Wall Tree Decor for Classroom
This activity works well with these resources:
-
Apple Send Home Centers
$5.00
-
Easy Apple Centers
$3.00
-
Johnny Appleseed Interactive Book with Craft Cover
$5.00
Back to School Apple Tree Decoration
We recently had a fun contest at my son's school that included decorating the classroom door for the teachers. My son is a Kindergartener and I was in charge of decorating the door with my fellow room-mom. We did an apple tree theme and it turned out so cute that I'm sharing it with you too!
While this decoration was created for outside the classroom door, it would make a fun back-to-school decoration inside the classroom too. Each apple on the tree has the name of a student in the class (which I've edited out of my photos) and the kids love finding their apple in the tree. Our classroom door was fun to create but it wasn't the only creative door in the hallway. Other doors in the school featured themes too. I loved one across the hall that had photos of all the kids in the class with a snorkel, and the rest of the door was decorated as a beach. I could see cutting fish out instead of using photos and writing the kid's names on the fish for them to find and take back to their desks.
Supplies for Making the Apple Tree Classroom Decoration
- 2 Paper Grocery Bags
- Red, Brown, and Green Construction Paper
- Printable Apple Template
- Printable Basket Template
- Black Marker
The supplies above are the basics for what we used on the Kindergarten class's door. I searched the internet to find a cute owl for the tree and added text to a stock image of a sign. You can add your own personal details or leave it with just the supplies above and it'll be just as cute.
Directions
- Cut the sides of the paper bags off leaving the front, back, and bottom of the bag intact. Repeat with the second bag. Set the sides of the bags aside for later.
- Unfold the paper bags so that they each form a column. Gather the bags from the sides in your hand and squeeze to crinkle the paper. Once your flatten the bags they should look like the image below.
- Use the black marker to make wavy lines along the trunk to look like tree bark. Add a few wavy pieces of brown construction paper to complete the look. Trim the tree trunk's side to make it taper towards the top.
- Using the sides of the bags that you previously set aside, cut branches lengthwise with two or three forks on each end. Branches look best if they taper towards the ends. Cut as many branches as you need to fill out the top of the tree.
- Cut large leaves from the green construction paper.
- Using the apple template here, print apples on red paper. Add a child's name to each apple and cut the apples out. If the kids will be bringing their apples to their desks this would be a good time to laminate the apples.
- Cut clouds for the sky from the white paper and grass for the bottom from green paper.
- If you'll be adding apples to baskets print the baskets using the template here on brown paper.
Assembling the Apple Tree
- Start by gluing the tree trunk pieces together and the branches to the top of the tree. Let the glue dry.
- Using tape, secure the tree to the wall or door. Add leaves to the branches and fill in any open spaces in the top of the tree.
- Attach the apples to the tree branches and leaves.
If you're using the baskets to hold apples cut along the inside line on the basket and tape the apples partway under the paper to make it look more realistic.
How did your apple tree turn out? I'm sure the kids are going to be super excited to find it on the classroom wall!
Source: https://www.simplykinder.com/apple-tree-classroom-decoration/