Cardboard Roll Christmas Trees

Is the Christmas crafting still in full swing in your house? We can't get enough! With Neve breaking up from school tomorrow I am sure plenty more crafty fun will follow! If you are looking for a calmer Christmas Activity to try we have just shared a Christmas themed Sensory Tray. Christmas can be very overwhelming for some children so calming activities are needed at times.

Today's craft will be using items you no doubt already have at home. I was inspired by Mamae.na.gringa. They tagged us this week to share with us that they had been inspired by our Bubble Wrap Christmas Decorations. I always love seeing activities you get up to so do tag us where you can. As soon as I saw this craft on their profile over on Instagram - I couldn't wait to put our own spin on the Christmas Craft.

You will need 

Card/Paper

Glue

Paint

Paint Brush

Crafty Bits

Cardboard Rolls (use empty rolls from wrapping paper/kitchen roll)

You will need to cut your cardboard rolls up first. You need 10 circles in total to create a tree with 4 layers. If you wanted a tree with just 3 rows you will need 6 circles. If your children have enough strength and control in their hands - give them the opportunity to cut out the circles. I was able to cut out 10 circles from one small cardboard tube (toilet roll size).

There are endless ways you can decorate the backdrop to your tree. You can paint rainbow designs, splat painting that you could link in with Jackson Pollock, stamping painting with your brush. You could stick your cardboard rolls down first and paint afterwards or you could choose to use coloured card and leave the backdrop plain. Each design will be completely different. Offer the materials as in invitation to create and just enjoy what the children come up with. 

When adding the circular cardboard rolls. I used a flat ceramic plate. I poured out the PVA glue and then it was just a case of dropping the cardboard circles into the paint and sticking them to the paper. Nice and easy. The children will no doubt love the bubbles this creates in the glue too. Let them use their fingers to pop them!

You can either wait for the paint to completely dry or begin decorating using all your craft bits. Again different children will have different preferences on what materials they use to decorate.