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Cats love to play, and a decorated tree is a wonderful toy; but sometimes seasonal decorations can present hazards for cats. Tinsel and ribbons, if eaten, are very dangerous for small animals. Glass and sparkly plastic ornaments swinging in a tree branch can seem irresistibly toy-like, but they aren't always safe for kitty to play with.For some unknown reason, the makers of stands for Christmas trees can't seem to design one that will support both a tree and a climbing cat, which seems like an obvious design flaw from a cats perspective. Humans seem to love decorating for the holidays though, so we propose a solution. Below we suggest some alternatives to traditional holiday decorations, that are cat friendly (and environmentally friendly) and fun to make too. Plus, you can recycle or compost them after, and have fun making new ones again next year!
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Paper SnowflakesSuitable for solstice and other holidays, the paper snowflake is wonderful fun to create. You fold it up, then cut it, and discover your creation as you unfold it!You can put them up in windows or hang them other places, and use them to decorate cards and gifts too!
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Start your paper snowflake with a square of paper. If you've got a rectangular piece of paper, you can find the square by folding the top two corners to the opposite edges and cut off the extra below where the diagonal folds crease the edges - this helps with the first two fold-steps too.
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 Fold your square of paper in half diagonally
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 And then fold again in into quarters, folding on the diagonal
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 Depending on how thin a paper you are working with, or the shape of snowflake you want, you can fold once more
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 Or try folding twice more, to get a different pattern
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 Cut different shapes out of the triangle, leaving part of both folded sides (if you cut too much, your snowflake might fall apart when you unfold it).
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 You can round off the short side to get a more circular looking snowflake.
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EXPERIMENT! Try different shaped cuts and folds, have fun with the discovering of unfolding your snowflake and seeing the pattern emerge - sometimes not quite as you expected it. Failed attempts can be crumpled up into a paper ball that your cat will have fun chasing around for a while before you compost the remains.
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Paper ChainsKid friendly, cat friendly, environmentally friendly... what's not to love about paper chain decorations?You can use craft paper, construction paper, magazines or wrapping paper (if it's very thin you can fold it to several thicknesses for structure and strength).
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 Start by cutting your paper into strips. If you're using thin paper cut wide strips and fold them into thirds or quarters. You can also use thin card stock or boxes from your recycling.
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 Take the strips and curl the ends towards each other
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 Make a loop and secure the ends. Tape is great for kids, paste or glue works ok if you have patience or paper clips to hold it while the adhesive dries. Staplers work too but the staples aren't very cat-friendly or environmentally friendly either.
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 Thread the next strip of paper through the first loop, and connect the ends... you get the idea now! Keep building on loops until you have a suitable length of chain.
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Paper SpiralsThese can be made out of paper or thicker materials like cardboard - thin card stock like old Christmas cards or boxes from your recycling work too.Materials like the shiny silver packaging coffee sometimes comes in work well too, but they aren't very cat-friendly - select these materials only if you can keep them safely out of kitties reach.
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Start with a plain or patterned piece of paper. Sketch out a circle by tracing around a coffee mug or other handy circular object. Cutting inside the circle, cut in a spiral pattern, around and around towards the middle. Leave a small solid centre from which you can hang your spiral decoration. You can tape it up or hang it from a thread. If suspended over a warm air vent or a radiator, the updraft of warm air may set it spinning. Which kitty will certainly find entertaining... better make a few extra.
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Paper BallsYou can make Christmas tree ball ornaments out of paper! Safe for kitties, environmentally friendly, unbreakable, and fun to make too. You can use left over wrapping paper or other coloured papers. If you make a large one, the hole will be big enough to put a kitty-treat inside, and then they are a paper nom-ball! If you make them small, they are fun for kitty to bat and swat. If they get flattened, you can usually blow them up again! How many Christmas decorations can do all that?
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 Start with a square piece of paper |
 Fold in half | |
 Then fold into quarters |
 Once folded into a 1/4 size square, open the top to fold diagonally | |
 Open the square on each side into a triangle as in the photo |
 Flatten into a triangle, then flip over and make the other side the same | |
 It will look like this once you've opened up both sides into triangles |
 Now fold the bottom corners up to the top, on the left and right sides | |
 Like this |
 Then fold the corners just made in your last fold in towards the centre | |
 Fold the tips down towards the points you just folded |
 Tuck in the tips into the flap made by the folded-in corner | |
 Flip over and fold the other side the same way. Lower corners up, side corners in, then top tips into the flap. |
 The ball will hold together better if the tips are securely tucked into the slot made by the folded in sides. | |
 This is what it looks like when it's all folded |
 Now blow air into the open end... you need to inflate your Origami paper ball. | |
 One inflated paper ball... ready to hang on a tree or be swatted around by a cat, or both! |
 Wishing you a puurrrfect Catmas! Flick, Dot and Buzz
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Paper Snowflakes - Paper Chain - Paper Spirals - Paper Balls | ||
Cats love to play!But... we get bored with the same old toys all the time! We'd like you to make us some new toys please?Check out our DIY Toys page for some neat-o cat toy ideas!
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Flick, Dot & Buzz
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