# Christmas Craft Trees and Winter Sensory Bin
> Kids decorate green paper triangles with stickers and glitter glue to make craft-stick Christmas trees. The next day, the trees go into a sensory bin of Insta-Snow with toy trees, letters, a snowman and Santa for scooping, burying and making snow fall.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/christmas-tree-craft/
- Ages: 2–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep 20 min, activity 45 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids
- Skills: fine-motor, sensory-exploration, letter-recognition, pretend-play
- Cautions: ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- Green construction paper or card stock
- 1 piece Craft sticks
- Gold star stickers
- Glitter glue
- Sequins (optional)
- Glue (to attach craft sticks) (household)
- Insta-Snow (fake snow)
- 1 piece Baking pan (household)
- Mini plastic trees
- Plastic letters
- Magnetic letters (optional)
- 1 piece Snowman toy and Santa toy
- 1 piece Christmas cookie tin lid (household)
- Dessert spoons and a cup (household)

## Safety
- Insta-Snow is non-toxic, but supervise small children and wash hands after play.
- Plastic letters, magnetic letters, sequins and small toys are choking hazards for toddlers. Supervise closely and keep small parts out of mouths.
- Don't let kids eat the fake snow. It is not food.

## Before you start
- Cut triangles from green construction paper or card stock.
- Gather the decorating supplies (star stickers, glitter glue, sequins) and the sensory bin toys.
- Make the craft trees a day ahead so the glitter glue can dry before they go in the bin.

## Steps
1. Decorate the green triangles with gold star stickers, glitter glue or sequins.
2. Squeeze the glitter glue hard to fill the tree with sparkle, or try drawing patterns with it like a pen.
3. Let the trees dry for a bit, then glue a craft stick onto each one as the trunk.
4. Fill a baking pan with Insta-Snow.
5. Add the craft trees, plastic trees, letters, the snowman and Santa toys, and the cookie tin lid.
6. Add dessert spoons and a cup, then scoop the snow and transfer it to the cup.
7. Sprinkle snow from up high to make snow fall on Frosty and Santa.
8. Hide letters under the snow, or stick magnetic letters on the tin, cover them, then dump the snow off for a 'magic' reveal.
9. Build a tiny hill for the snowman. Frosty on the slopes!
10. Wash hands when play is over.

## Tips
- Pick a really simple craft that won't challenge a toddler's attention span. Big sis came up with this one all by herself, and we cherish kid-initiated activities.
- The gold star sticker tree was great for fine motor skills. The toddler especially surprised me with her sticker peeling skills.
- Glitter glue takes some muscle: our toddler found she had to press really hard. Her perseverance paid off, and the trees were FILLED with glitter.
- Using glitter glue like a pen to make patterns is not that easy. Focusing on getting the glue out while forming a pattern was only partly successful, but she was ecstatic every time it came out.
- Let the kids lead the play: our toddler scooped and transferred, made snow fall, and pulled down the cookie tin lid to hide all the letters under the snow.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2012)

Since we live in a snow-less city we created our own snow themed sensory activities for the kids. {Acces all our **sensory activities for kids** here} It was so simple and so much fun. Before going ahead with the winter Christmas sensory bin, I wan to share the simple toddler Christmas craft that started it all. { Access all our **Christmas crafts and activities here**} I wanted to spend time with my toddler doing a Christmas craft and we picked a really simple one that will not challenge her attention span! The best part is big sis came up with this activity all by herself. You know here, we celebrate and cherish kid-initiated activities; we have already done a couple of posts in the past. You can read about them **[Sweet Potato Bird](https://www.funlittles.com/sweet-potato-bird/)** and **[Bead Maze](https://www.funlittles.com/a-maze-ing/).** For this simple Christmas tree craft we used **[Craft Sticks](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0033F7YQW/?tag=blmemo-20) [Card Stock](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000DT8D0C/?tag=blmemo-20) [Glitter Glue](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001KW068I/?tag=blmemo-20) and S[equins](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002FTJFR8/?tag=blmemo-20)** We cut out triangles from green construction paper. Then we gathered our favorite decorating materials ( I wanted to keep it as toddler friendly as possible and gently reminded her older one and about it) So older one chose stickers and glitter glue.Armed with supplies, we started decorating the leaves.The girls made a sticker tree from gold stars first which was great for thei[r ***fine motor skills***](blogmemom.com/category/fine-motor-activities/)[**.**](blogmemom.com/category/fine-motor-activities/) The toddler especially surprised me with her sticker adhesive peeling skills. To make things more sparkly, glitter glue came into picture. My younger one was excited at first with the glitter but soon found out that she has press really hard to get the glue out. Her perseverance paid off since the leaves were FILLED with glitter. Big A tried to use it like a pen and make patters. She was partially successful. Focusing on getting the glitter glue out of the tube while making sure a pattern forms is not that easy.. So most of the times she tried to get the glue and were very ecstatic once it did. We let the leaves dry for a bit and then came back to glue on the craft sticks to the leaves.Here we have our decorated trees..  The following day, I set out a fake snow Christmas sensory bin using the Christmas craft trees and Insta Snow. You can read more about the material we use here on **Steve Spangler Science** and on their own **website.**. It is called “ Insta snow”. It is non-toxic but is still a good idea to supervise small children and wash your hands after play. If you decide to buy it, **here is an Amazon link for Insta-Snow)**  I filled a baking pan with the fake snow and added plastic trees, letters, snow man toy and a Santa toy. I also added a cookie tin lid featuring them along with some plastic letters for burying. Any sensory bin needs scoops an cups and so we added some dessert spoons and a cup.  Both of them had a field day feeling and pouring the snow. A few ideas of the play process –sourced by my toddler

- She scooped and transferred to the cup
- She created snow fall which was oh-so-fun!
- She pulled down the cookie tin lid and hid all the letters under the snow

  Big A kept making her special appearances when she heard my younger make squealing noises. When the older came by, she stuck some magnetic letter on the cookie tin and covered it snow. Then dumped all the snow back and screamed “magic” to her sister revealing the magnetic letters still on the tin.  Both the kids created a tiny hill for Frosty ( may be for skiing?) How ironic! Frosty on the slopes.



Here are some more shots of their play 

Thanks for reading

Please take a moment to comment We encourage you to stick around and take a look at [**couple of**](https://www.funlittles.com/christmas-crafts-for-kids/) our **[popular posts](https://www.funlittles.com/homemade-christmas-cards/).**

### ---

---