Montessori-Inspired Christmas Tree Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now

I love Christmas ... and I love Christmas trees! Just ask my family ... they've all seen the joy I get when we decorate a Christmas tree together. So this was an especially fun post for me.

I've used free printables today to create Montessori-inspired Christmas tree activities for preschoolers through first graders. You'll find many more activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing. 

You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities. 

Disclosure: This post contains Montessori Services affiliate links at no cost to you.
 

Christmas Tree Cutting Activity 

   

For this activity, I used the Christmas Cutting Practice Pack from This Reading Mama and a large plastic tray from Montessori Services. (I used a large plastic tray from Montessori Services for each of the activities today.)

This printable has a number of fun Christmas-tree cutting activities for various skill levels. The printable could also be laminated and cut out by an elementary-age child who wants to make puzzles as a gift for a younger sibling.

Tt is for Tree Alphabet Maze 

Here I used the Christmas Tree Alphabet Maze from Christmas Alphabet Mazes at 1+1+1=1. I used green glass gems and a sugar tong from Montessori Services to add a practical life activity to the maze. 

I especially like using glass gems to make the maze trail because the letters can be read through the glass gems. For an activity like this, I would always reinforce the phonetic sound when the child is finding the upper- and lower-case letters.

Christmas Tree Practical Life and Counting Activity 

 

This activity uses a printable from the Christmas Preschool Printables at Confessions of a Homeschooling Mom. You could use a number of different printables for this activity, although I chose this one as a decorating-the-tree activity.

The lights are from an old strand of Christmas lights. I would probably count the ornaments on the tree to find 10 ornaments. Then I would show the child how to use the tweezers to place the lights on the tree. I wouldn't put them on the ornaments but nearby as I counted while placing each light on the tree.

Christmas Tree Hundred Chart Art 
 

 

The Christmas tree hundred chart art activity uses the Chart Art Christmas Starter Pack from Common Core Corners. This is a great extension to the Montessori hundred board. 

A child who is comfortable with the numbers 1-100 could follow the directions on the other page to create the Christmas tree. The sugar tong is optional. This activity also works well just using fingers to place the glass gems. A younger child could simply match the colors of gems with the colors on the shown control chart.

Christmas Place Value Activity 

This is a fun DIY activity inspired by Aubrey Hargis's fabulous new eBook A Merry Montessori Christmas. The activity uses the free Christmas Place Value printable from Blessed Beyond a Doubt and inexpensive, DIY golden beads. It also uses Montessori number cards. 

You can use the free large number cards from Montessori Print Shop, although instead of using the free Montessori number cards, I downloaded the small number cards for only $0.99 from Montessori Print Shop. They just take one page to print out and fit well in size with the printable I used. 

I put the layout on a large hemmed work rug from Montessori Services as shown below. I'd add an extra step of placing the number cards together (similar to how they are in the photo above) to create the final number. 

For this number, I might say to the child, "Can you find 3 hundreds, 4 tens, and 8 units?" Then the child would find the beads and cards to match my request.

You can find more information on presenting number cards from Montessori Primary Guide. You can also see more ideas of how I've used Montessori number cards for place value in my Montessori-Inspired Olympic Math Activities post.

Christmas Creative Writing Tray

3 Dinosaurs has more than one Christmas tree creative writing activity in the Christmas Tree Writing Activities from the Christmas Learning Pack. This is extremely easy to prepare and just requires printed copies of the creative writing activities, a pencil, and a pencil sharpener.

More Free Christmas Tree Printables and Montessori-Inspired Christmas Activities

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to lots of Christmas tree freebies from around the blogosphere: Free Christmas Tree Printables and Montessori-Inspired Christmas Tree Activities.

You'll find LOTS of Montessori-inspired December holiday activities and ideas in these posts at Living Montessori Now: Activity of the Week – Montessori-Inspired Decorating the Christmas Tree Activity, Activity of the Week – Gift Wrapping Work, How to Use Godly Play at Home During Advent, December Family Activities, Turning Christmas Crafts into Montessori-Oriented Activities, Montessori-Inspired Christmas Activities, 50+ December Family Activities, Montessori-Inspired Christmas Activities (Part 2), Holiday Manners, How to Prepare a Special Kids’ Table for Holiday Gatherings, Homeschool Christmas, Montessori-Inspired Christmas Playdough Activities, 40+ Christmas Countdown Activities, Montessori-Inspired Christmas Crafts, Montessori-Inspired Nativity Activities, Montessori-Inspired Hanukkah Activities, Christmas Around the World: Scotland, Montessori-Inspired Christmas Activities and Free Christmas Printables, 40+ Christmas Sensory Tubs, Montessori-Inspired Christmas Scavenger Hunt, Montessori-Inspired Kids’ Gift Wrapping Activities, Christmas Countdown Activities {with Lots of Free Printables}, Montessori-Inspired Christmas Cards and Crafts, Montessori-Inspired Set-Ups for Christmas Playdough Activities, Christmas Gingerbread Man Fine-Motor Activity or Craft, Montessori-Inspired Christmas Craft - Painted Wooden Ornaments.

I just have to share my excitement about my new Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy eBook! It even spent a number of days as the #1 homeschooling book on Amazon! (Note: It's written for teachers as well as parents.) I'd love it if you'd check it out.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in Colorado Springs with her husband of 38 years and their cat of 12 years. She blogs at Living Montessori Now. 

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