Creating holiday crafts is one of the best ways to bring the festive spirit into your home, and this Scrunched Paper Painted Christmas Tree craft is a favorite in our house. My kids loved the hands-on process of scrunching, dipping, and printing with paint, and they were so excited to see their trees come to life. The best part? It’s simple enough for little ones to enjoy but still offers plenty of opportunities for creativity and personal flair.
This craft combines easy painting techniques with festive decorating for a project that’s equal parts fun and creative. The scrunched paper adds a unique texture to the tree, and kids will love decorating it with sequins and snowflakes. It’s a great way to let their imaginations shine while also building fine motor skills.
Why You’ll Love This Christmas Craft
You’ll love this craft because it’s a mix of sensory fun, painting, and decorating all in one. It’s affordable, mess-friendly (but not too messy), and produces beautiful results that your kids will be proud of. Plus, the finished product is perfect for displaying as a festive decoration or even giving as a handmade holiday gift.
Materials You’ll Need:
- A piece of scrap paper
- Black, brown, and red construction paper
- Snowflake decorations
- Gold sparkly paper
- Sequins
- Glue
- Light green, dark green, and white paint
- Paper plate
- Christmas tree printable
How to Set Up the Craft
1. Prepare the Tree Stencil
Print out the Christmas tree template. Cut out the tree by folding it slightly and cutting along the outline, leaving the center of the tree intact. This will create a tree-shaped stencil.
2. Prepare the Background
Cut a rectangle of black construction paper for the background. From brown construction paper, cut out a small rectangle to make the tree trunk. Cut a wide strip from the red paper to create the stand for the tree. Glue the trunk and stand onto the bottom center of the black paper.
3. Position the Stencil
Place the tree stencil on top of the black paper, positioning it so that the bottom of the tree slightly overlaps the trunk. Tape it lightly if needed to keep it in place while painting.
4. Prepare the Paint
Pour light green, dark green, and white paint onto a paper plate. Scrunch the scrap paper into a ball to use as a painting tool.
5. Paint the Tree
Dip the scrunched paper into the light green paint and dab it over the tree stencil. Repeat with the dark green paint, layering the colors for a textured effect. Finish with a light dabbing of white paint to create a snowy look. Carefully lift the stencil to reveal your painted tree.
6. Decorate the Tree
Glue sequins onto the tree as ornaments and add a star cut from gold sparkly paper to the top of the tree. Scatter snowflakes around the tree on the black background for a magical wintery effect.
7. Let It Dry
Allow the paint and glue to dry completely before displaying your masterpiece.
This Scrunched Paper Painted Christmas Tree craft is a fun, hands-on activity that’s perfect for kids of all ages. It’s easy to set up, encourages creativity, and results in a beautiful holiday decoration you’ll love to hang or gift. Let your little ones dive into this festive activity and watch their creativity shine!
Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers
There is no limit to your toddler’s energy and curiosity. That energy and curiosity although a joy can be challenging at times. Their interest in just about everything around them is what makes them great learners. One and two year olds can soak up so much just from their senses!
But as a teacher or parent that thirst for learning can be exhausting. That is why I created this toddler and preschooler program. To help you get the most out of this time with your curious toddler without having to come up with creative ways to play and interact with them.
Play2Learn for Toddlers includes 20 Units for toddlers. Each 2-week toddler unit has 20 super easy to set up and engaging activities for toddlers 18 months to 3 years.
Play2Learn Preschool which includes 20 Units for preschoolers. Each 2-week preschoolers unit has 20 unique and easy to set up and engaging activities for preschoolers 3 years to 5 years. That’s over 800 learning activities for your toddler and preschooler at your fingertips! So many ideas you and your child will never be bored again!
These toddler and preschool lesson plans and activities will definitely keep you and your toddler and preschooler busy playing and learning!
Click here for more information: Play2Learn
Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles tha. t show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to share my crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched in July 2022 on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube! Season 2 aired in August 2023! My show was also nominated in 2023 for Best Live Action Preschool Series by the Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.
Curious Crafting Season 1 is also now airing in Australia on ABC! Watch it here!
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
