Christmas Tree Storytelling Props

This was my guest post at Happily Mother After last week.  I'm posting it here in case you missed it!!

A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree is a beautiful story about a pine who wishes to be chosen as a family Christmas tree but he's grown too tall.  When he begins to cry, the forest animals that he has provided food and shelter for want to help him feel better.  As a surprise, they decorate him in their own version of a Christmas tree.  The rhyming text and excellent message make it a big hit with my preschoolers, but it is also very suitable for older readers.

Before we read the story we made some handprint tree puppets.  I traced my kids' hands on green construction paper, glued them together into a tree shape, and attached them to large craft sticks.

After we read the story, we decorated our trees.