# Christmas Tree Shape Puzzle
> Kids build three paper Christmas trees in small, medium and big sizes, then sort paper shape ornaments by size and glue each one onto the tree it fits. It combines shapes and proportions in one festive math activity, and it is easy to simplify for toddlers.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/christmas-activities-christmas-tree-puzzle/
- Ages: 2–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: low
- Time: prep 35 min, activity 20 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 1 kids
- Skills: shapes, size-sorting, proportions, math, fine-motor, vocabulary

## Materials (one batch)
- 3 piece Green construction paper
- 3 piece Brown construction paper
- Assorted colored construction paper
- White art paper roll
- Circle punches in different sizes (optional)
- 1 piece Scissors (household)
- White glue
- 1 piece Marker (household)
- 1 piece Big basket (optional) (household)

## Substitutions
- Instead of white glue: Glue stick (The photos show a glue stick in use.)
- Instead of circle punch: Hand-cut circles (What TurkeyMom actually did. It takes longer.)

## Safety
- An adult does the cutting with scissors or a circle punch ahead of time.
- Supervise toddlers closely: small paper shapes and glue can go in mouths.

## Before you start
- Cut 3 green triangles in increasing sizes for the tree leaves.
- Cut 3 brown rectangles in increasing sizes, in proportion to the triangles, for the trunks.
- Cut circles, squares, triangles and stars in 3 sizes, in proportion to the trees. These are the shape ornaments.
- Roll out the white art paper and draw three boxes labeled Big, Medium and Small.

## Steps
1. Set out the leaves, the trunks and the shape ornaments in separate piles.
2. Build three trees by matching each triangle to its trunk rectangle, talking about biggest, medium and small.
3. Glue the trees onto the paper.
4. Sort the shape ornaments into the Big, Medium and Small boxes.
5. Put all the ornaments back together in one big pile.
6. Pick an ornament, decide which tree it fits, and glue it on.
7. Say the name of each shape aloud as it goes on the tree.

## Tips
- Circle punches in a few sizes would have been so helpful. I ended up hand cutting the circles, and the punches come in handy for lots of kids' crafts.
- Sorting into the boxes first helps kids see the varying sizes of each ornament. Then pile them back together and sort on the go.
- Triangles and rectangles are simple to match. When she got to the smaller ornaments, she realized she had to pay more attention.
- I repeated the names of the shapes many times while the kids were making their trees.
- A homeschooling reader planned to use it as the following week's math lesson. (from readers)

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2012)

We are still on a shapes learning mission with my toddler. Well, that's how it started: a simple shapes Christmas Tree. With my preschooler around this morphed into a math activity. She quipped " Hey mom, that shape is too big for the tree, try a smaller one"! Here we are combining shapes and proportions all in one fun Christmas themed math activity. We have done a couple of shapes learning activities before :Check out **[geometric turkey](https://www.funlittles.com/thanksgiving-craft-for-the-toddler/)** here and **[contact paper](https://www.funlittles.com/shapes-for-toddlers-with-contact-paper/)** shape play here. [**Contact paper**](https://www.funlittles.com/tag/contact-paper/) is so versatile that we have used it in so many learning and art activties This activity is good for preschoolers and above. You can simplify it and make it work for a toddler as well. **Materials in different sizes would have been so helpful. These punches would come in handy for multiple kids crafts. Then cut 3 triangles in increasing sizes for the leaves. Cut 3 rectangles in increasing sizes proportionate to the triangles for the tree trunks. 4 basic shapes cut in 3 different sizes proportionate to the leaves and trunk. These will serve as the "shape ornaments". When I mention shape ornaments or ornaments in the post, I mean these little guys pictured below. You can see 4 basic shapes {circles, squares, triangles and stars} cut out in 3 different sizes.

### 

I set out the leaves, the trunks and the ornaments separately and set up the Christmas Tree Puzzle challenge.  First step is to create the trees using the triangles and rectangles while talking about biggest, medium and small sizes.

### When it was time to decorate with shape ornaments, I had 2 methods in mind.

1. Have the kid sort the shape ornaments into the 3 different sized boxes pictured below { big, medium and small}. Then proceed towards gluing them onto the proportionate tree. 2. Alternatively, you could have all the shape ornaments in a big basket and have the kid sort each time she/he chooses a shape ornament. This makes the decision-making a teeny bit more challenging. We did both. We sorted first the shape ornaments into the 3 boxes to help her see the varying sizes of each ornament. Then we put all the ornaments back together into a big pile and started the process of matching the ornament to the tree size. Triangles and rectangles are simple to do.. When she got to the smaller ornaments, she realized that she has to pay more attention Here are our sorted shapes. Put the ornaments back in a pile to start sorting "on-the-go"

 



### As you can see, this Christmas activity is easy to adapt to a toddler. I would just make a bigger Christmas tree with triangle, rectangle,star and just a couple of smaller basic shapes as ornaments. While gluing, the parent can call out the shape aloud. This is what I did with my toddler.

**

**Happy Holidays!**

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