Christmas Tree Crowns

Christmas is upon us, once again!

Every other year, the Church holds a Christmas Tree Festival and our toddler group always enters a tree.

This year, our tree's focus is based around the concept of the potential of each baby. 

In Jesus' case he was born to be kind, albeit not an earthly one. So this year, we made clay crowns, like these:

What child can resist a bit of bling, eh?

Equipment:

• Air drying clay* 
• Rolling pin
• Crown cookie cutter
• Drinking straw
• Paper
• Pen (for writing names)
• Paint brushes
• Gold paint
• Pot for paint
• Glittery bits (beads, sequins, gems)
• PVA glue
• Glue brush
• Glue pot
• Newspaper
• Overalls
• Baby wipes
• Scissors
• String or ribbon for hanging

Preparation:

1. Prepare pots of paint.

2. Roll out balls of clay. You could roll these out in advance, and keep sealed, but I did this on the day, as fresh clay is more pleasurable  and easier to use. I do this for them, as clay needs to be rolled evenly, and that can be hard for children to manage. If it is too thin, it will be more fragile, once dry.

3. Roll out clay (on sheet of paper) and cut out crown shapes. Remove excess clay from around cutter, before pulling cutter away. I roll out on a sheet of paper, which may sound wasteful, but sops clay from sticking to the table and makes it easy to transfer clay work away, once it is finished.

4. Make hole for hanging. The end of a drinking straw is ideal for this. If you do it in advance, the children will work around it, if you try to do it at the end, there may not be much space! 😄

I only roll out enough for one table, at first, as I don't want the clay to dry out.

Method:

1. Child paints crown gold. Yes it is on damp clay, but they will dry together. The paint will be a little thin, but using white clay means it will be fine.

2. Child adds glittery bits, by pressing them in firmly. It does not matter where they place them, or how many they use, the end effect will still be stunning.

3. Write child's name on sheet and remove to dry. This may take a day or two, depending on where you place it. 

4. When the crown is dry, paint it with PVA, across all the crown and round the edges, but not underneath. Try to keep the ole for hanging clear of glue.

5. Leave to dry (approx. 6 hours, depending on how thick your glue is).

6. Cut string or ribbon to desired length, ready to hang your ornament.

I balanced the clay crowns on small pots, whilst painting the PVA and leaving it to dry, so the edges didn't stick to the newspaper.

The completed tree!

*Resources:

Das Clay  (we use this one - widely available Hobbycraft, The Works, W
HSmith etc.)

Giotto gold paint (also available at The Range, I think)

Crown cookie cutter

Gold string for hanging (similar in Sainsbury's)

Please note: no Ads here. Resources listed, purely to help people find similar.