Just when I thought the leaf crafting season had come to an end, I found a way to turn those last stubborn oak leaves in our yard into a festive Christmas decoration. Here’s how we created a painted leaf Christmas tree garland that’s a perfect nature craft for winter!
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Nature crafts can feel harder in the cold, but we have really enjoyed making diy birdseed ornaments and these frozen nature ornaments this winter! We’ve also gotten outside to make some maple syrup snow taffy and vanilla snow ice cream for fun winter outdoor activities!
This leaf craft was a really simple craft to do when we were stuck inside during a bitterly cold day. All you need is some pressed leaves and paint and you have a sweet Christmas nature craft!
Materials Needed
- Pressed leaves
- Green acrylic paint
- Paint markers – I used metallic for a fun shimmer, I couldn’t find the exact ones, but these paint markers are very similar!
- Paint brush
How To Make Your Leaf Christmas Tree
Step One: Collect Leaves – Start by collecting your leaves, we used the leaves from our Oak tree, because I thought the shape represented a Christmas tree well 🙂
Step Two: Press Leaves – I pressed my leaves sandwiched between paper towels and placed inside a heavy book for a few days. Here are some further leaf pressing instructions – you can even use an iron to speed up the process!
Step Three: Paint – Once your have dry, pressed leaves use green acrylic paint to cover each leaf.
Step Four: Decorate – Once your green paint has dried it’s time to decorate! Use paint markers to add colorful Christmas lights around each leaf with the stem of the leaf as the tree trunk.
Step Five: Dry – Let your paint dry and then hang for a sweet handmade Christmas decoration- we clipped ours onto a piece of twine to make a garland and it was the perfect way to decorate our mantle this Christmas!
Fun Ways to Use Your Painted Leaves
- Use clothes pins and clip them onto twine for a sweet Christmas garland
- Hang up on your classroom bulletin boards
- Glue to the front of a blank card for a fun way to make a DIY Christmas card
- Clip to the top of a present for a fun present topper!
If you are looking for an easy Christmas craft for kids this winter, this leaf Christmas tree craft is a great choice for kids of all ages!
Pin for Later!
