Summer Boost
Activity:
Rainbow Christmas Tree
One of the prettiest sights at Christmastime is the decorated tree. In this activity, your child will construct his own Christmas tree while practicing cutting out rectangles, overlapping and measuring to create this adorable modern design. It's also a great way to begin learning design and repetitive patterns.
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What You Need:
- Construction paper in a variety of colors
- Scissors
- White paper
- Glue stick
- Pencil
- Ruler
What You Do:
- Have your child place the construction paper, one sheet of each color, in a horizontal, or landscape position.
- Then, set one sheet of white paper to the side in a vertical position.
- Ask him to cut strips of paper from the bottom to the top of each sheet of paper. The strips should be about 1" wide.
- Have him cut one small square for the base of the tree, about 2.5" x 2.5", and glue it to the bottom of the white paper.
- Encourage him to draw and cut out a star for the top of his tree. Set it aside for now.
- Ask him to lay out the strips of colored paper on the white paper, overlapping them to create the basic shape of the Christmas tree. Don't worry if the paper extends over the edges of the tree, it'll be cut down later.
- Encourage him to play with changing up the colors and various ways of slanting the rectangles, overlapping them to create his tree. When the rectangles of paper are in their final positions, have him use the ruler to lightly draw a straight line (not a diagonal) where the paper should be cut.
- Have him carefully lift up each edge of paper and cut it along his drawn line, then glue it in place.
- Continue cutting and gluing until all rectangles are adhered in position from top to bottom, small to large.
- Complete the Christmas tree by having him glue the star at the very top of the tree.
