I'm linking up with Denise from #teachermom for her fall blog hop.
The kids are finally getting into their routine, now it's time to have some fun! One of my favorite fall activities is my apple tree paintings:
This is a great activity for following oral directions, and makes a beautiful fall bulletin board display. I've done this activity with 1st-3rd graders, and I'm trying to come up with a way to make it challenging enough for my 5th graders this year. The picture above was completed by a 1st-grader.
Here are the steps:
1. Fold the paper in half, and in half again to make fourths.
2. Paint a tree trunk in each fourth.
3. In the 1st fourth, paint bare branches.
4. In the 2nd fourth, use a sponge brush (I make them by cutting a sponge into strips, folding each strip in half, and clipping it in a clothes pin), to sponge (not wipe) pink "blossoms".
5. In the 3rd fourth, repeat the sponge brush procedure to make green "leaves".
6. In the last fourth, repeat the sponge brush procedure to make yellow-orange "leaves"; then use the eraser end of a pencil to make the red "apples".
That's it! Simple and beautiful. It is a great addition to my apple unit:
Go on back to #teachermom by clicking on the link at the top of the page to check out more great fall ideas!
This is adorable! One way you might make it more difficult for your 5th graders is by turning it into an instrutional writing activity! We did this with PB&J sandwiches with my 5th graders one year! You could model how to do the painting (or just show them the final project) and then have them write a very detailed "how to." Then have fun as a class following some of their instructions. With PB & J, for example, if they said, "put the bread on the plate" I would just put the whole loaf of bread, still in the bag, on the plate. If they said, "spread the jelly on the bread" without specifying to dip a spoon into the jar, etc. I would just just rub the whole jar of jelly on a piece of bread. :) The kids got a HUGE KICK out of it and it helped them realize the importance of details!
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