Christmas Tree Ornament Made Three Ways

Inside: This Christmas tree ornament for toddlers and preschoolers can be decorated in multiple ways, and today I am sharing three different ideas from our preschool.

When planning our Christmas theme, I found some plain wooden trees on Amazon that I thought would be fun for our toddlers to decorate.

I was curious how our older classes would choose to decorate the same trees, so I asked our pre-k and kinder-prep teachers if they’d like to give it a try and they agreed.

All three classes had fun decorating these Christmas trees so I thought I would share the results.

Christmas Tree Ornament for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Each Christmas all of our preschool students create gifts to wrap and give to their families.

These Christmas tree ornaments were part of the gift.

If you are looking for more Christmas ornaments, check out this post:

Homemade Christmas Ornaments Made by Kids

Below I will share three different versions using the same wooden Christmas tree ornament.

Spin Art Christmas Trees – Done by the Two’s Class and the Three’s Class

If you have been following me for any length of time, you probably know how much I love spin art. My two and three year olds love it, too!

I’ve shared many spin art activities, including:

• Apples
• Easter Eggs
• Snowmen

So, it’s no wonder that I decided to try that method with our share of the wooden Christmas trees.

Supplies

• Wooden Christmas tree ornaments
• Green tempera paint
• White tempera paint
• Silver tempera paint
• Salad Spinner

Preparation

If your paint is in large jugs, transfer some into smaller squeeze bottles.

Place salad spinner(s) and bottles of paint on the art table and have the Christmas tree ornaments nearby.

The Activity

If your children have never used a salad spinner before, you will want to assist them with the process.

Place the ornament in the salad spinner.

Squeeze paint on top.

Place the lid on the salad spinner and make it spin!

Christmas Trees Painted and Adorned with Gems – Made by Our Kinder-Prep Class

How about adorning the tree with small gems?

Not only do they jazz up the Christmas tree, but this is a great way to strengthen fine motor skills while removing the gems from the paper.

Supplies

• Wooden Christmas tree ornaments
• Green glitter paint
• Brown tempera paint
• Paintbrushes
• Small self-adhesive jewels
• Gold glimmer stars

Preparation

Squirt paint into small containers so that each child gets green and brown.

Step One: Paint

Christmas Trees with Pom Poms – The Pre-K Class

We use a lot of pom poms in our preschool classroom, including on these wooden Christmas tree ornaments decorated by our pre-k class.

Supplies

• Wooden Christmas tree ornaments
• Green tempera paint
• White glue
• Assorted pom poms
• Paintbrushes

Preparation

I love how simple these trees are, and they are so easy to prepare!

First, you will want to add a dollop of white glue to the paint.

Simply pour a small amount of paint in each child’s container and add some glue.

Place pom poms in a different container and have paintbrushes at each spot.

Time to Paint and Adorn

Brush paint/glue mixture on tree.

Then, press pom poms on top.

Since there is glue already in the paint, the pom poms will stick.

Let them dry completely, add a loop of string to the top, and they are ready to take home!