Fall Tree Craft

This idea has been showing up all over!  I first saw it here, though.   I love when an idea can be guided a bit for a young child, and yet it still allows their own creativity.  We made our own autumn tree-despite the green leaves hanging on around here.

This was also an easy project to complete with two children (nearly 3 and nearly 5) at the same time.  Sometimes I don't pick the best projects for two children.

First, I traced each of the children's hands with a brown crayon.  Then the children colored their "tree trunk."  I chose to use crayon for the less-messy factor for my son's sake my own sanity.  However, if I were to do this again, I think markers or paint would be better.  You could even paint the child's palm and arm and "print" it to make the tree.

 After coloring was complete, the children were given one color at a time.  We used the colors yellow, red, and green.  My children no longer need to be encouraged to say words, but I still modeled for my son "Dot, dot, dot" with each fingerprint to the paper.  He said dot with each fingerprint, too!  This may be especially helpful for young children when they may want to use their fingers to smear the paint instead of making dots.  However, it IS their project!

 The paint palette (for less than $1 at Walmart) was perfect for this.  I also gave each child a napkin to clean their fingers in between colors.  My daughter quickly remembered that she could mix red and yellow to create orange.  Her colors/dots were spaced enough that it didn't happen "naturally."

 You can see below my daughter chose to add grass to her picture.  My son's picture may be after a windstorm, but it's still HIS fall tree project!

Mounting these on colored construction paper prior to display adds a very nice touch and makes the children feel extra-proud.

Our big fall book that we've enjoyed from the library recently is Poppleton in the Fall.  We just love Poppleton!

Next, I think we'll be making a fall wreath since M asked to replace our summer wreath craft (that I never posted about).  We'll use our coffee filter technique, I think...they love that!