Bend pipe cleaner snowflakes for decorating the house...

Two bent snowflakes made using white pipe cleaners.

       The only materials you will need to make this snowflake craft are pipe cleaners or chenille stems. However, I used a hot glue gun to attach the silver beads in random places. Because these ornaments reminded me of icing on Christmas cookies, I thought that the faux "dragees" or sugar pearls would make a nice decorative touch on the snowy swirls of icing.

       Encourage your children to spend time bending their designs! Soon you'll have more snowflakes for the tree than you need. Give them a challenge to make the craft more interesting like: 'who can make the snowflake with the most points' or 'who can make the snowflake with the most swirls' 

       The wire constructions don't need to hang on the Christmas tree, these could be strung across a window, or hung from a mobile, or be used to decorate a banister on the staircase of your home. 

       Teachers could use this economical craft to introduce a lesson on the infinite patterns found in snowflakes. Or save the idea for a snow day when kids cannot go to school; it's easy to keep a bag of chenille stems tucked away in a cupboard or drawer for just such an occasion.

More Snowflakes for Christmas:

• Beaded snowflakes for early learners
• 31 snowflake crafts for kids this Winter

"My Heart Is Full''

Grace Churchhill, shopkeeper, 1938

       "I have the most attractive showcase in the store. Lovely colored blocks in sturdy pull wagons, take-apart toys, big pileup ones, mosaics, puppets--these are displayed in it. At Christmas time my circle is the most popular place in town. How busy I am, then! Sometimes my back aches. Sometimes my feet throb. Then I think of the brand-new father who purchased ''baby's first toy,'' or the proud uncle who saved and saved these twenty-two dollars, to get ''everything a kid of eight would like,'' or I think of the earnest couple who wanted to the '' best educational toy money can buy-under four dollars,'' exclaiming in wonder before the ever-purpose "Treasure Castle.'' When I think of the bright Christmas look these wore, I forget my aching back and my throbbing feet, and am glad only that my cramped fingers are still not too cramped to go on, writing ''letters to Santa Claus'' because Christmas people ARE different from the people of May or July or November! There is Attorney L., a hard, close-fisted man. He examined my display on Tuesday, and after much thought selected an impractical toy train for his infant grandchild. After the package was on its way I discovered that I had sent the wrong item, on Attorney L. had definitely rejected! With what tremulo I watched him approach on Thursday! And with what surprise I returned his seasonal greeting, and heard him commend me on my wiser choice, and re-order, in addition, the floor train! Oh Christmas Spirit that does things to people! They forget themselves. They remember their childhood pleasure at receiving gifts, their youthful, enthusiastic thanks for "just what I wanted!" The warm, adult thrill that comes over them even now when someone has been thoughtful. They want others to experience the same emotions. They want approval, Isn't that true of all of us? If we could live May and July and November in the spirit of one seeking it, we would be emulating Christ, that Gift Beyond Human Comprehension. O God, when I think of the few I can help to Christmas happiness with my shining windows of cheer, or with my pennies dropped into the chimney of the gaunt corner Santa---representative of those whose meagre hearths cannot replenish at my showcase of toys or pay for a letter out of my book--I wonder. But when I think of the Gift of thy love, transcending these other things, I know that the richest hearths are not always those crowded with the things money can buy... And my heart is full beyond expression of THANK YOU FOR CHRISTMAS! Grace Churchill, Age 20