Archive for the ‘Tree Craft’ Category

Did you know that today is Arbor Day?  In celebration of trees and all the fantastic things that trees bring to us like fresh air, shade on a sunny day and piles of leaves to jump into every fall we are posting all our tree crafts so you can make a tree and celebrate . Check out the official Arbor Day Foundation website for more info.

Sun Print Tree (above)

Apple Tree

Japanese Cherry Tree

Emily Carr Inspired Trees

Budding Spring Tree

Hole Punch Tree

Tree Books

Pablo’s Tree by Pat Mora is a great book. The author has successfully integrated so many wonderful things into one still entertaining and engaging book. The story is about Pablo who is excited to go to his grandfather’s house to celebrate his birthday. See his Lito ( grandfather) has a wonderful tradition of decorating his tree every year to celebrate Pablo’s birthday. The book explains that this started before Pablo was even born, when his mom told her father that she would be adopting a baby. I love that this book is about a multi generation family, includes adoption without it being the only subject in the book, and it’s multi lingual text ( Spanish and English) . It’s a gem, oh and my son loved it too!

Our Apple Tree
by Gorel Kristina Naslund is a straight forward yet beautiful book about a year in the life of an apple tree. I like that it starts in winter because so often apple tree books start in the fall with the harvest . The pictures are delightful and two little tree fairies follow along with you as the tree goes through it’s life cycle. My son had very little interest in the book, but it wasn’t the book, at 2 he just wasn’t able to sit for so much information. This book is perfect for 4-8 year olds.

A Tree for Emmy by Mary Ann Rodman was a huge hit with my son who took a real liking to Emmy the “stubborn and a little bit wild ” main character of this book. She loves the Mimosa tree in her grandma’s yard and decides more than anything she wants her own for her birthday. Unfortunately they are wild and no nursery carries them. She is distraught and arguably a little bratty when disappointed but as luck would have it when she visits her grandma again she notices a shoot growing! I like how independent Emmy is , and must admit to taking great pleasure in my son noticing Emmy’s baby sister in a sling in one illustration! Very cute book!

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.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some white paper, a brown marker , water colors, a tiny bit of water in a dish..or perhaps an old sippy cup that happens to be on the table….and q-tips.
2. Start by drawing the outline of a bare tree.
3. Dip your q-tip in the water and then get it nice and covered in paint.
4. Dab it on.
5. Add more colors.
6. Paint the bark if you want.
7. 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 couldn’t be more excited 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.

You May Also Like

Japanese Cherry Tree Craft
Colorful Forrest
Q-Tip Dandelion

If you watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics you saw Sarah McLaughlin singing among tall painted trees. They were a homage to West coast painter Emily Carr , a personal favorite and not as well known outside of Canada. I have been waiting to do a fine art reproduction craft since it has been a while and this was the perfect link to recent events ! No matter if your child saw the ceremonies or not trees are something they can relate to.

1. Gather your materials. This project although has a set end result we focused on all different ways to paint, so we are using multiple tools. You will need some coffee filters, brown or white paper, blue paper, glue, scissors, a roller, a glass sponge, an eye dropper, some blue, green and brown paint as well as some green food coloring.
2. Start by showing your child pictures of Emily Carr’s work online, in books or if you are lucky enough to have a real one near by at a museum. Talk about the trees, the colors and ask what they like and don’t like.
3. Start by painting the trunks. We used a foam roller. My son pretended he was a steam roller and did this for a long long time!
4. Next hand them the sky, we used blue paper but white or pale green would both work perfectly. I put green and blue paint in a dish for him to use with the glass sponge. If you follow me on twitter you may have seen my tweet saying my son announced he was Jackson Pollack as he splattered the paint- this was when he said that!
5. Time for green food dye! Using an eye dropper suck up the food dye, and drop on the coffee filters. Have wet wipes on hand, my fingers are still green .
6. Let everything dry.
7. Cut out the trunks
8. Cut the filters into tree tops. I did this step for my son because his cutting skills aren’t yet developed enough . If your child is able invite them to do it, I did ask him if he wanted spiky trees or rounded trees!
9. Time to glue. Add three long lines. I added the first and then he did the rest.
10. Add your trunks.
11. Add glue for the tree tops
12. Add the tree tops and let dry.

Books

Pablo’s Tree by Pat Mora is a great book. The author has successfully integrated so many wonderful things into one still entertaining and engaging book. The story is about Pablo who is excited to go to his grandfather’s house to celebrate his birthday. See his Lito ( grandfather) has a wonderful tradition of decorating his tree every year to celebrate Pablo’s birthday. The book explains that this started before Pablo was even born, when his mom told her father that she would be adopting a baby. I love that this book is about a multi generation family, includes adoption without it being the only subject in the book, and it’s multi lingual text ( Spanish and English) . It’s a gem, oh and my son loved it too!

A Pocket Full of Kisses by Audrey Penn is another book in her Kissing Hand series. Chester is not so happy about having a little brother and suggests that he gives him back! I love that jealousy doesn’t stem over toys or material things but rather over Mama giving his little brother a kissing hand too.  My mom has always called me sunshine and I will grudgingly admit that I do not like it when someone else earns this name, it’s an instinctual reaction and I am in my 30s! When Chester raccoon bursts into tears kids and adults a like can relate to it. Mam raccoon handles it beautifully and Chester understands that no matter how much love a mama has for one child it doesn’t take any way from others. This book was a great vehicle for discussion about our upcomming arrival and I urge other parents dealing with a new sibling or jealousy to check it out.

A Tree for Emmy by Mary Ann Rodman was a huge hit with my son who took a real liking to Emmy the “stubborn and a little bit wild ” main character of this book. She loves the Mimosa tree in her grandma’s yard and decides more than anything she wants her own for her birthday. Unfortunately they are wild and no nursery carries them. She is distraught and arguably a little bratty when disappointed but as luck would have it when she visits her grandma again she notices a shoot growing! I like how independent Emmy is , and must admit to taking great pleasure in my son noticing Emmy’s baby sister in a sling in one illustration! Very cute book!

You may also like :

Inspired by Jackson Pollack and A Trip to The Museum
Inspired by Matisse – Cool Collage
Inspired by Hokusai – Great Wave!

This craft uses scrap paper to make a wonderfully colorful tree. Whether you punch all the holes now or save them up over time the results are awesome .

1. Gather your materials. You will need a piece of white paper, one full piece of construction paper of your choice, a whole bunch of scrap coloured paper, a brown marker, glue and a hole punch.
2. Start by punching out tons of holes, keep them all. You can do this over a week , allowing your child to work out their little hands with the hole punch or having them choose the color of the paper and you can punch the holes if they can’t. You need a lot !
3. Draw a tree trunk with your brown marker.
4. Add a lot of glue at the top of the trunk.
5. Add your punched out holes.
6. Let dry and glue onto the full size piece of paper for a frame. You can use a piece of paper that has something on the back already for the frame. No one will know and you will save paper.