The average person throws away almost 2 kilograms of rubbish every day. Now times that by five million people (the total population of NZ) and you’ll understand why we think recycling and up-cycling is so important for our future.

Up-cycling is when you use discarded objects to create new things. This homemade Christmas Tree is a great way to not only create funky Christmas decorations for your home (or as gifts), it will also help you to upcycle your old Upstart Magazines!

What you need…

• One or two old magazines

• Green, silver or gold paint or spray paint

• Yellow paper and ribbon (optional)

• Scissors

• Glue

REMEMBER: Always ask a caregiver before starting any crafts project.

What to do…

1. Open your magazine and bend it to break the spine.

2. On the first page, fold the page from the top right corner to the inside seam.

3. On the same page, fold the bottom right edge to the inside seam again.

4. This second fold will result in some of the magazine page overhanging the magazine. Fold this overhanging triangle upwards so that the bottom of your tree will be flat.

5. You can tuck this folded triangle in between the two earlier folds.

6. Repeat the above on every page in the magazine.

7. When you have folded the last page, glue this to the first one to create your tree shape.

8. Once your magazine looks like a tree, it’s time to paint it!
   You can use poster paint, but spray paint (with the help of an adult) gets the best results.
   Note: If you would prefer not to paint your tree using a hole punch to make a hole in every second page of your Christmas tree and then thread a festive ribbon through these holes.

9. To add extra sparkle, you may like to sprinkle the wet paint with glitter.

10. Using yellow paper, cut out a star and stick this to the top of your Christmas tree.

Did you know…

Sometimes people replace the word Christmas with the word Xmas – have you ever wondered why?

X means Christ in Greek. So, to shorten the word Christmas we sometimes use the word Xmas.

Did you give it a go?

Send us a photo of your completed Christmas Ornament and you might find your creation featured in a future issue of Upstart magazine OR on Upstart online… AND win a prize!