DIY Clay 3D Christmas Tree

Our DIY Clay obsession continues. As I am hopeless at making salt dough and fail every time I need to place something in the oven, I therefore love DIY Clay. The homemade clay recipe is incredibly simple to follow yet produces amazing masterpieces. It is fool proof! With Christmas around the corner I wanted Adam to create a clay Christmas tree craft but with a twist. The Christmas tree craft would also be used as a play activity. Take a look at our DIY Clay 3D Christmas Tree.

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Resources needed to make a DIY Clay 3D Christmas Tree

* Cornflour

* PVA Glue – we used two bottles of Bostik White Glue

* Wooden Rolling Pin

* Lakeland 3D Christmas Tree 10 piece Cookie Cutter Set

* Baking Paper

* Yellow and Green Acrylic Paint

* Uni-posca 1M Paint Marker Pens (set of 8)

* Mod Podge Glue (optional)

How to make a DIY Clay 3D Christmas Tree

1) Mix two parts Cornflour to one part PVA Glue. Every time we make DIY Clay I am convinced it is not going to work. We ended up mixing the two ingredients together for ages before suddenly we had clay. I was unsure how much clay we needed to make our Christmas tree so we used four cups of cornflour and nearly two bottles of Bostik White Glue. With hindsight this was an excessive amount as we had lots of spare clay – watch out for another DIY Clay activity coming soon!

2) Roll the DIY Clay flat then use the Lakeland 3D Christmas Tree 10 piece Cookie Cutter Set to create star shaped clay pieces. We discarded the bottom four pieces of the set as it would have made our Christmas tree too big. You will need two sets of each star. We also created a small but thick star to decorate our 3D Christmas Tree.

3) Place the clay stars onto Baking Paper and allow for them to dry out. After an hour I went back and used a paint brush to wipe away any excess cornflour dust.

4) The next day, paint the clay stars with Green Acrylic Paint. Ensure you paint the edges too. We gave each side of the star two coats of paint. Use Yellow Acrylic Paint to decorate the small thick star.

6) Now it is time to decorate the clay Christmas Tree. We used Uni-Posca Paint Marker Pens. These pens are simply amazing! They can be used to mark make on almost any surface – fabric, terraotta, wood, metal, glass, porcelain, plastic and now DIY clay.

Adam thoroughly enjoyed using the pens. I gave him some scrap cardboard so that he could press the tip of the pen down in order to start the paint flowing. He created swirls, dots, stars and tinsel on the DIY clay. I was amazed at the detail Adam wanted to add to the clay stars because he typically likes to just use one colour. The pens were incredibly easy to use even on clay and didn’t create any mess.

7) I added a layer of Mod Podge Glue to create a varnish on the clay pieces. This meant that the green paint or Posca drawings would not scratch off whilst our 3D Christmas tree was being played with.

How to play with a DIY Clay 3D Christmas Tree

It was time to create our 3D Christmas Tree. Adam carefully stacked the clay stars in size order. This was a great mathematical activity for size ordering and also for fine motor control. Once all the twelve stars had been stacked, Adam had to carefully place the yellow star on top. This is certainly easier said than done for little fingers.

Our DIY Clay 3D Christmas Tree is not just a craft that can be treasured and displayed but it can also be played with. Adam has created his own game where he times himself to see how quickly he can stack the clay pieces in order to create the Christmas tree.

We shall certainly be using the Posca Pens for future crafts. I love how versatile they are, how easy they were for Adam to use and they were mess free – a win win craft resource in my books!

See more process art clay activities here:

Snowy Scene Clay Nature Sculpture // To Be a Kid Again
Glitter Handprint Ornament // Arty Crafty Kids
Invitation to Create: Clay Mosaics // Views from a Step Stool
DIY Fingerprint Snowman Ornaments // Mum in the Mad House
Air Dry Clay Stars // Play and Learn Every Day

Disclaimer: We received a set of Posca Pens to review and a box craft materials as part of the Tots100/Bostik Craft Bloggers Club #BostikBloggers. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

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