Make your own ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ Dylan decoration

‘We bounded in the house, laden with snowballs’

When Dylan remembers the Christmases of his childhood, he imagines a very snowy Swansea and lots of snow ball fights with his friends. In ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’, he writes:

‘I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve, or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.’

Create your own little Dylan, with a snowball in hand, to hang from your Christmas tree. With our template, you could also make a garland of Dylans to hang about your home!

To make a tree decoration, you will need card, colouring materials and some string.

Make your own Dylan Garland

1. Print off several copies of the Dylan template sheet. The garland will work well with card or paper.
2. Colour in as many Dylans as you can!
3. Cut out all of your Dylans – you can use all the mirror image Dylans because when you put them up it will appear as though they are throwing snowballs at each other!
4. Unravel and cut a piece of string, about a metre long. You can always add more by tying extra lengths on afterwards.
5. There are several ways you attach your Dylans to the string. The most effective is to staple them at the cap. If you don’t have a stapler you can tape them at the cap, or you can punch a hole carefully in the cap and thread the string through. You might want to ask an adult to help you with this bit. Space the Dylans out, leaving at least 4cm in between them.
6. You can add extra decorations, like little snowflakes or pom poms, if you like.
7. Once all your Dylans are attached, you just need to find a place to hang them, and hope they don’t throw any snow at you!

Listen to a recording of ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ by Lighthouse Theatre, Mumbles

See more activity ideas 

Find out what else is going on in Swansea this Christmas