Evergreen Children's Art Activity

At this time of the year, late Autumn into Winter, most of the leaves of the trees have changed colours and fallen to the ground, but evergreens are trees and plants that keep their leaves throughout the Winter, and all year round. By keeping their leaves, they provide important food and shelter for animals.

Many tropical plants like ones that can be found in the rainforests are evergreens and the largest tree in the world, called the Redwood, is an evergreen.

One very familiar tree we love in particular at this time of year is the Christmas tree, which is an evergreen called a conifer. Conifers have leaves that are needle-like and can be soft, or sharp and spiky.

This festive season, have a go at making your own Evergreen Christmas Tree Weaving. This activity is great for encouraging fine-motor skills in young children. Please be very careful when using scissors and other materials around small children, adult supervision required at all times.

For this Nature Make you will need : * Cardboard (recycled from a box or packaging ideally)

* Scissors

* Pen or pencil

* String

* Foraged conifer leaves

Start by going on a walk to a park or in your own garden, and collecting a few conifer leaves from pine, fir or spruce trees. (Make sure you have permission, forage sustainably and only pick things that you are 100% sure about being safe.) Once home, draw and cut out a basic Christmas tree shape from the cardboard. Any size you like.

Use the scissors to cut 3 or 4 slits in both sides of the cardboard tree. Tie some string through the slits wrapping around the cardboard tree.

Take your foraged conifer leaves, and weave them under and over the string on the front.

Once finished, you should have a lovely woven Christmas tree which looks lovely on a mantelpiece!

Do share photos of your Evergreen Christmas Tree Weavings on Facebook or Instagram, tagging @naturemakers - we would love to see them!

From all of us at Nature Makers, we wish you a very Happy Christmas!

Blog post written by Becki from @naturemakerslichfieldwalsall