Your preschooler or kindergarten will love decorating this pipe cleaner Christmas tree with beads, AND you can use this craft for teaching symmetry and patterning. Not to mention using those ever important fine motor skills!
What you will need:
- A tray of some sort
- Pipecleaners (I used green)
- Three(or more) colours of beads. Keep in mind the age of the child: the younger the child, the bigger the beads must be.
For teaching symmetry
Add beads on the one side of the tree and ask your child to match it on the other side. You can use a small mirror to show your child how it should look when done.
For teaching patterning
Start a pattern on the one side of the tree and let your child continue the pattern on the other side:
Let your child choose her own colour beads and decorate the tree to her liking. She will develop her fine motor skills while having fun decorating:
PS: Always supervise an activity with small parts like beads.
A fun fine motor Christmas activity with lots of learning opportunity for your child!
Here are more Christmas themed activities you might want to see:
Christmas Tree Activities
Christmas Ornaments for Kids
Kid-made Christmas Cards
Danya says
What a neat idea! I love the idea of using a mirror to help show how the symmetry will look.
Adventures of Adam says
What a gorgeous idea!
Adventures of Adam recently posted…Alphabet Magnetic Christmas Tree