Create your own forest with these Hand Trees.
They're simple to create & are ideal for exploring the changing seasons.
To make our Hand Trees we used thick card from some recycled packaging & Minnie drew around her hands & arms to create the shape below. (Initially we tried using corrugated card from a cardboard box but found it was less sturdy when the tree was complete.) After we had cut both the hand shapes out I cut a slot in the middle of each, one at the top of one hand, & one at the bottom of the other.
Minnie then painted both the cutouts brown, & once dry she painted the reverse side the same colour. When these were dry the hand shapes were slotted together to form the tree shape.
Ta'da! One tree ready to explore!
Minnie loves watching the changing seasons, & as we're in Autumn with all the beautiful colourful leaves we thought we'd create a few for our tree!
Using more of the recycled card we cut out some basic leaf shapes. I cut a triangular shape at the base of each leaf so the leaves could be slotted on to the branches (fingers) of the tree!
Minnie selected & mixed the paint colours for her leaves & painted each one, again painting the reverse when the other side was dry. I love the colours that this time of year brings, & it was great to hear Minnie referring to the leaves she had seen/collected on recent nature walks.
Once dry Minnie slotted the leaves onto the branches & our autumn tree was ready!
She soon had the autumn leaves falling from the tree, explaining; "that's what is happening to the trees outside."
Minnie was keen explore the other seasons with the hand trees so we added a few more seasonal accessories.
To create a Spring Tree we added blossom (using small sections of scrunched up pink tissue paper) & green leaves (made in the same way as before)
To create a Summer Tree we added lots of green leaves
