Holiday Crafts with Kids: Paper Trees

We have Randi from Swoon with us today to share a sweet holiday craft that families can create and enjoy together during the holiday season.

During the Holidays children get so excited to help with anything they can, from decorating the house, to wrapping gifts. It can sometimes be hard to find ways to include them in tasks that might be too challenging for them, or when delicate materials are involved, like your favorite glass ornaments. When kids want to help with projects around the house though, I try to always say “yes.” This little project is the first in a series of Holiday projects I’ve come up with this month for my kids to do. I hope your little ones will enjoy them too!

For your trees you will need: A small flower pot, a foam ball (we found some that were covered in pretty moss at the craft store), a floral pick or skewer, and a few pieces of plain copy paper.

First, you need to cut your squares. If you have older children, they can help with this process. You might do a little experimenting to see how many different sizes of squares you would like to use to make your tree. I cut six different sizes of squares (pictured above), but ended up adding four more sizes in between to make our trees a bit fuller. We ended up using ten different sized squares, the biggest being 3″x3″, with each size getting progressively smaller by 1/4 of an inch, down to the smallest size, which was 3/4 of an inch. We cut four to five pieces of each size.

Next, place your foam ball into your pot and stick the flat end of your pick into the center. Ask your children to poke the pick through the center of each square, from the biggest size to the smallest. When you’re finished stacking, you will probably need to spin the pieces a bit so the corners of the squares are fanned in different directions.

My girls were surprised when the stacked paper started to take the shape of a tree! They’re so proud of the decorations they made, and I’m happy to see them participating in the festive spirit of the season (glass ornaments still intact).