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Family Tree Project
Note: For a PDF version of this project suitable for
printing,click here.
Overview: This project opens a conversation between caregiver
and child about family connections and the uniqueness of individual
relatives. In addition to seeing the connections of family members
to the child through the creation of a simple family tree, the
child learns about what makes their family unique by recording one
unique detail about each chosen family member.
Supplies:
1. 2- 12x12 white or ivory cardstock, additional 12x12 cardstock
in colors of your choice.
2. 2- 8.5x11, lightweight, white cardstock
3. Brown and Green crayons
4. Green and Brown paint or yellow, blue, black and white paint
to mix for various shades of green
5. Paintbrushes
6. Plastic plates to use as a paint palette
7. Scissors/child-safety scissors
8. Glue stick
9. Circle sponge tool or stencil sponge tool
10. Brown thick marker
11. Leaf and/or apple paper punches-optional, green cardstock in
various shades
12. Printer
The Steps:(Older children can complete most steps.)
1. Gather and scan photos of mom, dad, grandparents and
great-grandparents. Always use copies of original photos in
scrapbooking projects.
2. Print family tree PDF and details PDFon two sheets of 8.5x11
cardstock. More than one copy of details PDF can be made to
accommodate more relatives you may like to include in your
scrapbook. Depending on your printer, you may have to adjust
printer settings to landscape and scale down to fit media.
3. Draw simple tree shape with brown and green crayons to fill
most of the 12x12 cardstock. If child is of young age, use jumbo
crayons so lines and curves are thick. If child is older, he/she
can draw the tree.
4. Assist younger child to mix yellow and blue paints to make
green. In two/three puddles, add black paint to mix darker shades
of green or white paint to lighten. This step is an opportunity to
teach young children about primary and secondary colors. Or, you
can just use ready-made green paints.
5. Child is now ready to paint in tree with brown and a light
shade of green. Don't drench paper with paint or paper will
warp.
6. While your tree dries, assist child to fill in the family
tree and details with parent names, grandparents, etc. While
filling in the details, you can tell stories about your parents and
grandparents and choose one telling detail to write down.
7. Cut and adhere photos to details rectangles.
8. When tree is dry, dip circle sponge in green paint and
imprint within the tree shape. This is a great step for the kids to
complete. Sponge one color at a time, over-lapping dots. Dry
between colors so colors don't turn muddy. Allow entire tree to
dry.
9. Cut out rectangles from PDF and place on tree in correct
positions. When you like how the structure is set up, adhere with
glue stick.
10. Teach child how to draw lines to connect family member to
family member with brown marker. You can draw lines to resemble
tree branches.
11. If you own a leaf punch and apple punch, your child can
punch out leaves from various shades of green cardstock and glue
them on the tree in a random fashion.
12. Use letter stickers to spell out My Family Tree.
13. Adhere details to cardstock of your choice.
14. Personalize the details page with a border of your choice.
We used leftover strips of the punched leaves are used on the page
as a border. Child can glue buttons, draw leaves or even create a
simple border with a glitter glue pen. Adhere letter stickers to
spell out About my (family members of your choice). We chose to
elaborate on Joseph's grandparents.