Beautiful Branch

This craft was one of those ideas that I had and hoped I wouldn’t regret. Food coloring , small eye droppers that squirt and a toddler could have been a recipe for disaster but not only did we have fun and survive , how awesome are those leaves? I was planning on posting this next week but couldn’t wait to share. We have been talking a lot about the changing colors we see on our tress but this could also be used for a fun garland if you don’t want to make a branch.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some coffee filters, a large piece of construction paper ( white or brown), red, yellow and green food coloring, eye droppers,3 small dishes , water ,crayons,  scissors and glue.
2. Start by drawing a branch .
3. Have your child color the branch they can add more branches if they like too!
4. While they do that draw leaves on the coffee filters. 
5. Pour some water along with the food coloring into the small containers, pop the eye droppers in ( one per color)- a big tip put a thick fabric place mat under your child when they are doing this step. It will absorb the coloring so it doesn’t get on other things.  Of course this will stain it so do not use your new William Sonoma ones !
6. Using the eye dropper drop the colors onto the coffee filter leaves.
7. Use multiple colors for each leaf if you want.  Using an eye dropper is intricate and helps develop your child’s  fine motor skills.
8. Let dry- ours dried over night.
9. Cut out the branch
10. Cut out the leaves
11. Add glue to the branch
12. Add your leaves and let dry.