This mason jar Christmas tree luminaries craft was a real experiment for us!
We love our fall-themed mason jar luminaries and making these Christmas tree luminaries was our attempt to recreate our favorite fall craft with a fun Christmas theme. They were another total experiment, the kids and I decided on a whim to make them, so I wasn’t sure how well they would turn out. Thankfully, they turned out pretty darn cute.
These are super easy! And the supplies aren’t very complicated. You can get all of this at any big box store near you for a fairly low price.
Christmas Tree Luminaries Craft
Materials:
- Mason Jars (ours are from the Dollar store)
- Mod Podge
- Fall colored Tissue Paper (ripped into pieces)
- Green Construction Paper
- Paint Brush
- Candle or Battery-Operated lights (see below)
Before starting this craft we ripped up a bunch of tissue paper and cut out our tree shapes from construction paper.
I prefer the look of ripped tissue paper to cut tissue paper. It has a softer edge to it. Plus ripping it is a good gross motor activity for my toddlers that haven’t quite mastered scissors. However, whatever way you do it, cut or rip, you just need a pile of tissue paper pieces.
We started by painting one area at a time with Mod Podge. Half my kids like to take their time and find the perfect spot for each piece of tissue paper but the rest just stuck tissue paper wherever, with no rhyme or reason.
Tips: Mod Podge can dry fairly quickly, so it’s we do it section by section. Also, I recommend having a wet paper towel or wet wipe nearby because hands can easily get sticky and it makes it hard to attach the tissue paper with sticky fingers.
Once the kids were done with the tissue paper they added their Christmas trees. I let them do it however they wanted. Some used triangles to make the trees and some just cut a tree shape out. I had my older preschoolers help the toddlers by cutting triangles for them.
Once dry, if there are any spots of tissue paper that are still sticking up or not fully covered in Mod Podge go over those spots an extra time.
Lastly, we added some candles!
Ta-da! They look so cute!
I originally wanted to use colored tissue paper when we started this craft, to give it a Christmas lights look, but my kids really wanted to use blue and white because they thought it looked like snow. Our blue tissue paper was a very light blue, so it didn’t show up very well unless the kids put several layers of blue on the jar.
To add some color we decided to put a string of battery-operated Christmas lights inside the jars.
I love them!
The string of lights really adds a festive feel to them and they really stand out. For the photos, we only had one long string of battery-operated Christmas lights but I ended up sending each daycare child home with a small strand that they could just pop in their jar to enjoy at home.
We enjoyed making these mason jar Christmas tree luminaries and I hope you will give them a try soon! If you do, don’t forget to share a picture with me in the comments or on Facebook! I love to see how people customize the projects and how creative kids can be!
Happy Holidays!
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