This year the children in preschool have been very excited about Christmas. They have been talking about little else, except what they wanted to make and do to celebrate Christmas. One of the children asked if we would have a real Christmas tree in our room and I suggested maybe we could make one ourselves. The children were immediately on board with this idea although a few made sure to tell us “you know you can just buy a tree at the shop?” Everyone agreed that our tree needed to be BIG, BS said: “Trees are always bigger than us, like up near the sky.” We started to collect different cardboard boxes for our tree and when we thought we had enough we began to figure out how to put it together. Some of the children stashed the boxes on top of each other and took the tree apart and remade it several times until they were happy with its shape. EF noted that this was “like when we made towers with the lego.”
R.L. also had an idea to turn the smaller boxes near the top on their side to make the tree even taller. All the children then took turns to paper maché over the boxes with lots of old newspapers and glue. We particularly liked this part because it was super messy! Everyone took turns to paint the tree once the glue was dry and every one designed their own decorations to add to the tree. 
This activity took about a week altogether and during this time it provoked a lot of discussion amongst the children about how they put up their own Christmas trees at home, and also various other conversations such as what colours are on their trees and who they visit at Christmas. As this was a group project, it allowed the children to work together and develop their social e interpersonal skills. It also provided opportunities for developing the children’s concentration, co-operation and creativity. We all enjoyed this experience and children eagerly participated in each step, always asking every morning “what do we have to do today?” They all did a wonderful job and are very proud of their finished Christmas Tree!!
Learning story by Amy Landers, Alejandra Pérez and all Children from Preschool class.
