Countdown to Christmas Activities. Day 14. Christmas Tree Collage

This is one of those activities I read about in various Montessori books. Not necessarily the same activity, but I was inspired by the Montessori ideas.




Basically the activity involved 2 parts. The first part - is tearing the construction paper. Yes, Santino loves using the scissors, and we could have used those. Instead, I offered tearing. He wasn't impressed. He was told so many times not to rip (mostly books, he ripped several of his favorite books in the past), that this time when I actually offered a sheet of paper and showed how to tear it into pieces, he refused. I started, trying to tear along the bends (I did bend the paper first), and th en offered him to try. He seemingly enjoyed the process, and made a few nice pieces.

Then, we drew a simple triangle on a sheet of paper (one that Santino used once for painting, those smudges made a nice background). I gave him the construction paper and glue, and suggested to fill the triangle with the green paper. I was very relieved that he stayed within the borders, and actually covered the area rather evenly. This is a huge step for him, as before he would often stay in one corner, sticking everything on the same spot.

Then we glued ribbons on the tree. I cut up the ribbons, he glued. I did show where to put them, so that they would be evenly spread.

I also offered a book of stickers (bought one on a garage sale last year). This is a great book as it is, with various activities and stickers from several cartoons, like Dumbo, The Dinosaur, Toy Story, and Pinocchio.

Santino picked which stickers he would like to use to decorate his tree. He picked his favorites: a giraffe, 2 firefighters, a firetruck, and a cat. He placed them wherever he pleased, and here we have it, a collage!

We signed his name. I held his hand to make the letters, except the last one. He is very confident in how to write an "O" so he did it himself!