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Christmas Tree Cutting Activity
This Christmas tree cutting activity is a great way to help your child practice cutting around corners. Your child will need to cut out three triangles and a small rectangle to create this tree.
Decorating the completed trees is another way to include fine motor skills in this activity - at the end of this page I will show you how to do this!
You will need:
- Scissors for your child
- Glue to paste the shapes together
- Decorations (eg stickers, or small pieces of crepe paper to crumple)
- Template printed on cardstock - download your free printable template from this page
- the color template has the shapes already colored in, and you can print it on white card stock.
- the black and white template has the outlines of the shapes and you can either print them on colored card stock or on white card stock for your child to color.
Instructions:
Most of the photos for this Christmas tree cutting activity show the black and white template which has been colored in, as this was my child's choice. But the same cutting technique applies for both!
Step 1: Prepare the Shapes
Have your child color in the shapes if desired.
We are working on wrist extension by doing this on a wall using a flat crayon to rub over the shapes.
Coloring the shapesSeparate the shapes to make it easier for your child to handle the paper when cutting them out.
I simply cut the paper into 2 sections.
Separate the shapesStep 2: Cutting Out
Have your child cut out the shapes.
Remember to make sure your child uses the scissors correctly and goes around the paper correctly.
See my page for more tips to help your child cut along a line accurately.
Cut out the shapesMy child was able to tackle the smaller shapes, but you may need to assist with the star, or leave it out altogether.
You can always use a star-shaped sticker on top of the tree.
Smaller shapes are trickyStep 3: Assemble the Tree
Assemble the pieces and paste them onto a background page as shown.
My child chose a white background, but a dark background can give a lovely contrast, especially a dark blue for a "night sky" look.
Finished!Decorate The Tree!
Build more fine motor skills with this Christmas tree cutting activity!
Your child has already been using fine motor skills by coloring the tree and cutting out the shapes. But it is super simple to get even more fine motor practice with these additional activities:
1) Outline the tree with a crayon
This is a good visual-motor integration exercise as your child needs to focus on keeping the crayon on the outline of the tree.
Trace an outline around the tree2) Crumple small paper balls
Elsewhere on my site, I have explained how crumpling small paper balls is a great finger exercise to build your child's fine motor skills.
- You need some crepe paper, cut into small squares, and glue to stick the balls on.
- Have your child use the tripod fingers to crumple the paper into little balls, as shown below.
For more in-depth instructions on crumpling small paper balls, check out my free finger exercises.
Supplies needed
Crumpling the paper
The completed tree!If you like the instructions on this page, but want to have the cutting template and the instructions in a downloadable PDF format, then check out my free Christmas Scissor Cutting Printables!
If your child struggled to cut out the shapes in this Christmas tree cutting activity, try my scissor skills and cutting templates resources to help your child develop better scissor skills.
- Part 1 - help your child cut with scissors
- Part 2 - help your child cut along the lines
- All my scissor cutting tips and activities in an accessible PDF format
- More Christmas scissor cutting printables
Thank you for visiting my site! I hope you were inspired by this simple Christmas cutting activity!
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Christmas Paper Craft & Cutting Printables!
A variety of fun, simple paper crafts and cutting activities suitable for kids from preschool to early elementary.
Over 17 different paper crafts (over 40 possible templates) with photographed instructions.
Didn't find what you were looking for? Try a search of my site!
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