It’s fair to say after teaching a few years, salt dough ornaments or pom pom/cotton ball Santas can lose a little luster. I love the idea of a natural preschool Christmas craft for kids. You’re going to love this DIY Christmas square stick wreath preschoolers can make! This natural Christmas craft for preschoolers will help build fine motor skills and give them a chance to get creative while making an easy nature craft for a Christmas gift or Christmas decoration. And you can leave the flour in the pantry!
Why should I make Christmas crafts made from nature?
Chances are, come December, your kids are bouncing off the walls. The anticipation of Christmas is intense. (It’s also a great time to review emotions because ALL the big emotions come out to play: excitement, impatience, joy, sadness, anger, frustration… so many big emotions).
It can be hard to get kids to concentrate on their learning goals when all they are thinking about is when the presents are going to arrive under the Christmas tree.
Easy Christmas crafts for kids build lots of other important foundational skills. Plus, natural Christmas craft ideas don’t break the bank!
- Improves fine motor skills
- Provides an outlet for overwhelming energy and emotion
- Boosts creativity and imagination
- Encourages independent thinking and problem solving
- Boosts teamwork skills
Creating homemade Christmas ornament crafts is a fun way to get excited for the holidays and make Christmas gifts for parents from the kids. Or maybe grandparents or a special teacher?
Attach a paper Christmas tree-shaped card and you’ve got the perfect, inexpensive Christmas present!
This Christmas craft idea using natural material makes an excellent homemade gift for anyone on your preschoolers’ list. And parents don’t have to worry about having another handprint craft to save because this is an art project they’ll definitely want to keep.
Supplies Needed for the Wood Stick Christmas Square Wreath/Frame
How to Make a Christmas Stick Craft with Kids
Of course, you could always use craft sticks to make the twig wreath frame, but I love a natural touch at Christmas. It seems more personal than traditional popsicle stick crafts, though we do love them too.
It’s so easy to find a few dead sticks right now to make Christmas crafts with natural materials. And while you’re out there gathering sticks, you can grab a bunch of pinecones to make the fun pine cone crafts that are so popular in the winter.
How to make a Christmas frame with sticks
With just a handful of supplies, you’ll be able to work show your preschoolers how to make a Christmas wreath from sticks in no time. I have the easy step-by-step tutorial with photos below to help you make the Christmas nature craft idea today!
Quick tip: When working with a group of kids or when containing the mess is important, (I’m all about free play, too, but sometimes a quick cleanup is in order), I like to place a paper plate under the crafting supplies to keep everyone’s pieces from getting mixed together.
- Cut out the flower pieces
Select red, green and yellow felt fabric for the flower. Trace and cut out 10 lens shape petals from the red felt. Trace and cut out leaf patterns from the green felt and a small round shape from the yellow felt. Trace three small strips with ball-shaped sides on yellow felt and cut them out. The size of the petals and the three yellow patterns should be relatively similar. The size of the leaves can be the same or larger than the petals.
- Make the flower petals
Make a thin fold along the middle line of the petals and leaves and glue halfway along the middle fold. This gives the petals and leaves a 3D look.
A cool temp hot glue gun is perfect for this project. The kids love feeling ‘grown-up’ by using a hot glue gun and the temperature is safe for little hands.
- Create the flower base
Cut out a round base from any color felt for the flower.
- Build the flower
Attach five petals around the outer edge of the base, keeping the open ends of the petals facing out.
Next, attach the rest of the petals on the base, inside the previous outer layer of petals; keeping the closed ends of the petals on the center of the base.
Then, attach the three yellow patterns to the center, by placing them criss-cross. Finally, attach the small yellow circle on the center to complete the flower. - Create a beaded center for the flower
Cut out four or more small pieces of wire and twist them together halfway through their length.
Attach small beads to the open end of each wire. - Prepare the sticks for the wreath
Determine the size of the wreath and cut out dry twigs accordingly.
Larger wreaths make a pretty wall hanging and smaller wreaths make beautiful Christmas tree craft ornaments. - Create the stick Christmas wreath base
Attach the dry twigs together on four sides to form a square wreath pattern. You can attach more than one twig on each side.
Grab the beaded wire, the felt flower, and the square twig frame. - Add the Christmas flower to the wreath
Attach the felt flower on the twig frame. Place the felt leaves around the flower. Attach the beaded wire as well.
If desire, embellish the frame with extra beads or leaves. Attach a hanging mechanism on the back side.
This project is a perfect fine motor Christmas craft for preschoolers or older kids! You might even attach it to the outside of a store-bought gift as a homemade Christmas card!
You can grab a Cool Shot glue gun here to make creating the felt flowers a breeze!
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