How to make a felt Christmas tree for your kids to play with this holiday season! Free printable ornament patterns included!
In an attempt to keep Owen away from our real tree, I decided to make him a felt Christmas tree. So I spent the better part of last Saturday night putting 20 year old Chelsea to shame and knocking out a baller DIY felt Christmas tree– complete with ornaments and presents.
I should also add that I’m too much of a perfectionist to freehand ornaments, bows, and ornament designs with scissors so I created patterns, which I’m sharing with you at the end of the post.
In case you didn’t know, felt sticks to felt so the ornaments and presents can be placed and removed anywhere on the tree.
How to Make a Felt Christmas Tree
Supplies
1.5 yards of green felt … found here or fabric store
different colors of felt … found here or a craft store
scissors … these are my favorite!
patterns … see at end of post
card stock
Sharpie
chalk
hot glue gun + glue
Print and Cut the Free Ornament Patterns
Print the patterns onto card stock and cut them out.
Trace and Cut Out Ornaments and Presents
Trace the templates onto pieces of felt, and then cut them out. Glue the cut out ornament and present decorative pieces onto the ornaments and presents. Trace the patterns onto the shinier, smoother side of the felt, leaving the fuzzier side facing out. Do this because the shinier side sticks to the fuzzier side better.
Make the Christmas Tree
To make the tree, fold the green felt in half with the shinier side on the outside and freehand half of the tree with a piece of yellow chalk. Then, with it still folded, cut it out so it’s symmetrical.
After cutting out the tree, you may decide it’s too tall for your little one(s). If so, trim off the first bottom section.
Stick Felt Christmas Tree to Wall
Mount the felt Christmas tree with Command Brand strips (the kind that are like pieces of Velcro).
I wanted the ornaments to look similar to the glass ornaments I’ve been using for years so I went with blue, purple, green, yellow, hot pink, (colors kids love) and I added some white to break things up a bit.
After I cut out all the ornaments, I created different designs to glue on top of the ornaments to jazz them up a bit. Super cute, right?
I didn’t use a template for the presents and the ‘ribbon’. Instead, I just measured out squares and rectangles and cut them out. Then I cut strips of felt to make the ‘ribbons’. I used a template for the bows though.
A great idea for ornament and present storage is to use a bucket is placed next to the tree.
Owen was napping when I put up the felt Christmas tree, so when he woke up he was excited to see something new to play with. It seems that he enjoys taking the ornaments and presents off the tree and putting them in the bucket more than putting them on the tree. But I’ll take it.
FYI, Owen is 33 inches tall– just to give you an idea of the height of the tree.
Felt Christmas Tree Patterns
Here’s the templates. Click on the names of the templates to open a new page and print or save them.
FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY
TEMPLATES FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY
How to make a felt Christmas tree for children to use and play with.
- 1.5 yards green felt
- 8 sheets felt in various colors
- 1 set printable ornament patterns
- 3 pieces cardstock
- 1 piece chalk
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Print the patterns onto card stock, cut them out, trace them onto pieces of felt, and then cut them out.
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Trace the patterns onto the shinier, smoother side of the felt, leaving the fuzzier side facing out.
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Glue the cut out ornament and present decorative pieces onto the ornaments and presents.
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To make the tree, fold the green felt in half with the shinier side on the outside and freehand half of the tree with a piece of yellow chalk. Then, with it still folded, cut it out so it's symmetrical.
How to Stick the Tree to a Wall: Use Command Brand picture hanging strips.
Fingers crossed Owen loves his felt Christmas tree more than our big Christmas tree.
Have you made a felt Christmas tree for your kiddo(s)? Did they love it?
Meghan says
Love it! I did this for Noah the Christmas after he turned one and he loved it! Though my tree and ornaments were much more basic ;). Noah also preferred take the ornaments off rather than put them on. He then decided it was fun to take the tree off the wall too. I gave up putting it back up after the 50th time 🙂
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Thanks! Hah! I don’t blame you. The other day I was working on something while Brad watched Owen and heard saying something to Owen and the next thing I see is Owen walking by my office with a large piece of green fabric trailing behind him. He had ripped the tree off the wall and was carrying it around the house. Haha!
Sandi Lloyd says
How do the ornaments stick to the tree?
Sandi says
Just wondering why when I open template for ornaments
They are two big to print on one page
Joanna says
Love this! Thanks esp for the ornament printables 🙂
Also, where are those adorable pj’s from?!?
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Thanks! No problem! I figured I’d help out others with lousy freehand scissor skills. 😉
They’re from Gymboree but they’re sold out. 🙁 I have a bunch of adorable Christmas pjs for the little ones in this post: https://www.twotwentyone.net/christmas-pajamas-galore/
Shannon says
The bows on the presents are such a pretty detail! They are almost as cute as Owen’s Christmas light pj’s 🙂 great idea!! Always nice to have toys that look good too!
Evelina says
I love the size of this! In the first few pictures, I thought it was much smaller. But this is so perfect!
Merlyn Lavanya says
Wonderful tree. I am planning to do this for my little one.. how does the ornaments stick to the tree?? I
Kristen says
This is very clever! I can see children in a nursery or grandkids really enjoying this. Thanks for sharing.
Carrie says
What a great idea! I would love to have you share at my new craft link party: http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2015/12/adult-coloring-book-review-craft-crafty.html
Elizabeth @ Pineapples and Polka Dots says
This is such a cool idea! If my school celebrated holidays, I would totally put this in the pretend play section of my classroom. 🙂
Michelle Van Ginkel says
Live this!
Whitney says
How do you attach it to your wall?
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Masking tape
Terra says
The patterns printed over sized on three pages I couldn’t use them. I screen shot them and printed them that way though.
Chelsea @ twotwentyone says
They aren’t set up to be printed from a screen shot, which is why I say to click over and print. If you took a screen shot on your phone then they aren’t going to print correctly. You need to save them and then print if you’re using your phone.
Nicole says
Should the felt be acrylic or polyester (and the same type for the tree and ornaments)? I’m a newbie when it comes to ANY type of craft but would love to do this!
Andrea says
WHere did you get your green felt? I’ve never seen any that large! Mind sharing your source? Plan to make this for my daughter this year!
Betty says
Jo-Ann Fabric has the green felt by the bolt.
Jenn says
Love this! How much fabric did you buy of the other colors?
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
I bought the sheets so a few of each color.
Laura says
was it the stiffer felt sheets or the thin and flimsy ones for the ornaments?
JudyLynn says
Thanks for sharing! I’m so excited to try this fir my girls this Christmas.
Rebecca says
i would like to know what goes on the back of the ornaments to make them stick to the tree
i would like to do this for my son but unsure what to use ???
Nancy Abbate says
Felt magically sticks to itself so no tape or velcro is needed to decorate the tree! 😉
The Persnickety Cricket says
Thank you so much for these templates and patterns! Your tree is too adorable and cannot wait to have mine complete for our little ones!
Kristin says
Thank you so much for posting your pattern. I have wanted to make one for the last couple of years and when I found your post it inspired me to make this adorable little tree for my boys. I finished it yesterday and they love it. Another Christmas memory in the books. Merry Christmas!!
Sandy says
What do you use to adhere the felt to the wall? I’ve tried 3 different types of tape and it keeps falling off! I don’t want to glue it to the wall!
Tami says
I would try the Command strips that look like velcro. We use those to hang everything in our house. As long as you use and remove them as directed they will not damage the walls.
Patty WAYMAN says
great idea! I have grown tired of fighting with my beloved fur baby cat over the Christmas tree and haven’t put one up for a few years now. but, as I have my grandson this year, aged 6, I wanted to put one up… of some kind. was looking for a poster of one, but the large ones are not sold that I can find. when I heard of this tho, my craft juices got going! What fun Carson and I will have in making this! and best of all the cat won’t be interested in it! I am going to use old Xmas cards, fabric pieces and Xmas gift paper glued to card stock, and whatever else I have on hand, minimizing my cost.I will use glued pieces of velcro to sick the ornaments onto the tree. with velcro, anything can be stuck on.
Audrey T. says
Just found this today through a google search on patterns. Excited to try it with my 18 month old this year!