Thankful Tree… Fall Craft

Make this Thankful Tree with a Foam Sheet, Leaves, Acorns, a few letters, and electrical tape.  Yep, that’s right… electrical tape works perfect for the tree branches!  Embellish leaves with craft buttons and markers.  Use Glue Dots and there is no drying time.  Scissors are only needed to trim the electrical tape.  Punch a few holes at the top of the foam, attach Natural Twine, and hang!  Oh, and don’t forgot to have kids write the words they are thankful for on all the leaves!  This is a great fall craft for Sunday School, an Elementary Classroom, & even Preschoolers.

Supplies Needed:

• 6mm Foam Sheets
• Foam Maple Leaf Shapes
• Foam Acorn Shapes
• Foam Letters
• Assorted Craft Buttons
• Natural Twine
• Glue Dots
• Electrical Tape
• Sharpie Markers
• Scissors

Directions for Making Thankful Trees…

1)  Place a 6mm Foam 9×12″ Sheet on the table or work space.  A 6mm Foam Sheet is about 1/4″ thick and will create a sturdy frame for the thankful tree.  To save money you could use a 2mm thick foam sheet.  However, it will be flexible and won’t make as strong of a frame.  Having said all that, attach about an 8 1/4″ piece of electrical tape in the center of the foam sheet (flush with the bottom of the sheet).  This will be the trunk of the tree.

2)  Next, make the branches with electrical tape.  We did 5 branches in different lengths varying from 2 1/2 – 4″.

3)  Before attaching the Foam Maple Leaves to the branches, attach the letters to the top of the sheet.  Foam Letters attaching easily with Glue Dots or Mini Glue Dots.  Simply add Glue Dot to foam letter and stick to sheet.  There is no drying time needed.

4)  Next, using Glue Dots attach Foam Maple Leaves to each of the branches, including the top of the trunk.  You will need a total of 6 leaves.

5)  Simply for fun, we added a craft button to each leaf.  This can also be done with Glue Dots too!  Then attach a few acorns (3) where the branches attach to the tree trunk.

6)  Time to write thankful words on the leaves and decorate with markers!  Using matching markers, we recommend Sharpies, outline the leaves, foam sheet, etc with dots or lines.  Kids will love this part!  When outlines, the foam looks stitched like felt.  Experiment with dots, lines, and placing them on the outside edge or framing in the shape…

7)  For a great Fall Craft that you can hang, simply open up a jumbo paperclip and make two holes at the top of the sheet.  The 6mm Foam Sheet will punch easily this way and is too thick to punch with a standard hole punch.  To make the hole a little larger, move the paperclip from side to side and around once it is poked through the foam.

8)  Now thread the tip of a 15″ piece of Natural Twine, Raffia, or Ribbon through the top left hole using the jumbo paperclip.  Repeat this on the right side.  Then tie off each piece on the back side of the foam.

9)  Finished! It’s light weight and can hang from a hook or suction cup.

Suggestions for doing this craft with younger children:

• If doing this fall craft with younger kids, attach the electrical tape and twine prior to giving to the kids.
• Write kids name on the lower left corner and the date on the lower right side of foam sheet.
• Have kids decorate leaves prior to attaching to the foam sheet.  This way they won’t accidentally get marker on the foam sheet (background).

• Use a different color of electrical tape instead of black (Brown, Green, etc).  However, black is usually the least expensive…
• Change the background color by using a different color Foam 6mm Sheet.
• Cut a 9×12″ in half with scissors and make thankful tree magnets instead of hanging thankful trees.  Attach 1″ Adhesive Craft Magnets in each of the 4 corners.
• Spell a different word at the top of the foam sheet.  We used FALL, however, you can spell THANKFUL, THANKS, GIVE THANKS, etc.

This craft was inspired by many trips to the hardware store with my boy… 🙂   Who knew electrical tape would make such a great craft???