Button Christmas Tree Crafts

 

It is the season of way too many boxes at our house.  I do most my shopping online and the boxes add up quickly this time of year. I don’t mind recycling most of them but I prefer to use some for crafts. This craft was spur of the moment. We’d received something from Amazon and decided to turn the box into trees! My daughter’s favorite craft EVER are these button letters and I suggested we make trees with the cardboard (it’s easy to cut trees from cardboard), and she suggested the buttons. Here is how we made our button Christmas tree crafts.

Gather your materials. You will need some cardboard, buttons (Amazon has fun star buttons), some green paint, white glue, and scissors.

Start by cutting out a tree and a small strip of cardboard to make the stand. Cut a small notch in the bottom of your tree long enough for the strip to fit in.

Paint the tree with green paint. Or use an outside the box color like pink – whatever your child wants. I like using paint markers for this because they dry faster so we can make the whole craft in one sitting. Make sure to paint the strip as well as the tree.

Glue time!

Find your favorite buttons.

 

Pop the buttons on your Christmas tree crafts.

Don’t worry if there is lots of glue, it will dry eventually.

When dry slide the strip and in and stand it up!

 

Books About Christmas

Why do I put books with the activities? I think books are the base for all learning and you can choose to read first and then create something or create, then read more about it. Books offer you a chance to really cement the learning and exploration of the activity. All our book lists include affiliate links.

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 the First World War as they prepare for Christmas with no resources. I love how strong the mother is. She does the best she can with what she has and treks through snow to cut that big old Christmas tree down. The part that made me cry is when uses her own wedding dress to make her daughter an angel costume for the Christmas pageant. Oh, but that is not all she sacrifices. 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 comes 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.

Ho, Ho, Ho, Tucker! by Leslie McGuirk is a cute story about an adorable little dog Tucker who is crazy about Christmas. While getting into the holiday spirit he burns his nose on a cookie pan. When Santa sees his bright red nose he asks him to come along for the fun on Christmas Eve. There is a lot of good-natured humor, keeping young children giggling. Tucker peeing on a Christmas tree got some good giggles at our house.  I doubt this will be a Christmas classic to read on Christmas Eve but it a cute book your kids will enjoy.

Mooseltoe by Margie Palantini is a funny holiday story with the characters from Moosestash. This time Moose is working to make Christmas perfectly perfect. Only oops – he forgot the tree!  I reviewed this a few years ago when my son was too little to really get the book or sit long enough for me to finish. We re-read it last night and he thought it was hilarious! By the time he was 5, he had fun repeating some of the great melodic text as we read it. The story is one that both kids and parents can relate to about trying so hard to make the holidays perfect that you forget something important like the tree!  It’s a silly story with a big heart.