Not quite December just yet, but it's not far off & when you are making things from scratch you always have to factor in a little crafting time to get things ready. But you'll be glad to know that this one is easy, fast to make and uses minimal materials! So if you are holding off to get a tree, or wondering what to do this year for one, then this one is for you. The joy with this crafting session is that you can make it as large as you want creating a natural Christmas Tree alternative which is beautiful, great for any home/room with less space, it negates the need for any plastic trees to be bought, or you can make a small tree -hang it as a Christmas tree decoration, a window display decoration or a door wreath alternative- as it is exactly the same process for making them, just scaled down!
There are so many things to love and appreciate about this time of year but one of my favourites is all the walks we take as a family and all the abundance of natural materials out there at this time of year. Look on the ground in parks, woods, fields, or around hedgerows at this time of year for any number of amazing nature finds. I love looking and waiting for natures providence to arrive and spotting things that inspire future creations. The joy in this family walk was the collection of many many MANY fallen sticks, little helping hands help make it all light work! Long sticks, short sticks, Y-sticks, straight sticks, curvy wavy wonderful sticks and even a few perfect stickman sticks...but those are for later! How many sticks you collect and the sizes/lengths will depend on what you have around you for resources and also how large or how small you are hoping to make your hanging tree.
Once complete it is up to you to decorate your tree exactly as you want it this year....and hopefully you will be able to hang it for many years in the future too if you want to!
Items needed:
A *number of sticks of varying lengths; (*number depends on how big or small you make it- remember that you can cut sticks to required lengths needed once home too. Collect fallen branches & sticks rather than taking any fresh cut from the trees wherever possible.)
Twine/rope/yarn; (your choice. If you make it large use something thicker/stronger, if you make it small then a thinner option works better.)
Scissors.
Optional: secateurs for cutting sticks to length - but they often snap fairly well without them too.
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Whilst using this resource to inspire learning, know you are helping you and your family's wellbeing by:
1) Get Active - Go out walking to collect the sticks needed for this activity - it's ok if you gather too many - there are more activities to come & at worst you can always return them to their natural world on your next walk.
2) Keep Learning - use this session to learn more about the many things you can do to reduce your environmental impact over the festive period.
3) Be Mindful- Walking in the woodland seeking is a wonderful activity but don't forget to take a moment of quiet in a sit spot to take in all that is around you. Remember the rule of thumb for sitting is 1min/year of life for a child. Or you could follow our activity here: Nature Connection Activity- Intro to Sit Spot
4) Practice Kindness- making things with family and children usually requires patience and kindness - be kind enough to give yourselves plenty of time to do them in.
5) Think Community - Share your displays with your community, invite family, friends or neighbours to come and look through your window to see what you have created this year or post them online to inspire others in future!
Music by: https://www.bensound.com