Thursday, May 5, 2022

Treehouse Project

Today I'm resharing one of my favorite posts EVER because #MAY ;) hahaha  This little craft project we did last year turned out so cute and ended up being such an accurate depiction of each of my kids personalities.  I was even able to convince Luke to hang with us and incorporated some writing which is always a plus.   Pin and/or bookmark this for a summer activity!

 Treehouses have been a hot topic of conversation at my house for a while now - planning, dreaming, designing, etc.  Both my boys have read the  13-story Treehouse series and Griffin is getting into  Magic Treehouse which has just made them all the more into treehouses in general.  When I came across  this project idea I knew my kids would LOVE it!




We started by painting the grass and sky - we used  12x12 watercolor paper and a  liquid watercolor set and focused on making larger areas or stripes of color and then blending with water.  I made one to show Griffin and Mason and then they ran with the idea and made a galaxy background and sunset :)



We use  THESE TRAYS constantly - as placemats, art trays, etc.  They're $14 for a set of 4 and while they're not sturdy enough to carry things on they keep the mess contained which is perfect for us!


While we waited for those to dry they drew and cut out their tree from a paper bag.  There really isn't a wrong way - we just focused on making one larger/flatter branch to hold their treehouse.  If your kiddo is struggling there's a step by step tutorial on the original project page  here.




They added some texture to their trees by crumpling, using watercolors, markers, blotting, etc. and then started on their treehouses.



I don't have many photos of the next phase but it involved coloring their houses, cutting them out, cutting out and placing leaves and then adding details.


This was after we'd cleaned up about halfway :) hahahah  The best projects are messy, right???


Luke generally opts out of art projects but after I painted a background I asked if he wanted to draw a treehouse and he changed his mind :) One of my favorite things about open-ended projects like this is how much they reflect each kids personality.  Luke is "by the book" in everything.... realistic treehouse/colors, perfect leaf placement, etc...


Griffin LOVES detail and always brings that to her art projects.  I feel like hers always have a joyful tone and revolve around the people/creatures in her pictures.  Also, she totally models her art after my drawings and doodles right down to the flower planters ;)  






And Masons.... well... it's pretty much always the opposite of Luke's "by the book" art :)  He chose to do a UFO crashing into a "fall tree" and then added meteor fires to the grass because of course.  His background had a layer of glitter glue to add to the galaxy feel and he's already brainstorming the next one he wants to make.



I think I'm going to add these to the frames in our play room upstairs and will keep you posted on how they look.  My kids ran with this project and did them from start to finish in one afternoon but if your kids are younger or just not into multi-step projects that may take a big chunk of time you could easily paint the background and tree paper on one day, cut out the tree and draw the treehouse on another and then assemble everything and add details on a third.  


The day after we did the art I asked them each to write something about their treehouse.  It was super open-ended... write a journal like you're the treehouse builder, write about your ultimate treehouse, tell the story of the people who live in the treehouse, etc.  Writing is something that is a STRUGGLE when we get back to school so one of my goals this summer is to keep them writing so when we go back it's not quite the shock it has been in the past.

Their writing cracked me up because just like their art it was VERY much each of them.  Luke detailed what would be in his ultimate treehouse, Griffin talked about the family that was living in her treehouse and Mason wrote from the perspective of the squirrel living in the tree that the UFO crashed into ;)

I took each of their writing papers and glued it to the back of the art (I watered the glue down just a bit) and I think it'll be a fun thing to look back on.


I put their art in the frames in the playroom and love them so much!



Here's hoping that you found some inspiration in today's post!  HAPPY Tuesday, friends!!!

PS - this post contained affiliate inks... thanks so much for reading and supporting my blog

2 comments :

  1. All of your kids are so creative! Masons art always makes me smile, it is just so good. I wouldn't be surprised,at all, if he is a very famous illustrator some day.

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  2. I love to read about these fun projects you do with your kiddos, and how much you seem to enjoy them as well! I have a 3.5 year old and one on the way, and we're not quite at the point where projects are stress-free and fun for Mama😂. But posts like this give me hope and something to look forward to!

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