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Teach students how to make organic Christmas-tree ornaments
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Egg-shell ornament
Teachers may wish to include ornament-making crafts into their lesson plans for elementary students, particularly in Christian or parochial school where Christmas is the universal holiday. Organic Christmas-tree ornaments are easy to make and a great choice over buying in these tough economic times. Choices for ornaments include the following: popcorn balls, stringed cranberries, orange cloves, egg-shell bulbs.
Students learn how to manipulate organic materials to make a tangible product, using eye-hand coordination, imagination, and teamwork. Teachers may wish to include lesson-plans about the origin of decorating the Christmas tree for the winter festival.
The materials for these ornaments are inexpensive, but the costs may add up depending upon the amount of students involved. After a consultation with administration, teachers may send home a written request for donations to the parents of the students. Asking for a nominal amount of money is Ok, too, as long as teachers retain receipts and keep a written record of expenditures.
Directions for making each ornament are as follows:
Popcorn Balls
Make the popcorn balls at home, and bring them into class with colored cellophane wrap and ribbons. Students can wrap their popcorn ball and decorate with a ribbon loop, perfect for hanging on the Christmas tree.
Stringed Cranberries
Students may wish to work in pairs while watching a Christmas movie, as they pierce cranberries with a double threaded needle. About a pound of cranberries per student should suffice to produce a six-foot decorative string. Keep cranberries frozen, prior to threading them into strings.
Orange Cloves
One orange per student suffices for this activity. Avoid navel oranges, which are more expensive and have a thicker skin. Students share a jar of whole cloves, piercing the orange peel, and clustering the cloves as closely as possible. This is a time-consuming task, which should be accompanied with Christmas music and learning new songs.
The oranges are wrapped with festive ribbon tied in a loop for hanging on the branches of the tree.
Egg-Shell Bulbs
This activity is not recommended for students below fifth grade, and it takes about two day
With a pin, poke a small hole in the bottom of the egg. Then, poke a larger hole in the top of the egg. Blow through the small hole so that the egg comes out the large hole into a bowl. Save the hollow eggs in an egg carton. Try to find a use for the discarded eggs, by refrigerating them and, perhaps, baking cupcakes later to bring into class.
When students collect enough shells, they’re ready to start cutting holes in the front of the eggs with a sharp pair of scissors. Have them cut holes large enough so that they are able to set a scene inside.
Cut four-inch pieces of ribbon or braid for each egg. Fold the pieces in half and stick the ends through the large hole at the top. Glue into place and dry, usually overnight.
Have students cut old Christmas cards or catalogs for little pictures to set up scenes in the egg. Have them cut a rectangular background and glue the scene into place. Glue a cotton ball at the bottom of the egg (pull the cotton apart a little first). Glue little trees or figures or whatever onto the cotton to create a scene.
This is a hard ornament to take home in one piece. Cut egg cartons into strips and use as a box for the students to use in transporting their egg-shell ornament home.
