Monday, December 5, 2011

Drinking Straw Christmas Tree

I am behind and just getting around to posting the first activity from our book advent calendar.  The book was Littlest Christmas Tree and it's about a little tree who wants so badly to be a beautifully decorated Christmas tree.  It is passed over again and again until Christmas Eve.  The man who runs the tree stand takes him home to his son, Nathan.  Nathan decorates the tree with homemade ornaments and puts it in his bedroom. The littlest Christmas tree becomes the happiest Christmas tree.

I have to admit that I did almost all of the project myself.  We got off to a good start with lots of enthusiasm.  Then Drew discovered that if you cut the pieces of straw small enough, they would go flying through the air.

After that, glue and paper paled in comparison to the joy of making a big ole mess.  We ended up with a floor that looked like this:

As if it wasn't dirty enough already.
I scrounged up some of the cut straw pieces and we made our tree.  Drew did help a little. 
When we were done and the glue was almost dry, he ripped all the straws off, pronounced it beautiful, and hung it on his bedroom door.

I do not understand 3 year old boys, but that's nothing new.

Don't forget to head on over to see what Jackie and her boys at Ready. Set. Read! are up to today!!  You can also check out all of the great books and projects on Jackie's 12 Days of Christmas pinboard.

Linking to Made by Little Hands, Monday Madness, Adventures in Mommy Land, ABC and 123, Living Life Intentionally, Red Ted Art, Sassy Sites , It's Playtime! Mom on Timeout 
Playing with Words 365,  A Mommy's Adventures, , JDaniel4's Mom
Sun Scholars
Toys in the Dryer 
I Can Teach My Child
Pin It!

32 comments:

  1. Yet another cute idea! Need to pin this too! :)

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  2. This is so cute! All your ideas are just awesome, which is why I am passing along a Blog Award to you! Thanks for sharing all your knowledge, expertise and creativity with us all.

    http://www.playingwithwords365.com/2011/12/my-first-blog-award/

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  3. I love this tree. You did great ;) I may wait to do it until next year. Maybe a four year old boy would do better? Although my husband still thinks shooting straws is pretty entertaining so he probably won't outgrow it by then. And next year I'll have another almost 3 year old boy in my house!

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  4. I can relate to a straw covered floor, they are one of my boys' favorite things to cut :). Love this idea for how to use all the pieces.

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  5. Glad you got a picture of it before he took it all apart. Boys will be boys. It was a cute project!

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  6. I love that your little boy ripped all the straws off and thought it was beautiful, my 3 yo girl does exactly the same thing. Sometimes I thinks she enjoys the destruction part more than the making part!!

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  7. I love the tree! Very cute - though very funny about the hung peice of artwork. It's a good thing you got a picture!

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  8. What a simple activity and I am a big fan of colored drinking straws. I am visiting from Hey, Mom Look What I Did. Vicky from Mess For Less

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  9. This is so cute and simple and inexpensive. What a great idea :) I'm your newest GFC follower. Hope you get a chance to visit my blog and follow back if you would like :)

    ~MiaB
    www.mamamiasheart2heart.com

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  10. great idea - I love the scissor practice and the open ended part because it doesn't matter what length they cut it

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  11. This is so cute! I love that you used straws & it came out great! I've not read the book - I am going to have to check it out. Thanks for linking up to TGIF! See you next week,
    Beth =-)

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  12. LOL, sorry that happened at the end! It is a very cute project though! Glad you got some great pics before it was destroyed :-)

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  13. Ba ha ha ha ha. The first time I read this post, I somehow missed the part where he ripped all the straws off.

    Oh goodness. That is too funny!!!

    Thanks for sharing at Thrifty Thursday!!

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  14. So beautiful and creative! I like it! Thanks for sharing...I´m a kindergarden teacher in Portugal. See our blog Pré Azul http://preazul.blogspot.com/
    Good work and Merry Christmas
    Teresa Rebelo

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  15. That looks fabulous! How very sweet!

    Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

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  16. Wonderful!
    I tried to make a xmas tree with rolled up paper but it was too fiddly :D This is perfect!

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  17. Lol! I can totally relate. It was very nice before it got torn apart! My little boy would have done the exact same thing.

    Stopped by from Thrifty Thursday.

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  18. Oh Lorie you made my day! I too have a three year old and feel the same way when I try to have a fun craft time with them. She is growing up i a boys world as most of our friends have boys and that is all she has had to play with so she has some of the little boy destruction in her. I love how the "finished" project turned out and it warms my heart to know our floors and our doors are so similar at times like these. :)

    I just found your blog but look forward to reading past posts and keeping up in the future!

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  19. Wow.. these look really cute! :)

    If its not too much to ask, can you please go through the rules of my event > Jingle All The Way and link your post there? Would love to have your post on my space. Thanks!

    Kavi | Edible Entertainment
    Ongoing events:
    Jingle All The Way &
    Microwave Easy Cooking

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  20. lucky you got the photo when you did. Actually the glue imprint does look quite nice. Its funny how you need to be detached from any craft you do with your child just incase they decide to do something like that! I'm impressed by his scissor skills though

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  21. We made it http://scpwoodcraftfolk.org.uk/2011/12/08/what-we-made-today-week-13/

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  22. *smacking my head* WHY didn't I think of this???? What a great and simple idea! My kids would get such a kick out of this.
    Would you please share this with our readers for Fun Stuff Fridays linky party? http://www.toysinthedryer.com/2011/12/fun-stuff-fridays-3.html

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  23. Sounds like a cute story. I'm sure my son would just love cutting the straws to go flying too. A nice and simple project we'll have to try. We have red and black straws laying around. Found you on "I Can Teach My Child". Now following you blog on GFC and RSS. I also blog about kid books, crafts and activities at www.obSEUSSed.com.

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  24. The tree was beautiful while it lasted! What fun! I have had similar problem with project in the past!

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  26. What a great idea! I'm always looking for ideas. I'm a new follower and I have a blog as well. THanks for sharing!

    wackycyndi.blogspot.com

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  27. I have never seen anything like this before - what a fantastic idea and perfect for the little guys. Thanks so much for sharing at Taking A Timeout Thursday. Can't wait to see what you've been up to this week :)

    -Trish @ Mom On Timeout
    http://www.MomOnTimeout.com

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  28. You know this is amazing, because I've seen that lots of linky parties have also chosen to feature this!! I just wanted to let you know that I too featured this at this week's linky party - http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/2011/12/tgif-linky-party-9.html - So pop on over, grab your Featured Button & don't forget to link up this week!! Thanks again for sharing your creativity with the rest of us!!
    Beth =-)

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  29. Brilliant! My kiddo would love this :)
    New follower here... from the TGIF linky.
    The Mommies Made Me Do It @ http://themommiesmademedoit.blogspot.com/

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  30. I pinned this one. Thanks for sharing such wonderful ideas! It is such a busy time, I really appreciate the effort.

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  31. Thank you very much for your idea!!!!
    Yesterday I did it at school!

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  32. INCREDIBLE THINKING!! You did really making sense. My little baby girl like different things to do and I think this will be enjoyable for me also when I'll see she is making this.
    http://www.leapfrogtabletreviews.com/

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