Eco-friendly Christmas Tree Craft Tutorial, or… how to distract your kids while you get some stuff done around the house this holiday season

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I can barely call this a tutorial because it is just gluing paper on a cone shape, but that is the genius of this sweet little craft.

I first showed this post last Christmas, and as we pulled these trees out from storage this year my daughter begged to make more.  So see?  Even though it is soooo easy and barely requires five minutes of adult set up/supervision, it is something your kids will love, enjoy, and be proud of years later.

If you need to get some stuff done around the house and need an easy distraction for the kids, just gather up your glue, some colorful paper/construction paper/aluminum foil/what have you… and staple a cone shape out of an old cereal box or other cardboard box.

In these pics I’ve used a prefab cone shape found super cheap at the craft store, since I am forever going in and out of craft stores, but if you could simply cut out a triangle with a curved bottom edge, you can wrap in into a cone shape, staple it, and have a free, eco-friendly cone.

You don’t even need to set out scissors, that’s how easy and safe it is to let your kids have at it while you get your other work done alongside them.

Ripping, tearing, and shredding the paper with their bare hands is the best part!

So have fun and happiest of holidays to you and your family.  xoxo, Laura

What you’ll need:

Several paper mache cones from your local craft store, or a recycled piece of cardboard from a cereal box… just cut out a large triangle shape with a curved bottom, roll into a cone and staple!

assorted scrap paper

pom poms or ribbon or glitter or tissue paper or anything else you can think of to decorate the tree with

Modge Podge or other glue

1. Tear off strips of paper and glue them onto your tree form, as Clara does here. We glued them on by *painting* Modge Podge to the back of the strips, then randomly affixing them in an overlapping fashion all the way around the cone.

2. Add ribbon spiralling around the tree, or gobs of tissue paper crinkled into balls, or pom poms… whatever you want to decorate your tree with! Here, Miles chooses tissue paper and ribbon:

3. Bug your kids by standing on the sofa and trying to angle the camera directly above them, to capture all the crafty goodness:

4. Display the trees alongside an obscene number of Christmas carol singing animal automatons to create the perfect festive winter scene for your mantel!