Nature craft: Christmas tree weave

There were plenty of golden leaves littering the bush walk pathways last week and this week, some green ones have fallen too. It seems odd that green leaves fall to the ground. They don’t look quite ready to abandon their safe place high in the branches just yet.

A couple of weeks ago we made a Christmas Star Nature Craft by weaving golden leaves through a star made from sticks. This time we’ve made a Christmas tree. It’s a very similar craft, but this time it’s the green leaves that have come in handy.

I’ll admit, we did cut a couple of fronds off some ferns too. Ferns are one of my weaknesses, so I couldn’t help but grab a couple for Miss E to weave through her Christmas Tree.

What you’ll need:

• 2 long sticks of equal length
• 5 shorter sticks of equal length
• 1 short stick for the tree trunk/handle
• String
• Glue gun
• Green leaves
• Hole punched decorations (optional)

Make the Christmas tree weave

1. Cross the two long sticks over and using the glue gun, stick them together at the cross point (see image below).
2. Glue one of the shorter sticks to the base of the two longer sticks to make a tall triangle.
3.  Next, brake the four shorter sticks to fit along the sides of the tall triangle going from shortest to longest. You’re aiming for ladder effect, down the middle of the triangle. Glue them using the glue gun. 
4. Glue the shortest stick hanging vertical from the bottom of the triangle (in the center) to make the tree trunk/handle.  I’d suggest securing this with a little bit of string to give it extra strength. You can see how to lash it using this link.
5. Next, collect some lovely green leaves and let your child weave them through the Christmas Tree. This is the finished product, without the decorations. So simple and pretty!
6. Hole punch some leaves to make decorations and  glue them on. We used a snowflake-shaped hole punch and the regular small circle-shaped hole punch.

This craft was very popular. It took hardly any time for me to make the stick structure and Miss E really enjoyed weaving the leaves though her stick Christmas tree.

We love Christmas and we love nature craft. Combining two of our loves is so joyful! Your kids will just adore this Christmas tree weave activity.

As for those green leaves, we’ll always use what ever nature lays at our feet, whether green or gold!