It’s Christmas time and that means decorations are everywhere! But rather than buying another set of sparkling lights, why not try to make decorations yourself? The beautiful scent of cinnamon is an extra touch that will make it even more special

Legend of Santa Claus’s reindeer

Christmas Eve means presents from the Santa right? We leave him milk and cookies, we write him letters, we try to be good whole year to get our presents… But let’s talk about his little helpers, flying reindeer who make it possible for Santa to delivers all those presents! According to the legend, there are eight of them: Vixen, Dancer, Dasher, Prancer, Comet, Donner, Cupid and Blitzen. They pull Santa’s sleigh on the Christmas Eve so he can deliver those presents all around the world. How do they fly? No one knows.

But what about Rudolph, isn’t he the most famous of all reindeer?

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

The first mention of Rudolph was in a booklet by Robert L. May in 1939. He was a young reindeer, mocked by his peers because he was different. He had a huge luminous red nose, unique to him and because of it, he was rejected and lonely. Despite that, he never gave up on trying to be helpful and kind to everyone around him.

And everything changed one Christmas Eve when dense fog prevented Santa from moving forward with his sleigh. Rudolph’s shiny nose was still clearly visible so Santa managed to navigate with his help and brought presents to the children. Since then, Rudolph became the ninth reindeer, leading Santa’s sleigh every Christmas Eve.

So in the end, his greatest “flaw” actually helped everyone and made him famous. And the other reindeer learned not to judge so quickly.

Materials needed for Christmas reindeer:

Cinnamon sticks
Hot glue
Decorative ribbon
Cloth ribbon (you can use an old t-shirt for this)
Scissors
Plastic eyes

Instructions on how to make Christmas reindeer:

Making Christmas Reindeer decoration is very simple and there are lots of opportunities for creativity.

Connect two cinnamon sticks in V shape and glue them with the hot glue (be careful!), put the third stick on top of that, so you get a reverse A shape. You got a face. Look at those antlers!
Now glue the plastic eyes, one on each side of the face.
Take red cloth ribbon and roll it until you are satisfied with the size - this will be the nose. Glue it on the bottom of the face (tip of the V shape).
Glue the decorative ribbon on the back of the reindeer
It’s done, you can put it on Christmas tree or gift to someone. Not only it’s cute but it also smells great!

What will you develop and learn by making Christmas reindeer:

Fine motor skills and oculomotor coordination
Creativity
Concepts of prejudice and discrimination

For more creative activities, we recommend How to make homemade plastic and How to make Cardboard Castle. We wish you a merry Christmas! Hopefully, Rudolph will manage to navigate Santa to your home this year!

Original article can be found at https://www.stemlittleexplorers.com/en/make-christmas-reindeer-decoration/