Christmas tree

Christmas Tree Decorating Center

December 23, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

This Christmas tree decorating center has been a staple in my preschool classroom for many years. I introduce it every year in place of setting up a large Christmas tree. The center is effortless to put up, and the supplies store in one tub. During the festive holiday season, decorations on the tree get put up and taken down by little learners on a regular basis.

In preparation for this tactile center I purchased a variety of small Christmas trees one year just after Christmas Day. They were deeply discounted…around $5.00 Canadian per tree. Now every December I place them on a table covered with a soft white tablecloth and add child-friendly decorations.

Setting Up The Christmas Tree Decorating Center

After arranging the branches on the Christmas trees, I gather small baskets and fill them with non-breakable Christmas decorations.

Baskets of child-friendly decorations for a Christmas tree decorating center.

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Christmas Tree Art

December 21, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

This Christmas tree art is quick to set up and simple to do. And it gives early learners a chance to explore color shades and brightness.

Supplies to Collect

green, yellow and white tempera paint

12-inch x 18-inch sturdy paper

paint palettes

paintbrushes

paper towel squares

metallic green star confetti

gold and green Christmas gift bows

Making The Christmas Tree Art

Cut long, narrow triangles from large sheets of sturdy paper. Shown below is manila paper.

Pour dark green, medium green, yellow, and white tempera paint into artist palettes. This color scheme works well when children keep the colors separate or do a lot of blending.

Invite your early learners to paint a triangle. They will embrace painting a unique shape.

Christmas tree art set up with white, yellow, and green paint hues.

A paper towel works well to dab excess paint from the brush before switching to a new color. This is a helpful tip from Patty Palmer’s book “Draw, Paint, Sparkle.”

Painting technique to use when switching paint colors.

Next, have your little charges sprinkle on metallic stars while the paint is still wet. They will loooove doing this too!

Painted triangular tree ready to be topped with a Christmas gift bow.

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Handprint Christmas Crafts

December 18, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

There has been a return in popularity of paper grocery bags, so why not use a few for handprint Christmas crafts? The bags are sturdy and give craft projects a vintage feel.

Here are a few festive, heart-tugging crafts that employ brown paper bags as a base.

Handprint Heart Decorations

Cut hearts from paper grocery bags. Feel free to download this heart printable to use as a template.

Heart printable for art and craft projects.

Heart Template Download

This printable is for personal or one classroom use only.

Set out bright red tempera paint and a paper heart. Invite your early learner to dip a hand in the paint and make a print on the heart.

Invitation to make a red handprint on a paper bag heart.

Or, invite your little one to paint a hand and then make the print. This takes more time, but the result is often neater.

Invitation to paint a hand to make a print on a paper bag heart.

After the handprint heart dries, hot glue on a red bow. Then add a looped ribbon to hang the craft.

Red handprint heart craft ready for hanging.

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Build A Christmas Tree STEAM Activity

December 15, 2019 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Invitation to build a Christmas tree from clear plastic serving trays, plates, and cups, A family STEAM activity with many opportunities for learning.

This “Build A Christmas Tree” STEAM activity offers a unique opportunity to incorporate construction, lights, and Christmas decorations in an engaging way. Materials needed are readily available and easy to collect. In the process of building a tree and decorating it, young children progress in many areas of development.

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