Easy To Make Cardboard Christmas Tree Decorations

I thought about making 3D Cardboard Christmas Tree Decorations because, if you’re anything like me, the run up to Christmas comes with a new tradition; the disposal of lots and lots of delivery boxes!

Working full time I love the convenience of online shopping but hate the pile of boxes it comes with. It seems so wasteful. I was determined that this year I would recycle as many cardboard boxes as possible and use hem for something a bit more creative.

recycling cardboard for 3D Cardboard Christmas Tree Decorations. A great kids craft. — Recycling cardboard for 3D Cardboard Christmas Tree Decorations. A great kids craft.

Making 3D Cardboard Christmas Tree Decorations

I decided to use all the cardboard to make some 3D Christmas trees. I thought these would be lovely to go in the centre of the table for festive meals. Older children would be able to use this simple design to make their own cardboard Christmas trees. For younger children make the tree and they can then paint and decorate it. This craft is a great addition to our Christmas crafts for kids like our Lolly stick Christmas Tree decoration and Christmas Tree Sun Catchers. Get set to make your home really festive.

recycling cardboard for Christmas tree kids crafts — The 3D Cardboard Christmas Tree Decorations start to take shape

We made two different types of cardboard Christmas tree. The first one is the simplest. I am hoping to make lots of these for my class to decorate as the design is so simple. All you need is two triangles of cardboard. Cut a line halfway from the top on one of the trees and halfway from the bottom on the second tree. Then slot the two parts together to create a 3D tree.

Cut out the branches of the cardboard Christmas tree — Cut out the branches of the Christmas tree

For the second tree we did exactly the same thing but instead of cutting triangles we cut two Christmas tree shapes. You could enlarge a template of a tree to use or design your own. Again we cut a line from the top of one and the bottom of the other half way.

cardboard Christmas tree kids craft — Brilliant but a little bear. Need to add the finishing touches to the trees

Decorating Your Cardboard Christmas Trees

I really like the trees undecorated. They look really lovely next to the fireplace. Of course, you would have to be careful and move them if the fire was on. You could decorate these however you want. You could use the colours of your Christmas decorations. With younger children, I would simply give them loads of paint, glitter, sequins, pom poms, buttons and any other craft materials you have and let them decorate the trees however they like. I wouldn’t give too many instructions but let them simply explore the materials however they want. They would look like Christmas has thrown up on them but that is the joy of process art.

painting cardboard Christmas trees — Green pain to make the trees come to life!

The girls decided to stick to a simple traditional theme for their trees. They painted the top green and left the bottom brown.

decorating the trees — Next up, let’s decorate!

We used PVA glue to add red pom poms and giant silver sequins. On the top of the tree, we used a glittery gold pipe cleaner cut into small pieces to make a star. You could make paper angels for the top and even put the children’s face inside. This would be a really lovely keepsake.

decorated cardboard Christmas trees kids craft — The finished 3D Christmas Tree

The trees make a lovely display and would make a sweet gift. You could cut out circles with different picture of the family to use as baubles or make tiny paper chains.