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.

Camel Mask

Continuing with the theme of 'Stories Jesus told' (based on the parables of Jesus) this week we focused on the parable about fitting a camel through the eye of a needle.

In order to illustrate the story, we had a leader dressed as a camel and loaded up with baggage, trying to squeeze under a craft table. Let's just say you had to be there!

It seems like a ridiculous notion, but the story emphasizes the idea that what looks impossible to us, is possible with God. Jesus used the story to make a point about how the desire for possessions makes it incredibly difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. 

However, I love the explanation in this article, that points us towards the grace of God, in making that possible. However, it could also illustrate that Jesus welcomes us to come to Him just as we are. No amount (or even lack) of possessions should be a bar.

Like the sheep mask craft, I can see the potential here to make use of the masks as a prop for Nativity reenactments.

The masks we made were based around the mask template you can find here. I made mine slightly larger. They were photocopied onto card. You can find the fuller explanation below.

You can just about see the yellow card strip headband, if you look carefully!

Equipment

Overalls

Brown poster paint

Plastic trays for paint

Sponges

Photocopied masks 

Card strips

Scissors

Stapler

Googly eyes

PVA glue/spreaders

Baby wipes

Preparation

1. Photocopy mask onto card and cut out.

2. Cut card strips to appropriate size.

3. Mix paint.

4. Prepare glue pots.

Method

1. Overalls on, sleeves rolled up.

2. Show child how to use sponge to apply paint to camel.

3. Glue on googly eyes.

4. Fit card strip to child's head, using stapler to fasten ends.

5. Fasten mask to card strip.

6. Label and leave to dry.

Similar activity

Sheep Mask

The Precious Pearl

We all need to know we're special, important, valued. 

This week's craft reminds us of just that. It's based around the story that Jesus told about a very special pearl of such great beauty, that a merchant was prepared to give up everything he had, just to own it. We used the version retold by Mick Inkpen (see here, not an affiliated link, you can buy it other places also).

Traditionally this parable has been taught the other way around; that God is the pearl of greatest price and we must give up everything for Him. However, having heard John Wimber's interpretation; that God gave up everything for us, I can't shake it off. So that's the angle I went for with this. We are special, we are loved. And in this day and age, where it's too easy to compare ourselves unfavourably by comparison with others, we need to hear that message more than ever.

Here's the craft. Very simple, because our kids this year seem younger than ever and need the very basics. This became evident when we did the craft, as only this one had what I would call 'legible' hand prints! The kids just got their hands in the paint and went mad. But why not? It's all good sensory experiential learning! And I can remember my daughter doing the very same at that age! 😆

Equipment:

Floor covering

Overalls

Baby wipes/bowl of water & disposable hand towels

Poster Paint

Paper Plates (paint pallettes)

Photocopy sheet

Preparation:

cover floor with heavy plastic sheeting

photocopy sheet with heart onto A3

paper plates (paint palettes) with blobs of paint

lay out overalls

get bowl of soapy water ready

Method:

1. Demonstrate to child how to apply paint to hand and hand to paper.

2. Let chaos ensue.

3. Clean up and leave artwork to dry on the 'Home' table.

Oh and here's the sheet I used!

Songs to accompany this craft?

I know Jesus Loves me (Ishmael)

God Love you and I love you and that's the way it should be (Anon)

123, Jesus loves me (Anon)

Sheep Mask

We're back! The toddler group is up and running and this term, we've based on our theme on 'Stories that Jesus Told' (aka the parables). Whether you consider yourself religious or not, there are some great stories right there, with lost of lessons to each us all.

We've been using a great little book which retells the stories in an accessible way, by Mick Inkpen. See here (not an affiliated link, there are other places you can buy it).

A perennial favourite is the parable of 'The Lost Sheep'. Having done easy, peasy sheep crafts to death (or so I thought), I decided the time was right for a sheep mask/headband craft. Headbands are actually probably more comfortable for most kids to wear and save on the job of getting the holes in the right place, without jabbing someone directly in the eye.

I've made it easy for myself, by making it a one page photocopy page. The headband bit can quickly be guillotined off, and for the most part, the rest is fairly straightforward to cut out, and if, like us, you have less people in at the moment, its not too arduous a task, if you're sat watching telly of an evening.

Feel free to use, but please retain attribution.

Equipment:

Headband sheet photocopied onto card

Scissors

Cotton wool balls

PVA glue, pots and glue spreaders or lollysticks

Large googly eyes

Stapler

Baby wipes (for cleaning up)

Preparation:

1. Photocopy sheet.

2. Cut out shapes.

3. Prepare glue pots (Playdoh pots work well, because you can seal them with their lids).

Method:

1. Show/guide child in adding cotton wool balls and googly eyes.

2. Join headband parts together, using shaded areas.

3. Wrap head band round child's head to size, mark length required.

4. Remove headband from child, staple headband together, Trim excess card and leave to dry.

 Oh yes!! And did I mention that it could also make a great prop for a Nativity, later in the year? 

And in the meantime, why not use it as a prop for singing. 'Baa baa black sheep,' anyone?

Other useful posts:

Sheep craft collage

Sheep craft printing