Spring Craft: Tree Blossoms

I had promised, swore up and down, that over my break we'd make lots and lots of crafts.  These crafts, of course, would include a significant amount of pink and purple.  The girls already are pretty fond of art, but since they are attending my art camp this year I thought it would be a good idea to get into the spirit of direction following, as well as the spirit of Easter and Spring... at least a little bit.

This little project is a version of one that I often did with  my kindergarten kiddos... the cherry blossom branch - but here we tried to capitalize on daddy's "nature adventures" and did a little bit of exploring first.  The girls, Belle especially, were enchanted by the "kitty willows" on several of our trees.  We explained that the trees, when waking up from their winter nap, will first get buds, then sprout flowers, and finally their leaves.

For our project we ripped an 11x9 white paper into strips and mounted them evenly spaced on a 12x12 background.  Using markers we drew our tree limbs and branches, then we used ink pads to create little finger printed buds.  Finger-painting continued with the flower blossoms, then we gently pressed the tip of a brush to make the leaves on our final pictures.  The girls were really proud of their pictures - wanting to sleep with them at nap time - and are already geared up for more activities later this week... I just need to come up with some more ideas!

Created by:  Amabelle Grace (3 1/2 years)

Created by:  Emmaline Rose ( 3 1/2 years)