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A Fall Tree


While we were fixing up our schoolroom I spotted some uniquely shaped paint chips at Home Depot that I thought they would make great fall leaves. Since we were stocking up on other paint supplies I didn't feel guilty grabbing a bunch. 

I wasn't sure how we'd use them at first but after a little thought I decided to make a tree from which the leaves could hang and "fall". I used a couple 50%-off coupons at Jo-Ann Fabrics to buy a yard of brown felt and a roll of adhesive hook velcro. 

I had originally just planned on cutting the felt into a simple tree about three feet tall but when I told Husbandie my plan, he took over and came up with something much cooler...

husbandie's floor to ceiling corner tree.
*the home sign is always hanging on that wall, i love
 how he spaced the branches around it

While he was working on the tree I cut squares of velcro and stuck them to the paint chips. 

there is a little punch out on the paint chips, placing
the velcro over it keeps it in place. 

our tree full of  leaves

The kids have a lot of fun just pulling off and putting on the leaves. I wanted to capitalize on their excitement so I made up a few learning games.

1- Each player chooses a color and hangs up fifteen of that color's leaves. The players then take turns rolling a dice to see how many leaves they can take down. The player to remove all their leaves first wins.  
2- I stenciled lower case letters on some of the leaves. Depending on the child, I either call out a letter name or say a word and then they identify it's first letter on the leaf. 

3- This game is only for Big Buddy. I wrote number words on some leaves and he finds the one that matches the numeral, or set of objects, I show him. 


We've had our tree up for about a week now and the kids play with it everyday. I'm really pleased with how well it turned out - Husbandie made it much prettier than the picture I originally had in my head. They only thing I would do differently is have him make some of the branches a little thicker; a bunch of leaves can weigh the thin ones down, or the velcro can pull them off the wall so they need to be re-taped. It's a small thing but something I thought I'd share in case you decide to make your own. 

sometimes falling leaves result in giggles

Comments

  1. This is a GREAT idea!! I love how your crafty eye allowed you to make these leaves out of paint samples. How old are your kids?

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  2. That is a beautiful tree! I love how it goes around the word "home."
    And I love how the paint chips were used! (I always love looking at the paint chips and thinking of what I could do with them.....)

    Stopping in from Homeschool Creations.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a pretty decoration and fun that it is interactive for the kids. Would be fun to change the leaves with the seasons, too!

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  4. That looks lovely on your wall. Love how your using it to decorate and to help teach your children.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love this!! Such a creative and fun idea... my kids would absolutely love it!

    I just popped over from preschool corner and have been looking around for at least half an hour. So glad I found your blog, I'm your newest follower. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ooooh what a beautiful tree!! I love that it is not only a work of art, but how you turned it into an educational activity as well. So so creative!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I noticed the unique shape of those paint chips too! What an awesome way to put them to use! I have trouble grabbing a bunch of paint chips from a store. I will do it if I have a project in mind, but something about it feels so sneaky. I love that your husband helps you with these creative adventures! The tree really looks great!

    ReplyDelete

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