Have you discovered how toddlers love to dip paper tubes into paint and make prints? After doing paper tube printing for many years, I realized it’s the up and down motion that they love. After all, toddlers love to move, even at the art table! For the Christmas season I decided to use this method on simple tree shaped paper. The children loved “putting the lights on the tree” as they stamped colorful circles on their green triangles!
For my younger students, I especially appreciate anything that offers larger movements. Any time I invite my students to use paper tubes, it’s a hit. They can use their entire palm to grasp the tube, then use their entire arm and shoulder to move the tube up and down, over and over. See all of our Christmas fine motor activities here. Normally we recycle paper tubes for these types of activities, but in this case someone had donated a huge box of white craft tubes to our preschool and I used those. But recycling paper tubes is so easy, so make sure to save some for activities such as this! That’s recycled! I get more messages asking about those than just about anything else. They were also donated to our preschool and appear to have been some sort of packaging. We have used them countless times for so many things! So, let me show you just how easy it is to make this toddler Christmas tree art!
Green construction paper Brown construction paper Paper tubes White glue or glue stick Tempera paint, assorted colors
Preparation:
Cut green paper into long triangles Cut brown paper into small squares (trunks for the trees) Glue the trunks to the bottom center of each tree Pour several different colors of paint into each tray
I do this with action art because often toddlers will want to keep on going, in this case right off of the trees and onto the yellow paper. When I don’t cover the table, I use individual trays, one for each child. Activities such as this toddler Christmas tree art don’t need a lot of directions. Simply show them how to dip the end of the paper tube into the paint and then onto the tree.
This is why I love using paper tubes with young children. They are easy for smaller hands to hold!
As toddlers build fine motor strength, they might hold the tube from the side, as shown below. Some toddlers might go back and forth, from using the palm to holding onto the sides of the tube.
And since our centers time is an hour long, there is no rush.
I told you it was simple! Once dry, these look so cute as a wall display. (I actually taped some to our windows, too!) Here is my Privacy Policy
