A Children’s Felt Christmas Tree is the perfect kid’s Christmas activity for all the small people in your life (and your sanity also!) Give your kids a tree that’s up to them to decorate as they please, hopefully leaving your real tree alone too!
EDITED TO ADD: You may now find the patterns and free cut files for this project here! Patterns for tracing and cutting as well as SVG files for use with Cricut and Silhouette Machines!
HERE IS WHAT’S IN THIS POST
- Felt Christmas Tree Supplies
- How to Make a Children’s Felt Christmas Tree
- Best Tips
- FAQ’s – best felt to use, what to make it stick better, etc.
My kids have mostly been pretty good at leaving the ornaments alone on our tree. I put all the keepsake/breakable ones up on top and all of their ornaments and the plastic ones on the bottom!
OK back to the felt tree! This project is so easy and really your options for decorations are endless! Use anything you have on hand too! Great for those scraps!
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Supplies Needed for DIY Felt Christmas Tree:
- Green Felt (36″ square for this pattern) Find it at Michaels or on Amazon Here
- Colored Felt for Ornaments (find it on Amazon here)
- Scissors (Amazon Here)
- Double Sided Poster Tape , 3M command strips or these Scotch removable squares work great too! )
- Hot Glue Gun with glue sticks (Amazon Here) *this is optional. To keep ornament decorations permanent or leave loose to mix and match!
- chalk or marker
Make shopping easier and find the complete cart for this project at Michaels here. Don’t forget to use a coupon! You can also find the supplies in my Amazon storefront here.
{{Funny side story: When Michael was young, our tree was in the corner of our living room in MN and shielded by the arm of the sofa and the hearth of the fireplace so he was pretty good at leaving it be. Well with Ryan, it was just plain out in the open right in front of our huge living room windows in our house in Joplin. So Ryan was more of a challenge to keep away. I told him that he couldn’t touch the ornaments but he COULD wave at them, blow them kisses, tell them hello, give them thumbs up or tell them they were pretty! So you would walk into the room and he’d be standing there, crouched down saying “I wuv you!” or waving at them…so stinking cute! }}
How to Make a Felt Christmas Tree
Time needed: 30 minutes
Create a Children’s Felt Christmas Tree that is fun and safe for little ones to decorate and redecorate as much as they want! Providing a place for them to touch, they will hopefully leave your real tree alone!
- Create your Felt Tree
First, fold the green felt square in half and use some chalk to draw the shape of a tree making sure the folded edge is in the center of your drawn tree. I realized it needed to be much wider to hold ornaments for TWO boys so I made it wider. This will be the back of the tree so don’t worry if you need to draw it a few times.
- Cut out the felt tree
While the felt is still folded, cut through both layers of felt along the lines you drew in step 1. Unfold to display your felt Christmas tree base.
- Create Felt Ornaments
Next, I started cutting ornaments. I used a drinking glass to form a circle and then free-handed a star and “pointy ornament”! You can make shapes also. Get as creative as you want or keep it as simple as you need! This project is for everyone!
You may now find traceable patterns along with SVG designs to cut these on your Cricut or Silhouette here.
- Cut Christmas Tree Lights from felt
Cut Light shapes that the kids can use as Christmas Tree lights or as pointy ornaments (as my son calls them)
- Create Felt Presents for under the Tree
I cut some rectangles and squares as presents and also made bows and some “ribbons” to add to the packages. For the ribbon, I simply cut strips and hot glued them together to fit the packages.
- Cut Felt Gift Tags
I cut some felt gift tags to adorn the packages! You could add names to these with some iron-on!
- Hang Children’s Felt Christmas Tree
I recommend using the 3M command strips (strips only, no hooks) or double-sided POSTER tape to hang the felt Christmas tree base. This makes it easy to remove when you need to pack up Christmas. I attach the strips to the back of the felt tree and then apply to the wall. Then you can stick the ornaments, lights and packages however your child wants because the felt sticks to felt!
TIPS FOR MAKING A FELT CHRISTMAS TREE FOR TODDLERS
- Make your packages the same size square (different colors) and same size rectangle (in different colors) so that you can make several colors of ribbons and bows and they fit all the appropriate packages!
- Hang the tree so that the base of the tree is near your floor or base boards so little ones have no problems reaching anything.
- Cut more ornaments and decorations than you think you will need! Sometimes the peices go missing because of that static cling! I am certain they are all hanging out with all the missing socks from the dryer ;-)
FAQ’s for Felt Christmas Tree
Craft Felt. There are 4 types of felt you may encounter. Craft felt, Eco-Friendly Felt, Blended Wool, and Wool felt. Craft felt is100% synthetic, man-made felt. Craft felt is mainly acrylic, polyester, rayon, or a rayon blend. It tends to be “hairier” therefore works the best when you want to adhere to another felt piece using only static friction!
There is no wrong way! Once the base tree is hung on the wall, simply add the felt pieces wherever you would like them to go. You can easily take them off and rearrange them as much as you want! This is a perfect activity for young ones to keep them occupied and away from your real Christmas tree!
Good ‘ole static cling! In addition, if you choose the craft felt like mentioned above, the fibers from the felt also help hang onto the fibers from the other piece of felt!
Sometimes even craft felt can be incredibly smooth. Take a hairbrush or clean scrub brush and “brush” it a few times to allow some of those fibers to come out of the weave of the felt. If that doesn’t work you can always use small velcro pieces (the hook half not the loop half) or some double-sided tape. 
Yes! You can find printable patterns that you can cut and trace onto the felt as well as SVG files if you would prefer to use a cutting machine.
You can find the free patterns for the children’s felt tree here.
I made this cute Santa Bin a few years back and it works so well to hold the pieces. You can use a ziploc bag, basket or anything you have on hand. I like to keep it near the tree! 
This is up to you and your child! A recommendation would be children 1-5. However my 7 year old would still enjoy making a tree creation! Just keep in mind if you are making small felt pieces that they may be a choking hazard to young ones. Keep an eye on playtime if so.
They mix and match and have a great time! Michael used all the gift bows as tree tip decorations and it looked really cute and then he used all the polka dots for the presents! I love their creativity! They also set up their Little People Nativity under their felt tree too! SO CUTE!
You can also use this as a great learning opportunity also on colors and shapes, depending on how you cut your ornaments! Never miss an opportunity to let them learn!
Want some more Christmas projects that the kids can get involved with? This ADORABLE Thumbprint String of Christmas Lights Frame is a favorite and also check out all my ornaments as well!
Find my Felt Jack-o-Lantern Felt Activity here! Perfect for Halloween fun!
Comments & Reviews
Erin @ How to Nest for Less says
Umm… this is simply adorable!!!
Cheryl says
Thanks friend! I think E needs one!!!
Jillian @ Hi! It's Jilly says
Aah! That is so fun and cute! Love the idea to help keep the kids’ paws off the ornaments, too! :)
Cheryl says
Thanks Jillian!
Laura @ Laura's Crafty Life says
Too funny! I am in the process of making one of these for my kids. Hoping it will cut down on the littlest one taking all the ornaments off the tree! Your ornaments are super cute!!
Cheryl says
Hype it up a bit Laura and I am sure they will be much more excited about their own one :)
Jenna says
OH how I wish I had read how you did your this morning!! I just made 2 large trees and wish I had laid my in half so it looked a little more uniform, Mine is very very wonky!!! But I love the bucket on the ground for them to put the ornaments when they are not playing with them!!
Cheryl says
Real trees are not symmetrical Jenna! I am just OCD when it comes to that stuff! I get that from my mom! I am also OCD about parts of things all over the floor…drives me nuts all day long! I keep hearing “A place for everything and everything in it’s place”…Wow, this reply makes me sound crazy!
Jenna says
no it makes perfect sense!! My trained me the same way- this was our 2nd set of trees, bc my last ones were too skinny too, but still didn’t think to do what you did!!!
jeanne says
How did you how did you attach the tree to the wall?
Cheryl Spangenberg says
Double Sided Poster Tape!
Allison @ The Golden Sycamore says
So stinkin’ cute!! I love it! I think this is such a fun idea. Maybe I’ll have to make time to make one for my daughter! :)
Allison
Cheryl says
Thanks Allison! Your daughter will LOVE it! And…it was a big help in keeping my littles fingers off my ornaments on my real tree! So easy…took less than half hour! :) Thanks so much for stopping over and leaving a nice comment! I appreciate you!
Misty says
I love this idea!! Great for busy toddlers and preschoolers.
Cute idea to tell him to blow kisses and wave to the ornaments!
Cheryl says
Thanks Misty! I appreciate the nice comment!
Gabbi May says
Super cute! How do the ornaments stick and re-stick to the tree…is it just that the felt adheres to the felt or do you use the poster tape for that too?
Thanks!
Cheryl Spangenberg says
Hi Gabbi May! Yes, the felt just sticks to the felt so they can mix and match and position and re-position over and over! Tip: The patterned felt is not that “fuzzy” and had a hard time of sticking which I why I stuck to just solid colors! I chose the fuzziest piece in the pile of each color :) Hope your small people enjoy if you make one!
Gabbi May says
Thank you! My son is 14 months right now and I think that having a tree of his own will help distract him from the real tree…although, that’s probably wishful thinking =)
Oh well, it will be fun to make and to have for the next few years for him and his future siblings to enjoy!
Thanks again!
Angela says
We also did this tree last year and it’s indeed AWSOME.
sandra says
did you hot glue the ornaments when you decorated them or just stick them with felt to felt
Cheryl Spangenberg says
I just stuck them felt to felt Sandra so that the small people could mix and match the designs.
Jolen says
What’s the hot glue for?
Cheryl Spangenberg says
Jolen, I decorated some of the ornaments and used hot glue for those as well as the “ribbon” on the packages. Those are glued together.
Michelle says
How did you get the tree to stick to the wall? My mom and I just made one and used sticky tack. The felt didn’t like the sticky tack and fell down after about an hour. Thanks!!!
Cheryl Spangenberg says
Michelle, I used double sided poster tape. Worked perfectly!
lacey says
How’d u hang the tree to the wall?
Cheryl Spangenberg says
With the double sided poster tape!
Melissa says
The double sided poster tape doesn’t hurt the walls when you take it off?
Cheryl Spangenberg says
Nope Melissa it came right off with no problems at all!
Lauren G says
Where do you get the large piece of green felt? This is so cute!
Cheryl Spangenberg says
Lauren I am almost certain I bought it at Michael’s in the kids’ craft supply aisle. They had Green, Red and White large pieces of felt, folded and hanging with the googly eyes and pipe cleaners!
Aimee says
Does the double side poster tape really stay adhered to the wall? I’ve made one of these for my kids and used command adhesive strips but it didn’t stay well on the wall.
Cheryl Spangenberg says
Yes! This is the third year I have used poster tape with no problems! It’s double sided and works great!
Julie says
Where do you get the double-sided poster tape?
Cheryl Spangenberg says
Any store that sells office supplies. I have even found it at my local Dollar Tree!
wendy farmer says
This is great!!! I did want to ask though, do the felt ornaments just “stick” to the tree or do you need velcro or something??? Also, I don’t have a glue gun, can I assume that craft glue would be ok for.the ornaments??
Cheryl Spangenberg says
Yes the felt sticks to the felt and craft glue would be just fine!!!