SOMETHING FOR THE CHILDREN!

Christmas is such a busy time for most people who celebrate it, and it's also become such a commercial event that for someone my age and perhaps older, it has lost some of the wonder and magic it held when we were much younger.

I am not talking about the "meaning" of Christmas - that is not lost to many of us, but by the magic I mean the spirit within the heart -  of kindness, selflessness -  of giving.

Children feel the excitement of Christmas perhaps more than adults.  This certainly has always been true, and we can only blame ourselves ( the adults) for continuing to perpetuate the "I want" mentality that so many children seem to have at Christmas time.

When I was a child, mother's tried their best to curb the " I want" mindset, because they knew that on a single income ( most Mom's back then did not work out of the house) that chances were their children might get only one of their "I wants", and perhaps none of them.  Not to say they wouldn't get a gift - they would - just maybe not what they asked for.

So wise Mom's encouraged their children to make gifts to give to others.  It was a way of keeping the children busy, but also a way of teaching the value of using your hands to create somethings special and teaching children the value of gift giving.

A child will get much more pleasure from making something with their hands and giving it as a gift, than they will going to the dollar store and picking out something for a couple of dollars to give as a gift.

SO...

In the spirit of keeping little hands and minds busy, and in the spirit of teaching the value gift giving and giving joy to others without having to spend a lot of money -  I am offering parents, grandparents and anyone else who has a couple of minutes, (because that is all this craft will take) a very simple, lovely little craft for your children to make and give as a gift, or even use to adorn the one bought at the dollar store.  This can be used as an ornament to hang on a tree, or in a window,in any room of the home... it can even be left out all year long.

The gift will give many times over - time spent with your child, and more important, they with you.  Pride in creating something with their own hands ( because children really do love to work with their hands) and a gift to give to someone special.

TWIG STARS

Materials needed:

Twigs

Garden shears or scissors

strong thread or string

Ribbon or fabric strips.

glue (optional)

Instructions:

cut 5 twigs in 6 inch lengths.

tie 2 twigs together near the ends, with strong thread ( I used crotchet cotton) or thin string, winding the tread around the several times and trying a firm not.  You may need to hold the sticks together while the child wraps or knots or visa versa.

Repeat with another 2 sticks.

lay on set on the table with the ties tip to the top.  Lay the second set over the other with the tied end pointing to side.

Weave the untied  ends of the top set over and under the bottom sticks and then tie the bottom two sticks together as show - but do a better job of aligning those two sticks before you tie them - I had to fix mine.

 

Take the remaining stick and tie it to the stick at the top left, and to the bottom right stick. so you will now have 5 points.

 

you will be able to make adjustments to your star at this point as the middle can be moved around some...  If you want, this is where you can add a drop of glue to the middle joins where there is not string to add stability.  If you did not weave the stick over and under each other, you will need to add glue for sure.


Cut strips of fabric and tie with a knot over the thread where you have joined the sticks.

 If you don't have fabric, you could use ribbon.  Dollar store has inexpensive festive ribbons at this time of the year, if it is too wide just cut it thinner.

Trim fabric.

Add a piece of fabric or string or threat to the top of the star for a hanger.

You are done.














Other options...

If you want to get really fancy, glue and glitter could be added to make the star shimmer, or it could be sprayed with a glitter pain ( by and adult).  Or they could even be painted with acrylic paints.  If you choose to do any of these additional steps, don't add the fabric or ribbon to the ends until you are done decorating.

Also you can make these larger or smaller - just make sure your twigs are all cut the same size....

HAPPY CRAFTING !