Christmas Tree

Here's an activity that will get you and your child into the holiday spirit. With a little bit of help and imagination, your child can magically transform a simple magazine into a miniature Christmas tree that will bring holiday cheer to any room in the house. Kids will experience a sense of accomplishment and you will feel good about recycling and reusing materials gathered from around the house. And when the holidays are over, gently tuck your magazine Christmas tree into a box and save for next year, and many years to come.
This activity helps build your child’s fine motor skills, focus, creativity, and attention to detail.

What You Do:

Beginning with the first page after the magazine cover, have your child fold the top right corner of the page over so the top edge of the page rests along the spine and forms a triangle. This creates the branches of the tree.

Then have your child fold the bottom right corner in to create another, smaller triangle. The upper edge of the small triangle should be flush with the lower edge of the large triangle. This creates the base of the tree.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 with each page of the magazine until all the pages are folded.

Once the folding is done, help your child thoroughly coat the magazine with spray paint and allow it to dry overnight. Be sure to spray the magazine over old newspapers or a drop cloth to avoid a mess.

Apply a second coat of spray paint if necessary.

Now the tree is ready to decorate! Have your child use her imagination to embellish the tree with the small decorations; it can be as realistic or as stylized as she wants.