Mixed Media Trees for Tu B’Shvat

Create colorful trees using a variety of materials for Tu B’Shvat!

The weather this winter has been crazy so far. One week it’s in single digits, and the next it’s 60 degrees! But no matter the weather, Tu B’Shvat is coming up. It’s like a little (mostly indoor) preview of all the flowering and blossoming yet to come as the spring approaches. And winter break was the perfect opportunity to spend some time getting ready.

For this project, we used a variety of materials (mixed media, in art lingo). We used what we had around, which is pompoms, buttons and crumpled tissue paper. You can use just about anything to create your trees. Send the kids on quick nature walk and collect leaves and sticks for a more realistic looking tree. Some other ideas include sequins or jewels, construction paper or wrapping paper cut into shapes, star stickers, and foam shapes.

We drew our background first and then pasted on our trees, but you could also glue on other materials for an even more textured result.

Looking for more Tu B’Shavt projects?
Toilet Paper Roll Trees for Tu B’Shvat

 

Time:
Active: 15 minutes
Drying: 15 minutes+ if using paint or glue

Age: 2-7

Materials:
Paper
Glue
Popsicle sticks
Something with which to create your trees – pompoms, buttons, crumpled tissue paper (see more ideas in the post above)
Crayons or markers to draw a background

Process:
Draw a nature scene on a sheet of paper, or glue one on.

Cut a popsicle stick in half to use as a tree trunk. Glue on and then add the top of your tree, using whatever materials you would like.

 

 

Did you do this project? Share your pictures on our facebook page!

Toilet Paper Roll Trees for Tu B’Shvat

“Plant” a tree for Tu B’Shvat!

With Tu B’Shvat just around the corner, we needed to do a tree project! We used toilet paper rolls to create a 3D tree on our page. I keep a stash of these rolls around so when an idea strikes, we aren’t stuck without materials. The kids enjoyed this one. The blue blobs all over are apparently “rain” and the red splotches are some kind of fruit.

We painted it after we glued it down, but the whole time I was debating if we should have painted the whole tube first and cut it into leaves second. If you did do it that way, the edges of the leaves wouldn’t get painted but it would be neater and possibly easier. If you try it the other way, let us know how it went!

Toilet Paper Roll Trees

Time:
Active: 15 minutes
Drying: 15 minutes+

Age: 2-7

Materials:
2 toilet paper tubes, or 1 paper towel tube
paper
paint
glue
scissors

Process:

Cut one of the tubes in half. This will be your trunk.

Fold the second tube in half and flatten, so a football shape is created. Cut thin stripes off the tube. These will be your leaves. We found kid scissors not to be strong enough to cut through the tube, so we carefully used large “grown up” scissors.

Arrange your pieces on a sheet of paper to your satisfaction. Then glue them down. We found the most effective way to glue the leaves was to pinch them together until they were essentially flat. One person held the leaf in this position while the other squeezed out a thin layer of glue. Then when you let go of the pinch position, both sides of the leaf have glue on them.

Let the glue dry for as long as you can bear to wait. 15 minutes should be enough.

Paint! Make sure to get all the sides and inside each leaf.

Did you do this project? Share your pictures on our facebook page!

Nature Menorah

Combine Chanukah with the end of fall for a nature walk and project in one!

Once Rosh Chodesh Kislev arrives, Chanukah is in the air! We did our first Chanukah project today. It combined Chanukah and fall. We went out on a walk to collect leaves and sticks. We snagged a beautiful red one right outside of the shul on our way home from a morning program there to get us started. Once we got home, we combed our yard and block. Our neighbor had a tree with perfect, small red leaves but other than that, it was slim pickings. We did out best to find a variety of shapes and colors that were not crumbled or wet and found some thin sticks as well. It was freezing so we worked quickly. We did manage to collect more than enough for each girl in a variety of shapes and colors.

After a lunch break, the kids broke the sticks into small pieces and arranged them on the paper.

We then painted the sticks. While the sticks were drying, the kids kept painting – both on paper and paper towels!

This passed the time until the sticks were dry enough to glue down. We used the leaves to act as the flames of our menorah.

The kids were proud of their projects! They really enjoyed combining fall with Chanukah.

Time:
Nature walk: 10 minutes, because it was freezing. If it’s warmer where you are, take your time and have fun with it!
Active: 20 minutes
Drying: 15 minutes+

Age: 2-7

Materials:
Sticks and leaves
Paint
Paper
Glue

Process:

Collect sticks and leaves. Try to find straight sticks that will adhere to the paper without popping up in the middle. Moister leaves work better than brittle ones.  A variety of shapes and colors will really make the menorah come alive!

Break the sticks into smaller pieces and arranged them on your page. Then painted the sticks. I put a piece of scrap paper underneath the sticks to protect the table while the kids painted. The kids then painted each stick.

Let sticks dry.  Glue down the sticks onto a clean sheet of paper in the shape of a menorah. Put the shamash wherever you want – center or end is traditional but anything goes.

Have each kid pick out 9 leaves from the collection we had amassed and arrange them on their menorah to represent the flames. Use a variety of sizes to get them all the fit. Once you have then arranged to your satisfaction, glue them down. It probably would be nice to put some heavy books on top of them as they dry to help the leaves stick better, but it’s not necessary.

Alternately, press the leaves by putting the between wax paper until Chanukah. Glue on one leaf each night!

Did you do this project? Share your pictures on our facebook page!

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