Celebrating Arbor Day

 

We wrapped up our ‘Earth week’ by celebrating Arbor Day today! How perfect did that work out for us?! We had an eventful day exploring different kinds of trees and how they grow. We began the day at Terhune Orchards; it’s one of my favorite places to take the kids. There are so many learning opportunities, outside play and kid’s activities there. They often have a children’s program where they discuss a topic, read a story and pick some vegetables or fruit! Today they had a special Arbor Day program where they talked about trees, read a book to the kids and gave each family a baby tree to take home and plant! Because we have been talking about gardening and planting

We decided to do some tree-themed art when we got home. Although paint brushes are a vital part of our art supply storage we often like to see what else we can use to paint with. Some of our favorites are painting with vegetables, but today we decided we would make a tree paintbrush! For more Arbor Day activity ideas check out Living Montessori Now, they have a great post with a variety of fantastic ideas and projects that kids would just love! 

Mack enjoyed hunting for a sturdy stick and trimming one of our trees for the bristles. 

I like to do resist painting with young kids because they always turn out cute and the kids love the ‘magic’ of it. Mack is also a fan of doing anything with tape so it’s a perfect project for him! I just told him to put the strips of painter’s tape on the paper to look like trees, he did a great job! 

The tree trimmings made great brushes! They left such a nice print on the paper and were very easy to use! 

Once the paint dried, we removed the tape and had some beautiful trees! While I encouraged Mack to use green he insisted that his trees are brown…I chose not to disturb the creative process 🙂 

We did a little digging in the dirt and discussed seeds while waiting for our artwork to dry. It kind of turned into a gross motor activity…Mack decided to be an evergreen seed and plant himself…which put bath time next on our list! 

After a day full of activity we cuddled up on the couch and read My Garden and The Giving Tree. Two great books to end our Earth Week with :). And I love any opportunity to snuggle up with my boy.

What a great day!