Christmas Star Tree Topper
Ages 3 to 10
Skill level: Easy
Materials needed: 6-inch Styrofoam ball, 24 plastic
drinking straws (straight, not bent), newspaper, glitter
spray paint, pipe cleaner or craft wire.
Cut 8 of the straws down to 6 inches, then cut 10 more
straws down to 4 inches. Leave the remaining 6 straws
at their current length. Take the six longest straws
and press them gently into the ball at the center top,
bottom, front, back, and each side of the ball. Then
press the 6-inch straws into the diagonal points in
between the long straws (front top right, front top
left, front bottom right, front bottom left, and repeat
for the back). Then press the 4-inch straws to fill
in the spaces in between. Set the entire ball down on
a large piece of newspaper and spray it with glitter
paint. Gently rotate to make sure that all sides are
covered. When the glitter paint is fully dry, attach
the ball to the top of the tree by wiring it to the
top-most branch.
Snowman Tree Topper
Ages 4 to 10
Skill level: Easy to medium
Materials needed: Empty 2-liter soda bottle, 4-inch
Styrofoam ball, cotton balls, colored pom-poms, two
short sticks, black felt, scissors, glue
Discard the wrapper and the cap from the soda bottle
and use scissors to cut off the base of the bottle.
With scissors, carefully cut a small hole at the bottom
of the Styrofoam ball to fit the size of the mouth of
the bottle. Fit the Stryofoam ball over the mouth of
the bottle. Glue cotton balls over the surface of the
bottle and the Styrofoam ball. Glue pom-poms on the
head to make the snowman’s eyes, nose, and mouth.
Glue the two short sticks to the side of the body for
the arms. For the top hat: Cut a 4-inch circle of felt.
Cut an 8-inch by 1-inch strip of felt, roll it into
a circle, and carefully glue it, standing up, onto the
circle of felt. Glue a 3-inch circle of felt on top
to make the top-most portion of the hat. When all of
the glue has dried, glue the hat to the top of the snowman’s
head. To mount the snowman on the tree, slide the opening
of the bottle over the top of the tree.
Angel Tree Topper
Ages 5 to 12
Skill level: Medium
Materials needed: 8-inch Styrofoam cone, 3-inch Styrofoam
ball, white felt, gold craft jewels, glue, wide white
lace ribbon, fancy gold push-pin, yellow or brown yarn
for hair, two small beads for eyes, red felt for mouth,
gold glittery pipe cleaner
Cut a 16-inch circle of white felt and drape it carefully
over the Styrofoam cone, using thin lines of glue to
hold down the felt in gentle folds. Glue the gold craft
jewels in a scatter pattern around the white felt. Cut
a small hole in the Styrofoam ball and slide it over
the tip of the cone. Cut several 8-inch lengths of yarn
and glue them to the top of the Styrofoam ball, draping
them gently over the top to look like hair. Use glue
to attach beads for the eyes and red felt for the lips.
Make a large bow with the white lace ribbon and secure
it to the back of the cone with the push-pin. Curl the
pipe cleaner into a halo and glue it on top of the angel’s
hair. Cut a small hole into the base of the cone to
fit it on top of the tree.
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