Nothing captures the sprit of the holidays like working together to accomplish a common goal. To that end, here is a simple — yet impressive — art experience you can do with your students that is sure to delight all of you!

The materials list is simple — all you really need is construction paper. If you have several shades of green on hand, I would suggest using all of them. The variety of greens (tints and shades, also known as lights and darks) will enhance the look of your tree. If you only have one green on hand, don’t despair because that will also look great. If you’re feeling really adventurous, try making an all white tree. Trust me — it will look magnificent!

The idea here is that each child will be tearing out one or more “branches” that will be arranged together to form a tree. You might spend a few minutes talking with the kids about the fact that trees are made of individual branches, and that together, they make an entire tree. Looking at a real tree or at photographs of trees will also help them to see that the general shape of pine tree branches is sort of triangular. Give each child a sheet of large construction paper and ask them to carefully tear out a large branch/triangular shape. Tell them that their branch must touch at least three sides of their paper. (This will encourage them to work “large”.)

You may decide to have each child make more than one branch, depending on how many children you have, and on how big you want your group tree to be. When all of the branches are complete, pin or staple them to a wall or bulletin board in a “tree-type” arrangement. (I would suggest putting your tree together after school, that way you can tell your students that they will be surprised the next day to see how all of their individual pieces made something great together. Talk about building anticipation!) Don’t worry about how each branch looks, because they will all look fantastic when they are arranged together to form your class tree. 

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