I knew when I saw this that I wanted to do one with my boys!
And since they hate to get messy it was a real struggle to convince them to dip their fingers in paint.
Right…
First I sketched out a tree.
I just did a google search for tree sketches to be inspired in the design, you could copy one or even find a coloring page to use.
I tried to not put too much work into this sketch since I knew that the boys might decided to ruin it and smear the whole thing with paint.
I used acrylic paint for the “leaves” but you could use an ink pad.
I used one color of green acrylic and then just added a little bit of white, yellow and “gasp” black(my art teacher would not be happy with me) to get the different shades.
I had the boys each do a side of the tree so as to keep the process peaceful.
Not that my boys would ever fight over something like painting…
They are practically perfect in every way.
I love works of fiction, don’t you?
I then had them use toothpicks to add grass, I thought it needed something on the bottom but you would not have to do this.
I like toothpicks because it is hard to go crazy with them, you only can do a little bit of paint at a time.
My oldest loved mixing the colors the most.
Done!
I can’t wait to hang it in my livingroom!
After a lot of trial and error I finally got the frosting to a workable consistency and let the boys have at it.
I decided right away I wanted them to do as much as possible, even if it cost me the “perfect” gingerbread house.
Don’t worry people, they had plenty of the leftover construction materials to eat.
My oldest’s question as soon as we were done?
Here is one finished!
This is our handy Atlas that we have used for years. I told my husband that if we moved to a different state it would be perfect.
The two finished map banks!