Christmas Tree Pencil Toppers Craft { great class gift }

 

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This Christmas Tree Pencil Toppers craft is a cinch to make, but the glittery foam makes them look super festive. What makes me feel even more festive is to think about how hard my daughter worked on these pencil toppers. They will be her little gift to PreK classmates for Christmas. She goes to a church-affiliated school so everyone celebrates Christmas but you could adapt this idea for any occasion. The real awesome part of this craft is the use of sticky back glitter foam. This is great for glitter-phobes because they are way less mess than glitter and glue.

Gather your materials. You will need some glitter sticky back foam, some pencils, and scissors.

Start by tracing your triangles on the back of the green foam. Cut out 2 per pencil.

Cut the other colors into strips. This will make it easier for your little artists to handle it and make it small enough to fit on the mini trees.

Leaving the backing on the trees start decorating. She carefully cut,

peeled back the backing and placed the small pieces.

We had a whole factory going!

Once we made enough for the whole class it was time to sandwich them. Peel the backing off the decorated side ( we didn’t decorate the back), press the pencil in, and sandwich. If there are pieces hanging over the sides you can snip those off no problem. Press hard. This foam will stay stuck together if you press firmly and hold for 20-30 seconds. We had 2 of our 14 open the next day but I grabbed an alligator clip and popped it on them for a few minutes and they are back together.

Pop these babies in a little bag topped with bakers twine. It’s the perfect sugar-free gift for your child’s classmates!

 

Books About Christmas

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Stick Man by Julia Donaldson tickles my funny bone and my son thought it funny and full of adventure too.  Stick Man is a happy stick who loves with his stick family until a dog grabs him and he ends up far from his family but determined to get home.  As the seasons change, he becomes many things from a sword to a bat and even an arm for a snowman. After that, he ends up in a fireplace just as a certain jolly old guy gets stuck in the chimney. This is a unique story we both enjoyed. You will never look at another stick in your child’s hands without wondering what it’s been turned into.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story by Gloria Houston made me cry. The story is about the hardships and love of one family torn apart by World War 1 as they prepare for Christmas with no resources. I love how strong the mother in this book is. She does the best he can with what she has, trekking through the snow to cut that big old Christmas tree down. The part that made me cry was when she uses her own wedding dress to make her daughter an angel costume for the Christmas pageant. Oh but that is not her only sacrifice. She uses the silk stockings her husband sent her from the war to make a doll for Santa to give to her daughter. The father coming home right as they were leaving the church service – once again starting my waterworks.

It’s an awesome story but probably too long for a group of kids or toddlers, but perfect for a bedtime story for preschoolers on up. Also, this book and the one previous were illustrated by Barbara Cooney, who captures such meaningful stories with her amazing work.

Bear Stays Up for Christmasby Karma Wilson is such a heartwarming story of friendship. Bear is hibernating but his friends wake him up to celebrate Christmas. It’s not easy at first. Bear is super sleepy and wants nothing more than to cuddle back up and fall back to sleep.  They get a tree, decorate it, hang their stockings and sing carols. When all the other animals snuggle in and go to sleep, Bear stays up. He is busily making gifts for all his friends. Bear is so busy that he doesn’t even notice Santa coming and filling the stockings. He delights in the friendship and when his friends present him with a lovely quilt, he snuggles under and goes back to sleep happy and filled with friendship. This is such a wonderful book. I love its focus on friendship and the excitement of giving gifts!