One of the things on our list of twenty five things to do before Christmas was to go visit the Festival of Trees in downtown Greenville at the Hyatt Hotel. JDaniel’s preschool had sponsored and decorated a tree that was to be on display and I wanted him to see it. JDaniel’s school tree had a Happy Birthday to Jesus theme. It was such fun to see the birthday hats that his teacher has worked on right there on the tree.There were many trees on display. I think that there were at least twenty five of them. Some displayed a theme that fit the business that had sponsored the tree and others were decorated by school using homemade ornaments. On the way home I thought about all those uniquely decorated and beautiful trees. There weren’t any that were the same. Each displayed the personality of its designer. We needed to have one of our Christmas activities be decorating our own personal tree.
We have a three foot tree that we put out for JDaniel upstairs that had yet to be decorated. Seeing all those wonderful trees gave me an idea. Why not have JDaniel decorate the tree with recycled treasures. He loves to collect treasures and used them to create with.
JDaniel and I scoured the house and garage looking for things that he could use to decorate the tree.
Here are some of the things we found for our Christmas activities treasure tree:
- Mardi Gras Beads
- Hawaiian Lei
- Netting From a Bag of Sweet Potatoes
- Bottle Caps and Lids
- Tulle from last Christmas
- Stickers leftover from decorating Party Hat Christmas Trees
- Ribbons and Bows
- Bread Tags
After we had gathered all the items that could be used to decorate, JDaniel started creating. This was going to be a “Do Your Own Thing” tree JDaniel informed me.
He had a wonderful time putting things on the tree and taking them off. Things were placed over and over again in new spots. Decorating a tree is very serious business and he was going to make sure it was done well. He did a great job with the tree. I love the idea of a Hawaiian lei garland and bow star.
The lei ended up being decorated with foam stickers as did old jar lids and the tree limbs themselves. It was such fun to sit back and watch him work. Old bread tags made wonderful ornaments and ribbon pieces were shoved (placed) into branches to make really whimsical decorations.
He is going to redecorate this tree many times until Christmas I think. It will be fun to watch him create and recreate decorations. I don’t mind I love that he has made recycled treasures into a wonderful Christmas treasure three. He also worked on his small motor, creativity, and planning skills while doing it.
Here are some more Christmas activities:
Fine Motor Christmas Activities
You will find more Christmas activities on my Christmas Learning Activities board on Pinterest.
What sensory activities have your children been working on?
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Great job!
What a great job they did! I love that idea!
very cute, love the thrifty and green aspect of this activity!
Nice job! Love when the kids get involved!
He did such a good job brainstorming on things to decorate with!
How fun! 🙂
I think he did a fantastic job – it looks amazing!
That is a cool tree. How fun!
How fun and and what a great way to teach your child about recycling.
I LOVE the recycled treasures Christmas tree! Such a cute idea and he did an fantastic decorating job!
Both trees are so cute! I’m sure decorating his own tree will be a great memory for years to come.
Fun! He certainly did do a great job decorating the tree.
ohh I bet the festival of trees is so cool to attend. I think he did a great job on your tree. How fun!
His tree looks excellent. He must be delighted in it!
I love the Happy Birthday to Jesus theme, lovely!
This is such a great idea! I love how his tree turned out!
I love his tree! It actually looks a lot like our proper tree..
How fun! that is the size of our yearly tree…lol. Looks like he has a great time decorating it.
That looks like a great tree. How fun that you let JDaniel decorate it any way he wanted. He did a great job!
I love the “do your own thing” tree.
What fun.
And so creative.
Merry Christmas!
=D
Oh I love that your son decorated the tree with recycled ornaments! It came out so cute!
I love that you were inspired to let your little guy decorate a tree all his own. Adorable!! 🙂
What a gorgeous and magical activity 🙂
Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!
Maggy
you are such a great mom.
what a fun activity 🙂
Very nice Christmas atmosphere, some excellent ornaments. Greetings.
Looks lovely!
You always have fun ideas! I love the recycled idea. I’d love to have you share at Share It Saturday today if you have the chance.
http://www.teachbesideme.com/2012/12/share-it-saturday.html
Thanks!
So cute and what a great idea! I love the bow on the top. I like to let my children make one ornament a year from whatever they want to put on the main tree. It is so funny how the little things bring us so much joy. Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library!
What a unique and beautiful creation! 😉 I love how it’s connected with something he did both at school and out in the community, too. I had never thought to use netting from my root vegetable bags in projects before, but that’s a clever little idea, too!
Great idea! Love it! I will do this next year, my son can decorate his OWN tiny tree with upcycled objects and keep it in his room! Only 11 more months to go!
Thank you for linking up to the Montessori Moms Holiday Hop! I pinned your activity to our board http://pinterest.com/debchitwood/montessori-holiday-hop/ and shared it on my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/LisaNolanMontessori.
Love this. My daughter has sensory issues an this is a great one…