Pine Cone Centerpieces

What You Need:

• 12 to 18 inch tall foam cone
• Bag of pine cones – or ones from around your yard
• Silver glitter
• Glue
• Bag of pre-cut stem wire
• Butcher paper to cover work surface
• Paint brush (optional, for spreading glue)

What You Do:

1. Invite your child to take a walk around your yard or community and hunt for pine cones. For creating the pine cone tree any sized cones can be used, but ones about 3-inches in diameter work best.
2. Place the pine cones on a work surface that has been covered with a sheet of paper. Have her coat the pine cones with a brushing of glue and then sprinkle them with silver glitter. She can cover as many as she'd like with glitter, and leave some plain, too.
3. Next have her give the foam cone a coating of glue and roll it in the glitter on the worktable, creating an even covering of glitter.
4. While the pine cones and foam are drying, invite your child to draw a picture of a tree full of pine cones. You can research what types of trees have pine cones and what the purpose of pine cones are.
5. Once everything's dry, have her take a length of stem wire and wrap it around the base of one of the pine cones, leaving an inch of wire for her to gently press into the foam cone to secure it in place.
6. Encourage your child to continue wrapping and pressing pine cones into the foam cone until it is covered. It’s okay if some of the foam cone shows through, because it’s covered in glitter - it just adds to the finished tree!
7. You can use a pretty plate to place the pine cone tree on and then display the finished project for others to see!

As the season gets colder and kids come inside keep things fun and festive with activites!