Wreaths Worksheet Download

Have you ever seen a big green ring hanging on a door? That is a wreath, a circle made of leaves and twigs. Some have pinecones, red berries, and a shiny bow.

Pinecones grow on evergreen trees, which stay green all winter long. Long ago, people in snowy places noticed green branches in winter. To many people, a ring with no end meant life goes on.

Then, in the 1800s, people in Germany added light to the ring. Christians call it an Advent wreath, and many have four candles. One is lit each week, so the wreath counts down to Christmas!

Wow, a wreath is a circle with no beginning and no end! It is a ring of green branches that people hang on doors at Christmas. Some look like giant green doughnuts with red bows on top.

That green is why people have loved wreaths for so long. Evergreen trees, like pine and fir, keep their needles all winter while other trees drop their leaves. To people in cold places, a green circle was a sign that life goes on.

Winter days are dark, so people in Germany had a bright idea in the 1800s. They made the Advent wreath, a green ring with four candles, and Advent is the time before Christmas. Christians light one candle each week to count down to the birth of Jesus.

Counting down is fun, and so is making a wreath! Cut the middle from a paper plate, glue on green leaves, and add pinecones, berries, and a bow. Your wreath will be a circle with no beginning and no end, just like wreaths from long ago!

Imagine you are stepping in from a snowy night, and the room smells like fresh pine! The scent comes from a wreath, a ring made of evergreen branches. Evergreens stay green all year, so long ago people hung them in winter as a sign that life goes on. Now picture a wreath on a big wooden wheel, glowing with candles!

That glowing wheel was real, and it helped start the Advent wreath in Germany in the 1800s. A pastor named Johann Hinrich Wichern cared for children in Hamburg. To help them count the days until Christmas, he lit one more candle each day, so the room grew brighter and brighter.

All those candles were a lot to keep lit, so over time the wheel shrank into something smaller. Families kept just four candles, one for each Sunday of Advent. Advent comes from a Latin word meaning “arrival,” and it names the weeks before Christmas when Christians get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Today, these wreaths glow in homes and churches in many countries.

Not every wreath sits on a table, though; many hang on front doors dressed up with pinecones, shiny berries, and big bows. Want to make a simple one? Just bend a sturdy ring from wire, then tuck in evergreen twigs until it looks full and fluffy. So when you spot a wreath, remember its cousin: a wooden wheel that helped children count down to Christmas!

Picture a dark December evening in Hamburg, Germany, around 1839. High above a room full of children hangs a big wooden wheel, glowing with candles! The children gather beneath it, counting, because each new flame means Christmas is closer. That wheel was an early Advent wreath, and it started a tradition that now shines in homes around the world.

The man who hung that wheel was Johann Hinrich Wichern, a pastor who cared for children in Hamburg. He knew children love asking, "How many days are left?" so he gave them a glowing answer. Small candles marked the weekdays, and larger ones marked Sundays. Later, the wheel shrank to a ring of evergreen with four candles, one for each Sunday of Advent, the weeks when Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Evergreen was a perfect choice, because people had treasured it long before Wichern was born. Did you know most trees drop their leaves in winter, yet pines, firs, and holly stay green under the snow? Families in Europe brought those boughs indoors to show that life goes on through winter. A circle has no beginning or end, so a ring of green seemed to say that life keeps going.

Today, that circle with no end often hangs on a front door instead of from a ceiling. Door wreaths are dressed up with pinecones, red berries, shiny ornaments, and big ribbon bows. A pinecone is a tree's seed holder, and its scales open in dry air. Hung on a door, a wreath welcomes visitors before they even knock.

Better yet, you can make your own welcome for visitors with just a few supplies. Bend a wire hanger into a circle, or cut a ring from sturdy cardboard. Tuck short evergreen sprigs around it, overlapping them like bird feathers, and add a bow. Then you will hold a green circle much like the glowing wheel in Hamburg more than 180 years ago.

Here's a puzzle: why would anyone hang a circle of branches on the door in the darkest part of winter? Picture one, a ring of fir needles that smells like a forest after rain, dotted with red berries and pinecones. A velvet bow sits at the bottom, and tiny lights sometimes twinkle all around. It looks simple, but the answer to the puzzle hides in its branches, its shape, and even its candles.

The first clue is the branches, because evergreens keep their needles while other trees stand bare. Many people in northern Europe noticed this long ago, and green branches became a sign that life goes on through winter. The circle is the second clue, since a ring has no beginning and no end, just like life that keeps going. Ancient Greeks and Romans made rings of leaves too, although they wore theirs as crowns for winners.

Winners wore their rings on their heads, but in 1800s Germany a wreath got a brand-new job: counting down days. In 1839, a pastor named Johann Hinrich Wichern was caring for poor children at a home called the Rauhes Haus in Hamburg. As the story goes, the children kept asking how many days were left until Christmas, so he built a huge wooden wheel and set candles on it. Small candles marked ordinary days and larger ones marked Sundays, so the wheel blazed brighter the closer Christmas came.

A wheel that grew brighter every night was such a clever idea that other people soon borrowed it. Over time, the wheel of many candles shrank into a wreath of evergreen branches holding just four candles, one for each Sunday of Advent. Advent is the season before Christmas, when Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and each new flame marks another week. The custom spread beyond Germany, and today many homes and churches around the world light Advent wreaths.

Candle wreaths stayed indoors, but plain green rings also headed to the front door, where they picked up fancy trimmings. Pinecones, berries, and bows joined the branches, adding splashes of brown, red, and gold. You can make a simple one with a grown-up's help by bending a wire into a ring, tucking in evergreen sprigs, and adding a ribbon. So next time you spot a wreath, remember that this circle once counted down days for children in Hamburg and still says green life goes on through winter.

Do you think a wreath is just a fancy decoration invented to dress up a front door? Hold on to your mittens, because the real story has a twist! Picture the classic Christmas wreath: a thick ring of deep green needles, dotted with pinecones and red berries, and topped with a velvety bow. But people have never treated a circle of evergreen as only pretty; for centuries it has carried a message that life keeps going, even in the coldest part of the year.

That message makes sense in a winter forest, where oaks and maples stand bare while pines and firs stay stubbornly green. Long before Christmas wreaths existed, ancient Greeks and Romans honored winners with crowns of laurel leaves. The word wreath comes from an Old English word connected to twisting, just what you do to bend a branch into a ring. A circle has no beginning and no end, so it became a natural picture of something that continues. For Christians, evergreens came to stand for hope and lasting life as they celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Hope was on the mind of a young German minister named Johann Hinrich Wichern in about 1839. In Hamburg, he ran a home for children whose families had little money, and every December they asked, 'How many days until Christmas?' His answer was a clever piece of carpentry, a big wooden ring, much like a wagon wheel, dotted with candles. A small candle marked each weekday and a larger one each Sunday, so the children could light a new flame each day and watch Christmas draw closer. Later, people added evergreen branches and trimmed the design to four candles, one for each Sunday of Advent, the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Somewhere along the way, the green circle wandered off the table and out to the front door. Door wreaths are often decorated with pinecones, red holly berries, and satin bows, splashes of color against the dark green. Want to make one? Start with a wire ring or twisted grapevine, then attach small bundles of fir or pine branches, called boughs, each hiding the stems of the one before. Keep overlapping them all the way around, add the cones and bow last, and hang your wreath away from heat so the needles stay fresh.

Hang it well, and it can stay green for weeks, which is the point: winter is not the end of the story. I think that is why wreaths have lasted so long, because few decorations carry so much meaning in such a simple shape. Today, some families light Advent candles at the dinner table, while others simply enjoy a green ring on the door as a cheerful welcome. Either way, a bundle of branches can say 'come in' without a single word. And to think that the whole tradition of counting down with candles began with one minister, a wooden wheel, and some children who could not wait!