How would your kids like to grow their own Christmas tree sponge this year? In this post I’m sharing a Christmas tree sponge activity we did last year in December.
Growing a Christmas tree sponge is a great way to combine science (e.g. botany) with a fine motor activity (e.g., scissors skills). If you want your Christmas tree sponge to be ready by December 25, I suggest you get this activity started sooner rather than later! (Although it might be just as fun to have a mini Christmas tree the kids can take care of even after the holidays are over.)
Note: For more Christmas activities your kids will love, see my Christmas Activities for Kids page.
To do this activity, I gathered the following materials on a tray:
- A small container of grass seed (although other fast sprouting seeds would probably work as well)
- A sponge cut into the shape of a Christmas tree
- A water bottle (not pictured)
I started by soaking the sponge in water. Then I invited my kids to cover the Christmas tree shaped sponge with our grass seeds.
Once the sponge was covered in seeds, they used the spray bottle to ensure the seeds were quite damp.
My kids continued to spray the sponge every day. (I also poured water on the tray as another way of keeping the sponge wet.)
About two and a half weeks after we started the project, our tree had a noticeable amount of grass growing on it. At this point some of the seeds had sprouted very tall blades of grass, while others had just begun sprouting.
A week later (so about three and a half weeks after we started the project), the grass was full and bushy. At this point, our tree was ready for a haircut!
Oh boy did my kids love this part! I handed them pair of kid-friendly scissors and invited them to trim the Christmas tree sponge. XGirl started by trimming just a bit from the top.
But ultimately,XGirl was having so much fun that she just kept cutting and cutting until the grass on our Christmas tree sponge was quite short.
Fortunately, grass grows quickly. We waited another week or so until it grew back, and then we were able to trim it again. 🙂
More Christmas resources
More Christmas posts from Gift of Curiosity:
- Christmas Montessori activities
- Q-tip painted Christmas tree
- Paper plate reindeer craft
- Christmas sensory bin
- Cinnamon Christmas ornaments
- Candy cane experiment
- Christmas game: What’s in the bag?
- Christmas Printables Pack
- Christmas Bingo
- Christmas do-a-dot printables
- Christmas gingerbread man templates
For more Christmas activities your kids will love, see my Christmas Activities for Kids page and my Christmas Activities for Kids Pinterest board.
I love the idea of bringing nature into Christmas, so much fun!
What a fun activity! I know my girls will love it. Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
Such a brillant idea, can’t wait to try this with my kiddos!
This is such a fun idea – I love it! Science, nature, learning & Christmas all rolled into one! 😉
Eek, this is so cool! I wonder if alfaalfa sprouts or broccoli seeds would work (that’s what I have on hand).
I bet those seeds would work as well. Your tree might have a slightly different look due to how different seeds sprout, but I imagine the effect would still be cool!
Such a fun way to bring some life into the house during these cold winter months! Thanks for sharing at STEM Saturday!
I suggested this to our Elementary team and they said that it took forever to grow and the sponges got moldy before they grew. Any ideas? Thanks. I would still love to try and do this.
Hmm. . . I have no idea what to suggest as we did not have any problems. Perhaps there is a climate difference between where we did the activity (California) and where your team did the activity that makes a difference. Or perhaps your team kept the sponges wetter than we did and it lead to mold?