In this hands-on holiday activity, children use felt ornaments to decorate and redecorate 3-D Christmas trees. This play activity is perfect for a classroom center or quiet time activity at home and is a great way to practice fine motor skills and encourage imaginative play. (And it makes a great homemade Christmas decoration too!)
Follow our Christmas for Kids and Family Pinterest board!
*This post was originally published on November 15, 2013 and has since been updated.
I remember being so excited as a child as waiting for Christmas to come. Now I still have that same joy, but the happiness comes from watching my children’s excitement grow as each day passes. I love making little Christmas activities and crafts for them to do to celebrate and prepare for the arrival of Christmas.
I set this felt Christmas tree activity up for the kids one day after school. It was so fun watching them decorate the felt trees with all the colorful circles. This Christmas activity would also make a fun classroom center!
It’s very easy to make and set up. You’ll just need a few materials! (This post contains affiliate links.)
Decorate the Felt Christmas Tree Activity for Kids
Materials for Felt Christmas Tree Activity
- Styrofoam cones
(Similar to this one)
- Green felt (enough to cover your foam cones)
- Scraps of felt in assorted colors
- Toothpicks
- Gold paper
- Scissors (These are my favorite for cutting felt!)
- Glue (I used both a spray glue
and a hot glue gun
.)
How to Make the Felt Christmas Trees & Ornaments
1. Spray the entire styrofoam cone
2. Trim off the excess felt.
3. Use a glue gun to secure the edge of the felt down along the side of the tree.
4. If you’d like to add a star on top, glue a star shaped piece of gold paper onto a toothpick. Then just press the toothpick right into the foam on the top of the tree! (We found these toothpick stars already made a local store.)
5. Follow the previous steps to make as many felt Christmas tress as you’d like!
6. To make the felt ornaments I simply cut out a bunch of little circles from my felt scraps.
Playing with the Felt Christmas Tree
Both Theo and Lucy enjoyed decorating the felt Christmas trees by placing each circle on the tree one at a time. Then Lucy thought it would be fun to roll the Christmas tree all around in the felt circles and see how it looked! The kids loved that the ornaments could be removed and rehung in any way they wanted over and over!
I love how these little felt trees can be left out as holiday decorations and played with whenever the mood strikes. I’m also thinking they’ll become a part of a Christmas small world play scene soon!
