Make a Cherry Tree Friendship Grove

Spring means trees clothed in white, pink, and purple blossoms and splashes of color from flowering plants. Our free activity this week focuses on the famous Japanese cherry trees in Washington, D. C. Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox and share the story of these special friendship trees with your class. Then make a grove of your own trees.

First use an old paper bag. Simply cut the edges as shown below. 

Then twist the bottom to make a tree trunk. Are you noticing how helpful this project is for developing fine motor skills? Have children twist each "branch" of the tree. This further adds to school readiness by developing fine motor muscles and by encouraging children to persevere with a project. 

Once each child's tree is ready, stand it up to admire. Ask children what this spring tree might be missing. 

The tree is not blossoming yet! Give each child a few Q-Tips. Let them paint the blooms using this unique tool. It will give them another way to exercise those fine motor muscles. 

This takes determination, too. What a good attitude to encourage for school-readiness! Finally, the tree is resplendent with flowers on every branch! Put the trees together to make a friendship grove of cherry trees.

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.C.03, 2.J.01 & 2.J.06.
Head Start - I.D. 1,2, & 4, III.C. 1, 2, & 3.