Christmas crafts

Here are some directions for fun Christmas crafts to make. Adults will need to help, but allow the preschooler to do any of the steps they are able to. I am sorry that I do not have pictures of these, but will add some later.

Tissue Paper Wreath

1) Take a paper plate and cut out the center.
2) Using a glue stick, put glue on a small section of the plate.
3) Crumple up small squares of green tissue paper and stick them to the plate. Alternatively, you can wrap the square onto the eraser of a pencil and then stick them on (it creates a cup like look to the square). Do this on the entire plate. You can add a few red squares of tissue paper as well to look like berries.
4) Tie a piece of yarn through the circle to hang.


Potpourri Christmas Ornaments

1) Trace a Christmas cookie cutter onto pieces of felt.
2) Take two matching pieces and cut the center out of one of them.
3) Use fabric glue to glue a piece of lace on the backside of the hole you just cut out.
4) Use fabric glue to glue around the sides and bottom of the ornament and stick the two pieces together.
5) Through the open top, place about 2 Tablespoons (adjust according to the size of your ornaments) of potpourri into the center of the ornament.
6) Glue the ends of a piece of thin ribbon inside the two pieces of felt, at the top, creating a loop on the outside of the ornament.
7) Glue the top closed and let dry.

Beaded Candy Cane Ornaments
1) Take a piece of red or white pipe cleaner and thread 1 triangular bead onto it.
2) Bend the very end of the pipe cleaner up to keep the bead from coming off.
3) Continue threading on more beads. This is a great way to teach patterns and can be adjusted according to the childs age. You can just alternate red and white beads, use 3 white beads and then 1 bead, or add a third color to the pattern.
4) Bend the top of the pipe cleaner over the last bead to keep it from coming off easily.
5) Bend the top of the beaded pipe cleaner to create a hook (the candy cane shape). These can be hung just like normal candy canes or you can tie a thin ribbon around the pipe cleaner, between two beads, to create a loop to hang it.

You can find a couple of more ideas on my Homeschool Unit Studies blog as well.