Christmas Trees and Temper Tantrums

  This was supposed to be a lovely little post about a simple ornament craft for children. Parents could enjoy a quick activity with their little ones, kids could feel the accomplishment of hanging their own ornament on the tree. Oh, yes. It was all going to be quite nice. 
 Apparently, Kay didn't get that memo. 

  It started out pleasantly enough. We got out some craft sticks and paints and worked on that. We were aiming for a tree and I showed her what it would look like in the end. I painted my tree "branches" green; she chose pink polka dots. We let them dry and then went back to glue the pieces together. 
  Cue ominous music.   
  Sparing you (and myself) the vivid details, let's just say a tantrum ensued over...I actually have no idea. Sometimes that's the way it goes. It ended with a popsicle stick broke in half (my girl is strong!). When she calmed down, I went back to glue my sticks together without a word, and she eventually came over and help add the gem ornaments. A pipe cleaner star and we were done.
 In the end, an ornament was made. Let's call that an accomplishment. 
 I include the tantrum episode here as a reminder (sometimes I need one myself!) that activities with toddlers or preschoolers (or anyone, really) don't always go as planned. Emotions can be intense, sometimes for reasons you'll never know, and plans just go haywire. I was happy with the way this ended though - we came back together to finish the ornament, but it's not about the craft. I'm glad we got time to complete the project quietly, together, calm. And I'll definitely call that an accomplishment. 

Craft stick tree ornaments

We used: large popsicle sticks (small work just fine too)
               pipe cleaner
               paint (green and brown or...pink polka dots...)
               gems (ours came courtesy of Oriental Trading)