trees sun catcher from 2 Big, 2 Little

10. Work on your sequencing skills with this simple Button Tree activity from Hey Mommy, chocolate milk

11. Put those cutting skills to work with this simple Recycled Paper Christmas Tree craft From Housing A Forest

12. Make your own countdown to Christmas Advent Calendar in the shape of a tree from Learning to Play and Playing to Learn

13. Sparkly up-cycled Christmas Tree craft perfect for all those little odds and ends from Inspire Imagination through Creation

14. Kids can redecorate this simple DIY Felt Christmas Tree over and over from Olives Originals

15. Heathy Christmas Tree Themed Bento your kids are sure to love from JDaniel4’s Mom

16. Edible Christmas Tree Treats that the kids can decorate themselves from Learning to Play and Playing to Learn

17. Count down to Christmas by making a Countdown Tree from Tots and Me

18. I love these little Beaded Twig Ornaments from Housing A Forest

19. Inspirational list of Advent Activities from Keitha’s Chaos

20. Beautiful Stained Glass Ornaments straight from the recycle bin from Housing A Forest

Stained Glass Nativity

Easy preschool Christmas craft

I found this adorable stained glass nativity on Pinterest and I couldn’t wait to make it with my kids. This nativity project is perfect to make with your preschooler this Christmas, and will look great hanging in your window, or on your Christmas tree.

Stained Glass Nativity materials:

Contact paper
Nativity Silhouette – Free Nativity Printable
Colorful tissue paper cut into squares
Scissors

Print and cut out your nativity
Lay out your contact paper sticky side up.
Center your nativity silhouette on top of the contact paper.
Begin placing squares of tissue paper inside the nativity silhouette to create the look of stained glass.
Once the nativity is filled with tissue paper, lay a second sheet of contact paper on top of the entire project. Be careful not to trap air bubbles.
Trim the excess contact paper with scissors.
You can either tape your stained glass nativity to your window or use a hole punch and hang it from a string. Either way, it will look great.

We also created mini stained glass nativity ornaments. We used the same process above. I just shrunk the nativity on my printer, and cut the squares of tissue paper smaller.

I think the kids actually enjoyed making the mini version better.

Both versions are adorable and a fun treasure to pull out each Christmas. They would also look great as gift tags, or on special Christmas cards.

If you are looking for more simple stained glass projects for kids, check out these adorable recycled stained glass ornaments we made a couple of weeks ago. Another simple and inexpensive Christmas craft to make with your kids. I love them! We also made this simple Tinfoil and Sharpie Art that looks just like stained glass.