Hi friends! Who is ready for the holidays? Not me! In my family we don’t put the decorations up until closer to Christmas. But I definitely have been trying to get my family to tell me what they want for Christmas.
At work we’re not ready yet either. The donations for Santa’s workshop have only just started coming in and the hospital Christmas Party isn’t until next week. But we have to plan some fun activities for the kids. I wanted to share a craft we will be doing. I modified it from an activity I saw on One Little Project, so go check out the original here! I changed it up by using markers to color the popsicle sticks and we will be switching the popsicle sticks out for tongue depressors (medical play, anyone?). You will need popsicle or tongue depressors, markers, glue, paper stars, brown paper squares, and various items to decorate the tree. I highly recommend the shiny pipe cleaners! 
You might wonder how I made the stars so nice. Debbie over at One Little Project recommended the method of folding paper and making one cut. About half way through I realized that I could have made copies of any star I wanted onto a sheet of paper and cut the stars out that way. But I have to admit, it was fun to do it the origami way.
Once you have your items, cut one of the popsicle sticks so that it is slightly shorter than the other two. Like so:
Then using the markers, color your sticks. You can paint them instead, but since the kids will be doing this craft during the party and there will be multiple other crafts as well, I wanted to keep this simple and not too messy.
Put some glue on the ends and glue them together.
Let the glue dry slightly, then decorate your tree.
You can use the pipe cleaners, the fuzz balls, even sequins or buttons. Use glitter at your own risk thought!
I love this activity because not only is it a great craft for the holiday season, but it’s also a great way to create memories, even in the hospital. I know that in the U.S. many children make homemade ornaments both at school and at home. It’s important to continue these traditions even in the hospital. I hope you get to try this craft out. Let me know what you think!
A Little Playfullness 