Pine Cone Trees

   This is the first of our Yule / Christmas crafts this year, little pine cone trees. It is very easy, so even the smallest of the little folk can try this one. We always find ourselves with loads of pine cones this time of year, collected from many nature walks and displayed on our seasonal nature table. So finding something to use them for is always on my mind.
 

   First, the children selected a good shaped pine cone and painted it green, these were then left to dry while we prepared the pots. Anything pot like can be used here, (bottle lids for example) but we have used old cotton reels and wrapped a piece of sparkly paper around them. My husband then glued the two together as you can see in the above  photograph.

   The next stage is also very easy, though a little messy, adorn with your chosen decorations. As you can see above my children have used as many sparkly things as they could find, totally raided the craft cupboards. We dabbed with glue then added sequins, jewels and glitter, of course! My daughter even found a different way of getting sequins and glitter on the little trees, smear with glue and roll the pine cone in them, seems to have worked well.

   I think the final effect is very magical, they look so cute on the window ledge. The children had a really good time decorating the little trees and are quite impressed with their craft work. This craft can very easily be adapted to suit any age child and we hope you have as much fun as we did making them.