This pony bead Christmas tree craft will make the perfect Christmas keepsake to send home with students. Plus, they’ll love having their names as part of the ornament. Be sure to add it to your list of Christmas activities for preschoolers.
I don’t know about you, but I love to decorate for the holidays using the kids’ creations. This hand-crafted Christmas tree is no exception.
It can be used as an ornament for the Christmas tree, a magnet for the refrigerator, or even as a keychain for their backpacks.
Perfect if you’re looking for gifts the kids can make their families for the holidays!
Pony Bead Christmas Tree
Preschoolers LOVE the holiday season. It’s such a magical time of year for them. And, I have to admit, I get such a kick out of watching their excitement.
Even though this activity is super simple, the kids will still absolutely have a blast making their own little name tree.
Related: Christmas Tree Art Using Dyed Pumpkin Seeds
Students will not only adore this Christmas craft, but they’ll also learn so much in the process of making it. Here are just a few early learning concepts that can be explored with this activity:
- Fine motor skills
- Name recognition
- Letter identification
- Shape recognition
- Color identification
- Simple patterns
This list is not, in any way, exhaustive. You can include more concepts as they come up in your classroom.
Beaded Tree Craft Materials
As I mentioned earlier, this activity is pretty simple and straight forward. Sometimes the simplest activities leave the most room for children to be creative.
An added benefit of such a simple activity is that it doesn’t require too many materials.
Here’s what you need to get started making the pony bead Christmas tree:
I suggest putting a bowl or two of beads out at the table. It will encourage peer interaction as the students talk to one another about what they’re seeing or what they need.
The materials listed are just what we used in our craft. You can certainly change those up as much as you’d like to better suit your students and lesson plans. Check out the name wreath craft for a variation of this activity.
Now that you’ve gathered all of the materials, it’s time to get creating!
How to Make a Pony Bead Christmas Tree
First, consider giving the kids a few moments to explore the materials. The pony beads and fuzzy pipe cleaners can be a fun sensory experience on their own.
You might notice the children feeling and bending the pipe cleaners, counting out beads, or making shapes with the materials. Some children will even search the beads to find the letters in their names.
Once they’re acclimated to the materials, let the kids search through the letter beads to find the letters in their names (if they haven’t already).
When the letters for their name are in order, have the children slide the beads onto the pipe cleaner, adding in the green as they go.
If you included number beads with the other materials, make sure that the students put the date on their pipe cleaners too.
As long as the children are putting the letters of their name (and/or year) in order, they can really have free reign over the design or pattern they choose. Some will make patterns, while others will just focus on stringing the beads. Either way is just fine!
Then, help the children shape the pipe cleaner into a triangle and have them twist the top points together. You may want to add a dab of hot glue where the pipe cleaners meet, just for good measure.
Related: The Grinch’s Heart Homemade Christmas Ornament
Lastly, hot glue the yellow button on top for your students. If the students did not add the date with number beads, I would suggest writing the year somewhere on the button.
Let your students wrap up this pony bead Christmas tree craft, along with something like the fingerprints Christmas lights picture frame. Together, they will make the perfect Christmas gift to send home for parents.
Christmas Books for Preschoolers
There are some books that every child just HAS to read every year at Christmas time.
So, I thought it could be helpful to include some of my Christmas book recommendations here:
Read a Christmas story, along with one of these preschool Christmas songs, for the perfect circle time.
Done-for-You Preschool Resources
Christmas time is always so exciting. It can also be very hectic. Let Preschool Teacher 101 give you the gift of some extra time this holiday season! We offer complete and comprehensive lesson plans and many other early learning activities.
Click below to learn more about our full set of preschool Christmas lesson plans.
Don’t forget to take a look at our membership options, too! Here are some other available Christmas resources:
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