Inside: Add some extra fine motor to this toddler Christmas painting activity while using corks. Cut paper into triangles and pretend to put the lights on the tree with paint!
If you are looking for a simple activity during the month of December, this toddler Christmas painting is perfect!
Add some extra painting fun by using corks instead of brushes.
Toddlers love dipping them into the paint, stamping them onto the paper.
Lots of motion, plus it strengthens fine motor skills.
Teachers appreciate this activity during a busy season because it’s so simple to assemble!
If you’ve never used wine corks with your art activities, you must!
We’ve been doing this for years and our toddlers always have fun with the stamping motion.
Here are a couple of examples:
This toddler Christmas painting activity was actually inspired by a Christmas card we made several years ago.
We glued small circles to green triangles, pretending to put the lights on the tree.
With this activity, the toddlers could pretend they were stamping lights on their trees using paint.
Once finished, it made a nice wall display!
Toddler Christmas Painting Using Corks
What you will need:
- Green construction paper
- Brown construction paper
- Tempera paint (we love using neon paint because it’s so vibrant!)
- Wine corks
- Glue stick
- Star stickers (optional)
Preparation:
Cut tall triangles from the green construction paper so that each child has one.
Cut small rectangles from the brown construction paper as shown above.
Pour paint into shallow containers. We had a few different colors and asked the children what colors they wanted. Some stayed with one color while others used two or more.
Invitation to Paint
If your toddlers have not painted with corks before, show they how to dip them into the paint.
At first, our children were more fascinated moving the cork inside the container of paint, going round and round.
Next, stamp the cork onto the triangle.
“Put the lights on the tree!”
This, of course, started conversations about what color lights everyone had on their Christmas trees at home.
While stamping paint onto their Christmas trees, toddlers are thinking about space and where they want the circles to go.
Some might keep their paint in one spot, while others will spread them out.
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Using wine corks improves hand strength as the thumb and fingers grip them.
The up and down motion is another fine motor benefit.
Plus, let’s face it.
Toddlers love motion! And hearing the stamping noise is also great fun.
Related: 25+ Easy Toddler Fine Motor Activities
Actually, the entire arm is being used as the corks are stamped on various parts of the paper.
Optional: Adding a Star
We have a Christmas tree in our classroom, and as soon as we started decorating it, one of our students insisted it needed a star on top.
When we finished painting these Christmas trees, that same student suggested we add a star at the top of each one.
I quickly rummaged through our bin of stickers, happy to find a sheet of stars.
I asked each toddler what color star they wanted and instructed them to put it on the top of their tree.
(This was an added lesson on “top” and “bottom” as they figured out where their stars went.)
Oh, and having the children remove their own stars from the sheet is yet another fine motor benefit!
Related post: 10 Ways to Use Preschool Stickers to Build Skills
Don’t forget to add the trunk!
Attach the trunks to the trees using a glue stick.
And that’s it!
Easy, right?
More toddler Christmas activities:
Toddler Winter Circle Time Counting Props
Keep toddlers engaged while working on simple math skills with these winter counting props.
We love using these during our classroom circle times!
6 Prop Sets (19 Pages):
- How Many Buttons Are On the Mitten?
- Numbered Mittens
- Hot Cocoa Marshmallow Counting
- Numbered Penguins
- Numbered Snowflakes
- Numbered Snowmen
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