This craft was spur of the moment, I was sitting looking out at my backyard and decided to replicate our little cherry tree. While my son played with play dough I made this. He stopped playing and I offered him the option to make one but he just wanted to watch. I love how the Q-tips made perfect little buds and how rich the colors are. Young kids could easily do this if you made the tree for them, and older ones would have no problem doing the whole project independently.
Spring Tree Craft
- Gather your materials. You will need some white paper, a brown marker, watercolors, a tiny bit of water in a dish..or perhaps an old sippy cup that happens to be on the table….and q-tips.
- Start by drawing the outline of a bare tree.
- Dip your q-tip in the water and then get it nice and covered in paint.
- Dab it on.
- Add more colors.
- Paint the bark if you want.
- Let dry.
Chapter Book
I don’t often do chapter book reviews but this book is so good I recently re read it for fun ! So many great messages and with spring break coming up I thought I’d give a nod to an older book in hopes that some of you with older kids ( girls especially) would grab this for them.
Gaia Girls Enter the Earth by Lee Wells . I love to share a book with my older readers. The story follows Elizabeth as she spends her summer on her parents small organic farm, learning that not all farming is as responsible as her family’s. But that’s not all. Elizabeth meets someone magical and discovers she has a special power that can help her fight against the factory farms moving into her area.
I love the magical aspect of this book. The author manages to make it work in a very down to earth way and it sucks the reader in. The strong environmental call to action in the book is wonderful, not only are the issues like factory farming explained but solutions and alternatives are as well. The girl power undertones are well done too. Elizabeth’s power isn’t exerted irresponsibly and she is conscientious about how to use it. I wish more books were this good.
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Erin says
This is so simple and so pretty. Me & my daughter are going to do this craft today. Thanks for the nice idea 🙂
.-= Erin´s last blog ..A Peek Into Our Day … =-.
Susan Henn says
I love this simple craft to do with the four year old I babysit for. She enjoyed doing this and it got us excited about spring.
teachingwithsoul says
Uuuuu I love this! What a lovely, sweet, simple idea. Will share this with my teach/mommy friends. Going to link on my crafty teaching blog page. One pic And your link! 🙂
jen says
so funny that we posted cherry blossom blogs on the same day – we must all really be ready for spring! i love your idea – we’ll have to try this too!
http://paintcutpaste.com/cherry-blossom-prints/
.-= jen´s last blog ..cherry blossom prints =-.
maryanne @ mama smiles says
very pretty!
.-= maryanne @ mama smiles´s last blog ..Model Magic matching/memory game =-.
admin says
Oooh Jen I love your cards too!! I am doing a Spring Link post on my FamilyEducation.com blog this week and it will definitely be included!!
Tara @ Feels like home says
It’s lovely. We tried to do something like this last week, but it turned out badly. At the time, Joe said I should’ve done the tree and branches first and the blossoms second (instead the other way around, which was what I did). If we redo it, that’s what we’ll try.
.-= Tara @ Feels like home´s last blog ..Feels Like Home Recap – February ‘10 =-.
Maya says
I LOVE this craft Allie – So beautiful 🙂 and my girls will love it !
Erin says
We tried our hand at your ‘spring tree’ today and I blogged about it over at http://wildasweeds.blogspot.com/ . Thanks for the fun idea 🙂
.-= Erin´s last blog ..A Peek Into Our Day … =-.
Heidi says
That is really cute! I don’t think my kiddo would stand for such precise painting, but I may do one myself the next time we get the paints out.
We are making toilet paper roll daisies this week to celebrate the arrival of spring like conditions.
.-= Heidi´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday, Yo! =-.
admin says
Oh yeah mine loved watching me but was enthralled watching me.
Mommyof2Girlz says
Stop by the blog and see my feature post, follow the link, you were mentioned 🙂 Kisses
Dara says
My 3 1/2 yo daughter loved doing this today. All morning she had been asking me what we would do for our craft today and I was a little uninspired, thinking I would just let her paint. My mother visited from out of town today so my daughter made a spring tree and little poem for her and my father.
She really enjoyed it and couldn’t wait to tell her brother about it when he got home. Now he wants to do it too!
Photos of our creation:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BRzm4aAFVX57l1p7CSbdIw?feat=directlink
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BRzm4aAFVX57l1p7CSbdIw?feat=directlink
Thanks for the inspiration!
Beverly says
i so love this tree.