Toddler craft: sparkly Christmas trees

With December fully in swing, I thought it was time to do some seasonal crafting with Frida. 

We have put our tree up (we have a tiny, fake tree this year, as I had read lots of things suggesting that was the safest thing with a kitten in the home. It turns out we can’t leave him alone with it anyway so we could have gotten a real one after all!) and Frida is very taken with it, so I thought it would be nice for her to decorate some of her own. 

We often do crafting early in the day, after we’ve had breakfast – in theory, this allows me to finish my cup of tea and clear away the breakfast things. It doesn’t always pan out that way (and sometimes it just means I have all the things to clear up once she’s finished) but that’s the hope! 

This was so simple to set up. I just offered Frida:

• Christmas tree shapes, cut out of green card;
• Stickers for “baubles”;
• Glitter glue (I mixed some up myself with PVA and loose glitter – Frida chose silver, purple, light blue and dark blue – and used an old egg box to put it in); and
• Paintbrushes. 

I loosely stuck the tree shapes down to a large sheet of paper so they would f move around whilst she was decorating them. When they were dry, I stuck them to a clean, smaller piece of thin card, and have put this up on our wall (see below), but you could stick them on cards or string them up too. 

Frida seemed to enjoy this craft – a good combination of sparkly stuff, stickers, and “mixing” of glue! She has not been in the best mood today – I think she’s getting ill – but this kept her attention and put a smile on her face. 

I’ve made a little Christmas corner in our sitting room with our tree and some books. It turns out Frida really likes Christmas trees! So she’s making me feel much more festive about the holiday season. 

I like displaying Frida’s art and crafts around our home, as I feel like it shows her that her work is precious and valuable and that we treasure it. I will probably frame today’s tree craft and get it out every December. 

I find this time of year fills me with ideas for simple crafts, so I’m looking forward to doing more over seasonal crafts with Frida over the next few weeks (I’ve already got some ideas for doing similar Chanukah based activities too).