This craft is intended for school age children, who can think of family members with help from parents. In this activity, your child will practice fine motor skills, while learning about “generations” and creating their very own family tree. Children will use their hands, plus other art materials, to create a tree of their choice to represent their “family tree”. An added bonus to this activity is the opportunity to talk about fun family memories and traditions with your child!
Supplies:
Construction paper
Markers
Stamp pad (if you don't have, learn how to make your own here)
Fingers!
Activity Steps:
Step 1:
First, remember to set up your workspace!
Find a clean, smooth surface to put your paper on.
Set out your supplies!
Remember to have a wipe or wet cloth for you or your child to wipe off your fingers in between stamps!
Step 2: Next, draw whatever kind of tree you’d like on your piece of paper. Remember to add a trunk, branches, and space to add leaves. The example shows two types of trees you can look at, or use your creativity to draw a tree you have seen outside before. Remember to leave plenty of room for the leaves representing your family members!
For the next step, you may want to get a wet cloth or paper towel to wipe off your finger/thumb as you change colors of leaves!
Step 3: Next, after your tree is drawn, put your finger/thumb on the stamp pad.
If you don’t have stamp pads, be sure to check out the activity for DIY stamp pads here!
This will make a fingerprint stamp on your finger! Place your finger on different parts of the tree, creating leaves. Notice the texture of the leaves!
Be creative! It could be autumn, where leaves could be on the ground, not just the trees. There can also be any color leaves you’d like.
Step 4: Last, think of your family members' names. When you think about your family, consider the generations of family members you know. A generation is a group of people living in the same period of time. So, you, your siblings, and your cousins are the youngest generation in your family. Your mom, dad, aunts and uncles are the next generation, and your grandparents are the oldest generation.
So, as you begin writing names on leaves, see if you can separate your tree by generations! You will be at the bottom, and work your way up to the top of the tree where the oldest members of your family are.
Use this time to talk about family members the child may not have met, or other fun family stories the child might not know. This can encourage you to talk about your childhood and how it relates to your child’s life.