Your child can celebrate autumn by creating their very own beautifully decorated tree cone, covered with bright leaves celebrating the season. These easy-to-make trees are created with a toilet paper roll, construction paper and foam. They make great place settings for parties or great decorations as a small sculpture to put on a window ledge.
What You Need:
- Toilet paper roll
- Brown, orange, red and yellow construction paper 8.5” x 11”
- Scissors
- Brown foam 4” x 4”
- White glue
- Brown tempera paint
- Paintbrush
- Small salad plate for tracing
- Pencil
- Stapler
What You Do:
- Trace a salad plate on brown paper with a pencil and cut the circle out of the paper.
- Roll the brown paper into a cone shape and staple it into place. If your cone has excess paper on the edge, carefully trim it down so the edge is even all the way around.
- Paint the toilet paper roll brown with tempera paint. Put it aside and allow it to dry.
- Cut out long ovals from the red, yellow and orange construction papers. Fold them in half lengthwise and unfold them so they are gently bending.
- Glue the spine, or bent portion of the back of each leaf to the brown cone, covering your tree with autumn leaves.
- Place the brown square of foam in front of you. Carefully put glue on the bottom of the toilet paper roll and place the roll in the center of the foam, creating a base.
- Glue the top edge of the toilet paper roll and gently place the cone with leaves on top of the paper roll. Make sure the staples are toward the back of the tree.
- Cut more tiny leaves out of the colored paper and scatter them on the foam base. Make sure to fold them lengthwise so they appear to have fallen from the tree.
Place your tree in a window sill or at a table to decorate and celebrate autumn!
By Ellen Dean
Ellen Dean has worked as an art educator in Thailand since 2005, working with both children and adults. She has also been a professional artist working in painting, sculpture and photography since 1996.
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