The Christmas Tree Farm, by Ann Purmell, is one of the new holiday reads here at Praying For Parker. And with a great new book, comes a sensory rich Christmas Tree Craft! I love reading a good book with Parker and then extending it out to a craft or a sensory experience!
The supply list is simple: green felt, a star, fabric glue, and these tinsel pom-poms.
I found the Christmas Tree pattern at www.childcareland.com. I love sites that have downloadable templates. Even my stick people hang their heads in shame.
I let Parker play with the felt tree first. We went though or descriptive words like, “green” and “rough”. I had him trace the outline of the felt tree, and we signed Christmas Tree several times. Remember, we are going for a sensory rich Christmas Tree craft experience.
Next I placed BIG globs of fabric glue on the tree, and let Parker choose a pom-pom to place on the tree. He worked so hard to get each pom-pom in the exact right place. SUCH a difference from when he would just grab a handful of something and huck it. You could do this Christmas Tree craft with buttons too! I chose these tinsel pom-poms because of their great texture.
The Christmas Tree farm tells the story of a family that works all year long, planting, pruning, measuring and tagging trees. From the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve, people will come from all over to find just the right tree.
Oh, how I love the way this kid loves reading books!
What are some of your child’s favorite books for the Christmas season?
I LOVE this idea!!!! And I love that you are tieing your crafts in with books! I think it is such a good way to capture the language-rich experience of literature. I think Parker agrees!
I’ve actually tied books into art projects quite a bit, I guess I just haven’t shared them here! I’ve always been a big fan of the concept of FIAR, just not so crazy on some of their book choices. I like to pick books that I know Parker will love. Let us know if you choose to make this Christmas Tree craft!
Yay, we did it and I even got to blog about it, and we gave you a big shout out to boot!!! http://wordsofhisheart.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/christmas-tree-craft-for-little-fingers/
Thanks for the great idea. Noah loved it and it turned out so pretty!
Blessings and Merry Christmas,
Alyson
Great activity … and I like the book tie-in! I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page and pinned it to my Kids’ Christmas Activities Board at http://pinterest.com/debchitwood/kids-christmas-activities/