Do you have a little one in your house that would redecorate the Christmas tree every single day until Christmas? If so, here is a great idea to let those little hands get creative with their very own little Christmas tree. Using a dollar store cone and some felt you can create them their very own Christmas Tree that they can decorate over and over again, any way they would like, all season long! Felt ornaments, lights and garland allow them to move things around and change things up without breaking the real ornaments on the tree.
I will never forget my son’s first Christmas. He was 10 months old and completely smitten with everything that our blinky, shiny decorated Christmas tree had to offer. How is a mother supposed to say no don’t touch any of that stuff when their little eyes are staring at it with such wonder and amazement? Big eyes, and little hands just yearning to redecorate things day after day. My kids are now a bit older, and much more understanding about the whole idea of a Christmas tree. A few years have passed and my kids no longer need to be herded away from the tree, but I do still catch them moving a special ornament from place to place throughout the holiday season. There is something very exciting about the thought of redecorating the Christmas tree for kids at any age. Maybe it’s the thrill of having it just the way they want it, or because they had so much fun decorating it the first time, that they just want to do it again?
This year I wanted to come up with a craft that they could do that would allow them to do just that, but skip the cringing face and gritted teeth as they reach for the real Christmas tree. I have seen all sorts of creative ideas for felt Christmas trees that kids could decorate, and redecorate. Most that I saw were really simple, and cute, but also very one dimensional. A tree shape cut out of felt and placed somewhere where felt ornaments could be added. Using that idea as inspiration I set out to figure out a way to make the kid’s each their own 3D Christmas tree that they could do with as they wished all Christmas season long. At a recent trip to the dollar store I spotted some little cones in the Christmas section that would prove to be the perfect solution.
A hot glue gun, some scissors, and various colors of felt were all I needed to turn those dollar store cones into a blank Christmas tree canvas for the kids.
Here is how you can create your own little trees:
- Roll your cone across the green felt and trace along it’s path with a marker
- Cut out the traced shape
- Using hot glue wrap the foam cone in the green felt
- Let the kids color or paint (or glitter) a wooden craft star
- Glue a toothpick to the back of it
- Insert star into the top of the tree
- Cut out different sized and shaped balls from different colored felt for ornaments and lights
- Let the kids enjoy their new Christmas Tree all season long
It is as easy as that. My kids had have been enjoying these trees for a couple of weeks already! They were simply thrilled with the whole idea and are constantly redecorating their little mini Christmas trees! They have gotten very creative and used lots of other objects too. I found the red and green felt zig zag garland at hobby lobby for less than $2.00 and there is more than enough for both kids to have lots of fun decorating with it. Because it is felt as well it sticks easily to the felt tree, and can be repositioned and removed over and over. I cut lots of little ornament, and Christmas light shapes from different colors of felt so that they can make their trees sparkle just the way they want. They have even used things like bead necklaces to change op their trees from day to day.
My favorite part about these is that they look super cute sitting throughout the house! However they have them decorated that day is just right, and they add a little Christmas cheer to whatever room they are in for the day. This is a great quiet craft for them to sit and do at the dinner table while I make dinner, or any time of the day! They have really given the bottom two rows of branches on our real Christmas tree a break this year, and I bet they would at your house too!