Paper Strip Christmas Trees

Paper Strip Christmas Trees are really easy to make and they look fantastic!

You will need:

• A plain piece of paper (or one of the templates below),
• Coloured paper (pre-cut into strips for younger children),
• Other decorations of your choice (e.g. glitter, felt, foam shapes, pom poms).

To make a paper strip Christmas tree, simply glue the coloured paper strips onto the page, with longer strips at the base of the ‘tree’ and shorter strips at the top. The strips of paper can be positioned at different angles, overlapping each other. To make the task easier, a variety of templates are available below (including a Christmas tree, star, present and bauble).

Additional decorations can then be added and a star / base can be created.

Related activities:

• Challenge your children to create one of these using art / design software. Could they use the rectangle tool to recreate the coloured paper strips onscreen?
• Use this technique to create other objects / images (at Christmas or other times of the year).
• Create alternative versions of the same image using different sets of colours. Could you make a tree using a variety of contrasting colours… or use different shades of the same colour?
• Ask your students to cut out the paper strips and measure them all so that they are certain lengths. Calculate the total length of paper strips used… or the average length of the strips.
• Work out the ratio of different colours used on the completed design.
• Ask the pupils to position their paper strips at fixed angles (e.g. 10 degrees).
• As part of a writing activity, your children could make their own instructions for this activity. Could they make a video tutorial too?

This idea is based on this image from Pinterest.

Downloads: