Suggested Family Activity 🌳Tree Craft

Published by Library Staff on November 3, 2025November 3, 2025

Look around your kitchen this week and see what interesting things you can use to make a fall tree. One idea is to draw a tree trunk on a piece of paper and glue small round breakfast cereal pieces (such as Cheerios) to represent falling leaves. Another fun idea is to trace your child’s arm and hand with their fingers spread out onto black or brown paper to be the trunk and limbs of the tree. If you only have white paper available though, no worries! Just trace it and have your kids color the tree trunk.

You can make falling leaves for your tree by tearing up small pieces of tissue paper, crepe paper, or even regular paper in fall colors such as yellow, red, and orange. Crumple and scrunch each piece to make it look like a falling leaf.

This craft uses simple paper techniques to create a vibrant, textured autumn tree.

Materials You’ll Need:

Brown construction paper (for the tree trunk)
Red, orange, and yellow construction paper or craft paper (for the leaves)
Scissors
Glue stick or school glue
Pencil

Instructions:

Create the Tree Trunk:
- On a piece of brown construction paper, draw a tree trunk with several branches extending upwards. You can make it as simple or as detailed as you like.
- Carefully cut out your tree trunk shape.
- Glue the tree trunk onto a background piece of paper (white or a light color works well to make the autumn colors pop).
Prepare the Paper Strips for Volume Leaves:
- Take your red, orange, and yellow paper.
- Cut the paper into long, thin strips, about 1/2 inch to 1 inch wide and varying lengths (4-8 inches is a good range).
- Take each strip and gently curl it into a loop or an oval shape, securing the ends together with a small dot of glue. You want to create many of these “paper coils.”
Assemble the Volume Leaves on the Tree:
- Begin gluing your paper coils onto the branches and top of your tree trunk, overlapping them to create a full, bushy crown. Mix the colors (red, orange, yellow) to get a beautiful autumn effect.
- Continue adding paper coils until the tree’s canopy looks rich and full.