Christmas Tree Stringing

Although this activity is not as open-ended as I usually like, I can appreciate the fine motor practice that it encourages. My children are very motivated by anything Christmas-related, and the tree can be left as a station for repeated use as the beads can be rearranged multiple times.

We used green pipe cleaners cut in various lengths and a variety of pony beads.

After ordering the pipe cleaners by length (longest to shortest) I helped wind them around one of the paper towel holders I mentioned in my previous post. Caleb needed my help with this but I believe an older child would be able to do this independently.

Once all pipe cleaners were wound we arranged them so they looked like branches of a Christmas tree.

I encouraged Caleb to 'decorate' the tree by putting the pony beads on the branches, which was excellent fine motor practice for him.

He spent a great deal of time at this activity. When he was finished we removed the beads and left the tree out for another time. I think this would be a great activity to put out at a fine motor station - many materials could be provided in addition to the pony beads including dried pasta and buttons.