Jesse Tree

YOU'LL NEED:

1 small (table top sized) artificial Christmas Tree -- one of those plastic ones for sticking gumdrops on would be great, but any tree you can hang ornaments on will work fine.

Heavy construction paper -- assorted colors

School glue

Scissors

A pencil for drawing your designs

Markers, crayons, glitter, beads, or anything else you can think of to decorate your ornaments.

Heavy thread, yarn, ribbon, or decorative package twine.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Make the following ornaments using the construction paper:

A lion, a baby, a cow and a bear, all from the prophecy of Isaiah, who spoke of a time when all nature will live at peace

An apple, from the story of the Garden of Eden

A rainbow, from the story of Noah

Tablets, from the story of Moses getting the 10 Commandments

A star, a crown and a harp, all symbols of King David

A scroll, to stand for the prophets

Honey and locusts, which represent John the Baptist

Tools, which represent Joseph the carpenter

A lily, to represent the Virgin Mary

The Greek letters "Alpha" and "Omega" to represent Christ, the beginning and the end. If you don't know what these letters look like, see our Jesse Tree coloring page.

The easiest way to do this is to use the pencil to sketch your design first, then cut it out with the scissors. Use markers, crayons, glitter, beads, contrasting colors of construction paper, or anything else you can think of to decorate your ornaments.

When your ornaments are finished, glue a loop of thread, yarn, ribbon or twine at the top of each ornament. Allow the glue to dry completely before hanging the ornaments on the tree.

Use your tree as a table centerpiece, or as a background for a small nativity scene

This can be a great Advent project for the whole family. Each person can be in charge of making some of the ornaments. When the ornaments are ready to be hung, you can have a simple ceremony where each person can tell what his or her ornament signifies.