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Montessori Christmas Tree Decorating Activity

November 5, 2015 By Deb Chitwood 11 Comments

We want to make Christmas as magical as possible for our little ones. Many Montessori schools and homeschools have a Montessori Christmas tree decorating activity that helps young children create part of the magic and develop fine-motor skills at the same time.

Montessori Christmas Tree Activities

For today’s post, I’m excited to join with 15+ Montessori bloggers to bring you the 15 Days of Montessori for the Holidays! You can find links to all the posts on the 15 Days of Montessori for the Holidays page at Montessori Bloggers Network.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Montessori Christmas Tree Decorating Activity for Preschoolers

Montessori Christmas Tree Decorating Activity

Montessori Christmas Tree Decorating Activity

I don’t have any Christmas decorations out yet … except for one, a Montessori Christmas tree decorating activity. This activity works especially well for preschoolers. Christmas lights are optional, but I love the way they add to the beauty of the season and create extra excitement.

I used an 18″ tree that would look good on a child-size table and could even be used on a tray. I used a Montessori Services basket for the ornaments. You could have separate baskets for tinsel, Christmas ball ornaments, or any other decorations you want to add.

Some Montessorians have the tree with bare branches so that the child decorates the tree, removes the decorations for the next child, and returns the tree to the shelf (if it’s on a tray). Because children love to admire their decorating work, I like to have the tree decorated in the beginning and have each child remove the ornaments, decorate the tree, and leave the decorated tree on the table (or shelf) to be admired until the next child decides to do the work.

 

I got an 18″ tree with burlap base. I cut a bit off the top to make it the height I liked.

I bought 2 of a 12-piece resin ornament set, although this isn’t the set in my main photo. That’s a set of ornaments I bought when I lived in England while getting my master’s degree, so I have no idea if they’re still available.

The resin ornaments have strings that are small and more difficult for toddlers to use. Also, if you have a toddler who still mouths objects, keep the ornaments up out of reach unless you’re directly supervising your toddler. These types of ornaments tend to have the strings come undone at times, so I have a hot glue gun available for repairs.

For the star, I bought a 2.25″ gold glitter star. I wouldn’t have this as part of a decorating activity because it would be difficult for preschoolers to get it to stay on the tree. I would add the star ahead of time and let the child/ren know it needs to stay on the tree.

I also don’t have the children add or remove the lights in a Montessori tree decorating activity. Those remain on the tree always. For lights, I bought a 50-Count White LED Micro Christmas Light Set that’s battery operated. I bought a battery-operated light set that would be super safe for a toddler. The battery compartment doesn’t open without a screwdriver. I’m not sure how long the batteries will last, though. I don’t leave the lights on very long for that reason. For preschoolers, you could use lights that plug in if they would be safe. I always use LED Christmas lights now because of their long life and their low temperature for safety.

Montessori-Inspired Christmas Tree Activity Variations for a Toddler

Montessori Christmas Tree Activity

Montessori Christmas Tree Activity

For a toddler, the Christmas tree activity is more of a Christmas tree un-decorating activity. It’s difficult for toddlers to put miniature ornaments with strings on a tree, and it’s still a great fine-motor activity for them to remove the ornaments from the branches.

Removing Ornaments from the Tree

Removing Ornaments from the Tree

For my 24-month-old granddaughter, Zoey, I had the tree already decorated for her. She enjoys taking the ornaments off the tree, admiring them, and putting them in the basket. As her fine-motor skills improve, she can decorate the tree as well.

Matching Miniature Ornaments

Sometimes I vary the activity by using the resin ornaments. The resin ornaments are more difficult to remove from the tree, but Zoey is able to remove them. With the two sets of resin ornaments, she has fun matching the ornaments after they are all removed from the tree. I’ll probably use these ornaments for some of our phonetic sound activities at Christmastime, too.

Montessori Christmas Tree Activities

 

Montessori Miniature Wooden Christmas Tree Decorating Activity

Montessori Miniature Wooden Christmas Tree Decorating Activity

Update: Our Other Montessori Decorating a Christmas Tree Activity

Have a magical holiday season! 🙂

Deb - Signature

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Filed Under: Activities - Practical Life, Holidays and Celebrations Tagged With: 15 Days of Montessori for the Holidays, Christmas, Montessori, Montessori Christmas tree decorating, preschoolers, toddler, toddlers

Previous Post: « Montessori-Inspired Rhyming Fun for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Next Post: How to Prepare Montessori Shelves for a 2 Year Old »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Yuliya says

    November 5, 2015 at 4:55 am

    What a fun activity! We have little tree like this for our little guy, too. We haven’t brought it out yet, but I’m definitely excited to set something like this up for him!

    Thanks for the inspiration as always 😉

    Reply
  2. Melani says

    November 5, 2015 at 6:13 am

    This looks like so much of fun.My son is of Zoey’s age and I am going to get him his own child sized Christmas tree 🙂

    Reply
  3. Carolyn Lucento says

    November 5, 2015 at 7:33 am

    Just really love this sweet activity and so glad you wrote this article about it, Deb. I hadn’t thought about how much a toddler would enjoy taking the ornaments OFF! True, it’s the magical component that is so engaging! Thanks for a lovely idea!

    Reply
  4. Emily J says

    November 5, 2015 at 7:05 pm

    This is such a great activity for little ones! I remember when my boys were younger and they loved to take every decoration they could reach off our (full-sized) tree. I never thought to give hem their own mini-tree to decorate and undecorated to their hearts’ content.

    Reply
  5. Marie says

    November 6, 2015 at 3:56 am

    This looks like a lot of fun! My kids have had their own small tree for the last couple years, but I think it is time for an update. I’m excited to add your 18 inch tree suggestion to our Christmas tree decorating collection. Thank you for joining us for the 15 Days of Montessori for the Holidays!

    Reply
  6. JC. Maria says

    November 11, 2015 at 8:22 pm

    Look like it so much fun. I love X’mas too. I’ll do this at my home with my boy.

    Reply
  7. Alison says

    November 14, 2015 at 3:57 pm

    What fun and festive ideas! Thanks for sharing at the Thoughtful Spot Blog Hop! 🙂

    Reply
  8. Vanessa says

    November 17, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    This is such a wonderful post as part of the “15 Days of Montessori for the Holidays” series! The little mini tree is adorable! Thank you for linking up at “A Little Bird Told Me” Wednesday link party! You have been featured on Mama’s Happy Hive blog. 🙂

    Reply
  9. Digital Wallcoverings says

    April 11, 2017 at 3:58 am

    Children will obviously enjoy help decorate your Christmas tree at home, but once it is decorated, they can’t shouldn’t take all the decorations down and redecorate it. If we let our children redecorate the tree any time they wanted, it would just end up being a weird-looking tree and maybe have a few broken ornaments to clean up each time.

    Reply
  10. Hottest WWE Diva says

    July 22, 2017 at 11:28 pm

    This is a great Amazing Blog i really like to read this its all about the facts of great information thanks for sharing great Blog.

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  11. Light Projectors says

    November 6, 2017 at 11:16 pm

    This way of storing Christmas bulbs is definitely precise. Nevertheless, it can use this till next season of Christmas.

    Reply

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