Kids' Christmas crafts, part 1 of 3

I forgot to tell y'all about my proud parent moment a few weeks ago. I feel like such a stage mom sharing this, but I think it might be of interest to other parents who are trying to raise their kids in a creative environment. 

So, J and I are at Bo's parent-teacher conference at the Montessori school. Miss Joan is telling us how Bo is friendly, polite, inquisitive, blah, blah, blah. It's all lovely to hear, but I totally perked up when Miss Joan said, "And I'm really impressed by her fine motor skills. For her age, she's quite good at doing detailed things with her fingers."

J gave me a crooked smile from his awkward perch in a kid-sized chair across the circle-time rug. "It's all the arts and crafts she does at home!" we both said at the same time--him with an eye roll and me somewhat resembling a peacock displaying her feathers. Ah ha! Redemption for all the crap I take when I come home with a bag of stuff from the craft store!!

During the holidays, I think even non-crafters get artsy fartsy with their kids. It's such a time to hunker down and pull out the glitter shaker. 

Oddly enough, all Bo has wanted to make these days are spaceships. I have managed to squeeze in a few Christmas projects, though, so the next few posts will be a roundup in case you need a little 4 p.m.-on-a-snowy-Wednesday inspiration.

Here's the first installment:

3-D Cardboard Christmas Tree

We made a tabletop tree one day out of an old cardboard box. Bo loved it because it involved her two favorite things in life: paint and glue.

First, draw a tree on a piece of cardboard. Cut it out with an X-acto knife.

Place the cut-out tree on another piece of cardboard and trace it. Cut the second tree out with an X-acto knife. 

Cut slits up the center of the trees as shown so that they slide into one another. If your slits are snug enough, you won't need glue, but mine was a little loosey goosey, so I hot-glue gunned the crack. 

Give the child paint and a paintbrush and let him/her go at it. At first Bo was just going to do a few brush strokes on each surface, but I said, "I wonder if you could cover the whole thing with paint" and she went for it.

After the paint dries, get out the Elmer's glue, cut shapes from felt or paper or give the child jewels or stickers--whatever--and have them decorate the tree. 

Bo's mint green tree is on display now in our kitchen.

Coming soon, Snowy Pine Cones.

Comments

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Nice going with the little question, Mama. Some good parenting tips mixed in between the glue and the paint. Yay!

[Megan]

Thanks, Cherie. That's nice to hear. Does it make up for the fact that I left a baby gate open yesterday and Magpie fell down an entire flight of stairs?
She's OK, by the way. I took longer to recover than she did.

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