MAMA Activity: Christmas decoration mash up!

Whilst decorating the tree this year I discovered that lots of the decorations would be really great for mark-making so I collected a few slightly older decorations and put them aside for this final 2017 MAMA Christmas Activity post!

Equipment

For the painting/glittering bit;

– Plastic activity mat for floor or table.
– Different coloured paints (water based, non toxic).
– Glitter shakers.
– Paint pots / paper plates.
– Coloured card.
– Pen/pencil.
– Scissors.
– Mark-making tools: Paint brushes, sponges, Christmas decorations (baubles, beads, tinsel etc), Pom-Poms, cotton wool balls and cotton buds.
– Old clothes / aprons for you and your child.

For the decoration bit;
– Permanent markers/felt tips.
– Cotton wool balls.
– Gift bows.
– The beads/Pom-Poms/tinsel you used for mark making.
– Orange card.
– Snowflake card cut out.
– PVA glue.
– Christmas sticky tape.

Step 1: Preparation

First I drew some large Christmas shapes (Santa, Christmas tree, bauble, star and snowman) onto card and cut them out. An older child may want to draw and cut out their own shapes.

I then set up my table space (could use floor). I always cover the area with the plastic activity mat first and then I set up the card shapes, mark making tools and paints (I used Christmassy colours: red, green, gold and white).

Get yourself and your child dressed in old clothes/aprons and prepare to get nice and messy!

Step 2: Christmas decoration mash up time!

This MAMA activity is all about experimentation so just let your child explore the mark-making tools and paint and decorate the card cut outs in whatever way they want to. My son especially liked the cotton wool balls and buds and dropping the paint coloured Christmas beads down onto the card (as well as his usual favourite – squeezing paint in his hands and slamming them down!).

After exploring all the paint I was then brave and allowed the glitter shakers out! My son shook them over the paint whilst wet so it gave the pictures a really Christmassy feel (the floor got a bit of a decoration too!).

Overall this activity kept him busy for a good 40 minutes as there was so much to explore!!

Step 3: Tidy, tidy tidy up!

Now we both got pretty messy (and glittery) with this activity so we needed a good initial wipe down of the excess paint and then it was definitely bath time!

I let all the reusable painting equipment soak and then I properly cleaned them later.

Step 4: Decorating.

After your pictures have dried you can then decorate them further, either yourself if you have a younger child or with your child. This is how I did it;

For the Christmas tree I stuck on the saved tinsel, beads and Pom-Poms from mark-making using PVA glue and Christmas tape (the beads did not stick with the glue very well which is why I used the Christmas tape). I finished the tree with a gift bow on the top but you could use any cut out star/angel.

For Santa I stuck on cotton wool balls with PVA glue to decorate his hat and make a beard and then used a permanent marker pen to draw on eyes/nose and mouth and other detailing.

For the snowman I stuck on cotton wool balls with PVA glue for buttons and cut out an orange card carrot nose and stuck that on too. You could use real buttons or Pom-Poms – whatever you have handy!

I liked the star as it was so just outlined it with permanent marker pen. I did the same for the bauble and then stuck on a card snowflake cut out on it with PVA glue.

Step 5: Displaying your creations!

I decided to display these pictures all together by attaching them to some tinsel on our stairs but you could frame them, give them to family as cards or hang them up from the ceiling!