Learn with Play at Home: Christmas Snowflake Decoration Creation Station

Last Christmas (yes, that's how far behind I am), I set up a little Christmas Snowflake Doiley Decoration Creation Station for my kids (try and say that quickly 5 times). The previous year, our favourite Christmas activity was this Christmas Decoration Creation Station where the kids were enticed to decorate baubles for the tree with a range of fun arty materials. They especially loved the open-ended nature of it and how the end results were not predetermined, it was completely up to them. That was the same premise for this activity. I demonstrated how you could fold and cut the doilys to make snowflakes if they wanted, but other than that, the end results were completely up to them.

As it is summer here in Australia over Christmas time, our Christmases are as far from a "white Christmas" as you can get. We certainly don't have any snow, but thanks to television shows, movies and books from other countries, my children are well aware that in many parts of the world, they do! There is something a little magical to us about a Christmas winter wonderland, so we thought we'd make our front room seem a little less summery, with a myriad of beautiful snowflakes all over the window. (Unfortunately it didn't cool us down at all... but it did look pretty) ;)

Materials:

Doileys (range of sizes)
Scissors
Decorative supplies, ie. Paint, sequins, glitter, stamps, stickers, etc.
Glue/tape

A table set up as an Invitation to Create. This is the creation station! In the top left corner is the "snowflake" that we made together, where we could talk about how they needed to be folded and how/where to cut them, etc.

Thanks to repeated exposure of this sort of creative, open-ended activity, my children don't hesitate at all to jump in to creating, already with multiple ideas buzzing of what they want to create (or at least which materials they want to use). If your child is less familiar with these sorts of materials, it could be helpful to stay and create with them so that you can encourage use of different materials, talk with them about the different ideas they are formulating for their creations or explain how best to use the materials. (Or, just let them go for it! They will learn for themselves... the mess you have to clean at the end might be a little different though.)

Doileys already have lovely patterns around the edges so you only need cut the centre to continue the pattern or make new patterns;

Plenty of creativity, fine motor skills, cutting skills, language and imagination took place over the hour or so that my kids participated in this activity.

When dry, we stuck them on the window with some folded sticky-tape. They didn't photograph amazingly thanks to all the light behind them, but they certainly gave the room a real festive feel and looked lovely.

Handy Tips

- Simplify this activity for younger children by providing them with things like foam stickers that are easy for them to peel and stick and pre-cut pieces of patterned tape. You could leave out some of the more fiddly items like sequins (although they can be fabulous for practicing fine motor skills). You may wish to have younger children decorate their doileys and then you can assist them in folding and cutting the shapes from the middle.

- Extend this activity by:

Encouraging children to spell out Christmas words and names using letter stickers, stamps and paint.
Encouraging your child to think about patterns, colours and spacing
Inviting children to arrange all the finished snowflakes in a large design on the window
Challenging students to try and create two identical snowflakes and discussing what they are like in real life.

- Mix it up by just using plain paper and having children trace and cut a circular shape first.

- Use descriptive language that goes with this experience to help develop your child's vocabulary. Eg "pattern, design, cut, fold, stick, decorate" etc.

- Having a damp cloth on the side of the table is handy for attending to spills and cleaning fingers along the way.

- Here are a few more Christmas Activities we've shared: