Family trees

Projects from Family Times magazine

This craft activity is great fun for tamariki of all ages, and makes a beautiful Mother’s Day card or art for the wall.

Family trees - art project

You'll need

Paper or card
Pencil
Paint brushes
Cotton buds
Marker pen (if writing or using for outlines)
A selection of Resene testpots in your choice of colours, capturing all the colours of autumn, including tones for the trunk of the tree.

For this project, I used

Tracing hand for art project

Painting a hand print tree

Instructions

Draw around a wrist and hand to make the trunk and branches of the tree. Younger children will need help with this.
Let your child paint the wrist and hand shape (the trunk and branches) on the cardboard using a paintbrush. We used Resene Saddle Brown for this.
Open all the Resene testpots, and let your child dip the cotton buds and dab the paint onto the paper or card to create the leaves.
Both my children added grass, and my 11-year-old thought it would make an awesome card for Mother’s Day!

Family trees art project

Branch out

On A3 or A2 card, you could combine the handprints of all the whanau off one big trunk to create a ‘Family Tree’. I bet it would look beautiful framed up!

More fun with leaves

Collect an assortment of leaves, paint them with your choice of Resene testpot colours, and then press them onto your paper. Go for an authentically autumnal look, or play around with other bright colours for something a little unexpected.