This weekend I had the privilege to collaborate with Heather Sanders, amazing homeschool teacher and blogger. She let me spin her Christmas tree debacle into a fun fraction experience over at Pioneer Woman’s homeschool blog.

In the writing of that post, I was inspired to create this Christmas ornament craft.

You can use these ornaments to describe the fractions happening in your Christmas tree. Print them on card stock and let your students find the fractions. Then have them write them down and color the ornaments to put on the tree!

Supplies

• Scissors
• Hole Punch
• Sharpie
• Crayons, colored pencils or markers
• Card stock
• FREE downloadable ornaments
• A Christmas tree
• Optional: glue, glitter, sequins or other embellishments

Step 1: Count & Categorize

Consider how many ornaments, lights, strings of garland, etc. you have total on the tree.

Now divide them up into categories and subcategories.

For example, suppose there are 20 ornaments on the tree. “Ornaments” are the category. Your subcategories might be the colors.

Like this: you have 6 blue, 5 red and 9 silver ornaments.

Step 2: Make the Fractions

Create the fractions and write them on an ornament. (Print the ornaments on cardstock from the free downloadable ornament sheet.)

In our example, we would write “6/20 Blue Ornaments”, “5/20 Red Ornaments” and “9/20 Silver Ornaments.”

Step 3: Color & Cut

Color the ornaments and cut them out. Embellish with glitter and other goodies if you want!

Punch holes in the top and hang them on the tree.

Step 4: Discuss

Here’s the vocabulary for the activity with some casual definitions:

• Fraction – a number that represents part of a whole or part of an entire group.
• Numerator – the top number of a fraction. For us it’s how many of that subcategory.
• Denominator – the bottom number of a fraction. For us it’s how many of the big category.

Notice that the sum of the fractions in each category will add up to 1.

6/20 + 5/20 + 9/20 = 20/20

(You’re getting into some probability stuff, by the way!)

Step 5: Share

Share this activity with others on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. Or call your favorite teacher to tell them about it!

Oh – and don’t forget to check out Heather Sanders’s Christmas tree debacle at Pioneer Woman. It’s painfully funny!

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