One of our favorite holiday traditions is setting out reindeer food on Christmas Eve for Santa’s special helpers. This year, I thought it would be fun to step away from the typical oat recipe we’ve used in years past to try something different and a little more fun! Our carrot garland turned out really cute and my boys loved making this beautiful reindeer food.
There are so many different reindeer food recipes floating around out there! With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I wanted to keep this as simple as possible. You probably have most or all of these items in your home!
I chose carrots because they’re a great food for reindeer. Reindeer love carrots and they give them energy. And, of course, carrots help them to see at night!
If you’re looking to pair this activity with a book, I highly recommend Last Stop on the Reindeer Express. This story pairs well with this activity and I promise it will become a favorite holiday book!
Let’s get started! Here’s what you’ll need…
Supplies
- Last Stop on the Reindeer Express (optional)
- Carrots
- Twine
- Cookie Cutters
- Clothespins
- Sticker gems
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RELATED: Learn more about this book and 24 more holiday books here, Countdown to Christmas with 25 of the Most Beautiful Holiday Picture Books
How to Make the Reindeer Food Garland:
Step 1:
After you read Last Stop on the Reindeer Express, you can add little sparkly sticker gems on the clothespins to make them sparkle and stand out at night! You don’t want the reindeer to miss your home:)
Step 2:
Next, cut out your reindeer food with cookie cutters! We added a couple yellow and purple carrots to make our garland a little more colorful:)
You might be able to see in the photo, that I made a little paper towel padding for Leo. You will need to press down rather hard on the cookie cutters and I didn’t want to hurt those little hands. I will cut thinner carrot pieces next year so we don’t need to push as hard.
Step 3:
Now you are ready to make your garland! Just clip the carrot stars on the twine and you are all set. Feel free to add other edible pieces of nature to the garland! This is wonderful fine motor work.
Step 4:
This is the best part! Head outdoors and wrap your garland around a tree trunk. Your little helper can wrap it around the tree while you hold the end in one place. I tied the ends together to secure it on the tree.
If you have far to walk or are worried about your garland getting twisted on your way out the door, just set it up outdoors. Wrap the twine around the tree first and then clip the carrots when you are outside.
Either way, this garland is so easy to make and looks gorgeous on the tree!
You might need to sneak out after the kids fell asleep to take a few carrot pieces off of the garland! My boys make sure to check it first thing in the morning to see how many carrots are missing.
Pin this activity to save it for later!
I hope you give this fun holiday activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.
∼Tara
Need more holiday nature-inspired ideas?! Check out:
Pinecone Nature Confetti Shakers for New Year’s Eve
Pine Needle Keepsake Ornament
