Decorate a Tree Toddler Sensory Play

Today is the last day of the Christmas Play Days series hosted by Play Trains!, Buggy and Buddy, My Nearest and Dearest, Nothing if Not Intentional, Fun-A-Day! and our site. I hope you’ve enjoyed the activities we’ve shared this week. Thank you for following along!

Each month I like to have a few trays or play invitations out that the kids can go back to and play with over and over again. This simple Christmas Tree decorating station is one of our activities for the month of December.

Decorate a Tree Sensory Play

Materials

This post contains affiliate links.

Christmas tree shaped tray-we found ours at the Dollar Tree.
Split peas
Tinsel Pom Poms
Red and green buttons
Holiday confetti

If you are worried about sorting out the materials during clean up time, you can always choose just one item to set out as a decoration for the “tree.” Then the other items could be switched out at different times throughout the week.

Be sure to supervise children closely while using these materials.

Tinker loved examining each items as she placed it on the tree. As she did we talked about the color and texture of the object. Later she began to bury the items and go on a “treasure hunt.” Once she was done we sorted the items by kind and placed them back into their appropriate containers.

Although this is a very easy activity to set up, it invites many opportunities for learning. Some of the concepts we’ve practiced are:

sensory play
fine motor skills
vocabulary
color recognition
counting
sorting

Visit the other sites participating in the Christmas Play Days series to find more fun ways to play this holiday season.

Play Trains!

Buggy and Buddy

My Nearest and Dearest

Nothing if Not Intentional

Fun-A-Day!

A little help getting things planned and organized this holiday season? Yes, PLEASE!

From the arrival of fall to Halloween to Thanksgiving and Christmas, the last four months of the year can be a wonderful opportunity for making family memories and spending time together, but they can also be stressful as we try to collect ideas, recipes, and activities to try together.

Stephanie Morgan, founder of Modern Parents Messy Kids, a site that’s been voted Best Craft Blog in Parents Magazine and one of babble.com’s Top 50 Craft Mom Blogs, recently released a new eBook to help us have a little less stress and more time to connect with family this year, and I’m so glad to be an affiliate for such a great resource.

Stephanie’s goal is to make it easier on all of us to enjoy the holidays with our kids. Hands-On Holidays is 100 pages full of her family’s very favorite ways to connect as a family over the holiday season. I love the convenience of having so many ideas in one place, and most of them are simple enough for even my toddler to participate in.

The book includes picture book suggestions, DIY decor, activities, and treats. Bonus sections also offer even more ideas to enjoy. Click here to view more details.