Family Tree: A Paper Craft for Kids

Hello!

I have a kid's craft to share today! Ben and I had some fun with construction paper and family photos the other day and made a "family tree".


The idea for this project came from this book of crafts from the 70's that my mom gave me a while back. It's in French, titled "What Should We Do Today?", and full of cheesy crafts involving inappropriate items like thumbtacks, matches, pins, etc. There's a full-size wooden bow and arrow project in there, I kid you not. It's funny, however, to see how repurposing- and recycling-friendly all the projects are.


Ever since my mom sent me this book, Ben has been obsessed with it (which is funny because I remember being obsessed with it as a child too!). I always find this book on his messy desk or on the couch with him while he's watching morning cartoons. I hear, "Mommy, can we make this craft?" over and over again, and usually before I've even had my morning coffee. Sigh.


On a rainy morning the other day (I believe this is the morning he barged into the bathroom while I was in the shower, book in hand, asking "Mommy, can we make this craft?"), we decided to tackle the family tree.

The project in the book is pretty large and supposed to be covered in tin foil. (Really?) I only had 8 x 10-inch sheets of hard cardboard, so I decided we'd make our own tree on a smaller scale. I drew my own version and cut it out for Ben and he went to work with his paints.




He painted both sides of the tree and stand. While that was drying, I cut out leaves from the construction paper (about a dozen) and he selected some photos from a whole bunch I let him browse through. It was great fun to discuss who belonged to our family, how we were all related, etc. Kids are funny. We HAD to find a picture of Cali the cat.




For each photo, we used the leaf cut-out to determine whether the face would fit on our leaves. I drew a square around the face and let Ben cut it (or tear it). I then "refined" the square into a circle.



We glued our photos onto leaves, then glued the leaves onto the tree. We made sure to add a smiling photo of Ben at the root of the tree.


Voila! (And yes, that's Cali on the left!)


It was a fun project and the result is lovely enough to stay on Ben's bookshelf for some time. I think he loves seeing his cousins, grandmas, uncles and aunts every day as he goes to bed.

Here's a free PDF template (my very unpolished drawing!) for you to print if you'd like to make it too!

Family tree crafts are all over the internet. I especially love the fabric ones and would love to make one someday. Have you made a family tree with or for your kids before? Tell me all about it!


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Jenny this is so awesome! That book is SO 70s, the cover is cracking me up. Ben did a great job on it, it looks like he had so much fun. (Have you sprung for that poor kid's first set of markers yet?)