Paper Forest for Tu B’Shvat

Grow a paper tree for Tu B’Shvat!

Another Corona winter Sunday means bored kids. We thought about doing a project for Tu B’Shvat. It’s been a while since we did a project like this together, now that my kids are getting older they are creating their own projects! But every one from ages 4-11 enjoyed this. The 11 year old did it herself, the 4 year old drew the pictures and applied the glue and the 8 year old folded and glued. Everyone was able to participate on their own level. We hope you enjoy it too!

Looking for more Tu B’Shavt projects?
Toilet Paper Roll Trees for Tu B’Shvat
Mixed Media Trees for Tu B’Shvat
Lift-the-Flap Fruit Bowl for Tu B’Shvat
Foil Embossed Tree for Tu B’Shvat

Paper Forest for Tu B’Shvat

Time:
Active: 15-20 minutes
Drying: 15 minutes+ if using regular glue

Age: 4-10

Materials:
Tree template (download here)
Glue stick
Paint, markers or crayons
Scissors

Process:
To make 3 trees in your forest, decorate nine tree tops and nine trunks. You can use our template or draw our own, but try to keep them approximately the same size. When they are dry, cut them out.

Fold each piece in half, folding the colored portion inwards. Working in groups of 3 pieces, using a glue stick, apply glue to the outer side of the first folded piece and attach a second folded piece. Then apply glue to the exposed top layer of the second piece and attach a third. Gently pull the stack and you have created a 3-D tree top. Repeat with all the tree tops and trunk pieces. Glue the tops and trunks directly on to a piece of paper.

Decorate around your trees to complete the scene.

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

A Do-It-Together Kotel

Join your kids in creating a Kotel together as a symbol of achdut.

We have a book that my kids enjoy called “The Travels and Tales of Dr. Emanuel J. Mitzva: Doctor of Mostly Everything” by Yaffa Ganz. One of my youngest daughter’s favorite stories is about a girl named Julie, who gets the chicken pox and can’t go to school to complete her Sukkah project with the class. When Dr. Mitzva suggests she just do the project at home, she explains that it’s a “do-it-together project” as the puzzle pieces they are making need to fit together. In a truly Corona-friendly twist, Dr. Mitzva brings the class over to her yard and they hold up their drawings to the window so they can each see them and complete the project properly. Of course he explains that bikkur cholim, visiting the sick, is a “do-it-together mitzva” as you need both the healthy and sick person to do the mitzva and both are impacted by it.

Now we are approaching Tisha B’av, not Sukkot, but I loved the idea of the “do-it-together project” and “do-it-together mitzva.” We learn that the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed because of baseless hatred. There is nothing better than a “do-it-together” to rejoin us all, in our case by both doing a project and learning about a mitzva.

If you have more than one kid, or a group of kids in camp, this is a great collaborative craft. We are planning to go big and have each kids do a few pages that will be assembled as a mural on the wall. If you don’t have either the manpower or the space, if you and your child can each paint one page, and that will be more than enough to reassemble on a sheet of paper.

You can add anything you find meaningful to your Kotel on top of the watercolor blocks. A picture of your family, a note you want to put in the wall or anything else.

I hope that by all of Jewish people joining together in achdut, we can rebuild the real Beit Hamikdash!

Looking for more Tisha B’av projects?
Rebuilding Yerushalayim (in paper)
Yerushalayim Puzzle for Tisha B’av
Peek-a-boo Yerushalayim
Stained Glass Yerushalayim

Do-It-Together Kotel

Time:
Active: 20 minutes

Age: 3-10

Materials:
Watercolor paints
Paint brushes
Paper
Scissors
Tape or glue

Process:
Give each participant a piece of paper and brush and have them fill the page with watercolor painting. No need to make any specific design or shape. You can assign each kids a few colors, so they will recognize “their” pieces once it is cut up. Or just have them all use just lots of colors!

When the pages have dried, cut them up into rectangles and squares. I stacked the pages and cut strips, and them stacked the strips to cut the smaller squares and rectangles – we don’t need to be precise! Glue or tape the squares in rows onto a piece of paper or if you are doing this on a larger scale, on the wall. Overlap some smaller pieces in between the bricks to simulate the greenery growing on the Kotel.

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

Geometric Dreidel Art

Have some fun with dreidel shapes!

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I was playing around with ideas for a new Chanukah project and cut out a bunch of different sized dreidels. I was trying different arrangements on the page when I realized that there were so many different ways to combine the shapes and create unique patterns and designs. I gave the shapes to my kids who started moving pieces around and coming up with designs of their own.

A menorah made of dreidels! This one didn’t quite fit on our paper!

The fun in this project is more in the play than the final product! We used 4 large, 4 medium and 4 small dreidels and I suggest using at least this amount. More will only increase the possibilities! Use different colors or make each size it’s own color. Try using tinfoil instead of paper for a shiny effect! Placing them on a dark background will give a dramatic effect as well. Cutting the shapes out of Chanukah wrapping paper can be fun idea too. Start playing – see what you can come up with!

Looking for more Chanukah projects?
Mixed Media Menorah
Edible Menorah
Pipe Cleaners and Straws Menorah
Menorah and Dreidel Snowflakes
“Light” a Paper Menorah
Nature Menorahs
“Spinning” Paper Dreidel
Decorate a Dreidel…with a Dreidel!

Time:
Active: 15-20 minutes
Age: 3-10

Materials:
Construction paper, tinfoil or wrapping paper
Scissors
Glue

Process:
Sketch or trace images of dreidels on your chosen paper. Ours were 4″, 3″ and 2″. Use a variety of sizes. Have fun trying out different patterns before gluing down your favorite!

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

Paper Bonfire

Stuck at home? Make a paper bonfire this Lag Ba’Omer!

I am very proud that my 9 year old daughter is here this week as a “guest columnist.” She dreamed up this project and executed it all by herself. In her own words: “Hi! I have never been to a real bonfire, so I was thinking about a way to make one in my own house. I love making things out of paper (I recently made a dollhouse from a cardboard box and a whole castle out of paper!) so this was a fun way for me to have a bonfire on Lag Ba’Omer. I hope you will try it yourself, so you can have fun too.”

Time:
Active: 15-20 minutes

Age: 5-9

Materials:
Red, orange, yellow and brown construction paper
Scissors
Tape or glue
Index cards or cardstock
Pencils
Cotton balls

Processs:
Starting with the red construction paper, draw a flame shape. I used 6 flames. Cut them out. Then, using the orange construction paper, draw 6 smaller flames and cut them out. Use the yellow construction paper to make 6 even smaller flames and cut them out. Layer the flames with the largest flame on the bottom of the stack. Tape or glue them together.

Cut the index card or cardstock into small strips. Bend them in half. Tape or glue one end of the strip to the back of the flame stack. Repeat for all flames.

Cut a large circle from the brown construction paper. Tape or glue the other end of the index card strip to the edges of the brown circle.

To make logs, wrap a pencil in brown construction paper. Use the cotton balls as pretend marshmallows.

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