How to Make Handprint Christmas Trees
Adorable Christmas tree decorations can be created in under a half an hour with just a few simple craft supplies. The trees are made from traced hand-shaped pieces of felt, and are a simple but fun craft for young children. The end result is a soft and festive Christmas tree, about 12 to 14 inches tall, that can be hung on the wall or personalized on the back and given as a greeting card.
Things You'll Need
- 10 hand-sized pieces of green felt
- Brown felt
- Red, yellow and blue felt
- 16.5-by-11.7-inch or larger card stock
- Tube of nontoxic craft glue
- Scissors
- Washable black marker
Instructions
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1
Lay the green felt down flat and have a child trace his hand onto the felt using the marker. Repeat with each piece of felt until you have 10 handprint tracings.
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2
Cut along the outline of the handprints with scissors.
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3
Snip a 2-by-3-inch rectangle out of the brown felt and glue it to the card stock with craft glue, about 4 inches from the bottom of the paper. This will be the trunk of the tree.
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4
Glue the back of the handprints to the card stock to create the tree shape, starting from the bottom of the tree. Lay the felt so that it overlaps the trunk slightly at the top. The hand prints should be positioned with the fingers facing down; the bottom part of the tree will be a vertical row of four handprints. There should be four rows of felt hands making up the body of the tree. Glue three hands in a row above the bottom four, then two hands above that and one hand at the top. Make sure each row overlaps the one below it slightly.
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5
Draw and cut out a star shape from the yellow felt and glue it to the top of the tree.
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6
Use the scissors to cut three 1-inch squares of felt, one each of red, yellow and blue. Snip out a fingernail-sized clover leaf shape in each color and glue one atop each square. Glue the squares beneath the tree, overlapping the trunk slightly. These are the presents.
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7
Cut out a dozen 1/4-inch circular pieces of felt, a few of each color other than green. Glue them to the tree to create Christmas ornaments.
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8
Draw a wavy line across the yellow felt, and then draw the same line about 1/8-inch above it. Cut out the felt and proceed to cut 3 more wavy strips along the same edge. Glue the yellow strips on top of the tree to serve as a garland.
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9
Allow the tree to dry for the time specified on the craft glue. Cut away the excess card stock along the outside of the tree and presents.
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