Toddler Art — Autumn Tree Painting

Clara and I worked on this simple Autumn painting project together this afternoon, and I think it is one of my all-time favorites! I was so pleased with how well it turned out, and IΒ wish you could have been here to see the look of pure joy on her face when she spotted the paints on the table!!

I drew the trunk of the tree using markers, and set out some washable paints and corks for Clara to stamp the leaves. A little masking tape helped keep everything in place, and she had SO much fun!

Ooooooo……Red paint too? This is awesome!

A little two-handed stamping action going on… fun!!

Did you know that this little one loves to sing while she paints? Oh yes.

I think combined with Emily’s Winter Tree Silhouette, we’re on our way to making some fabulous calendar prints, don’t you?

Have fun!!

Comments

  1. Dear Valerie,

    Ummm… how did we end up with so many corks? O:-)

    Love,
    Mark

  2. This turned out fabulous! I wish we drank wine so I could get some corks πŸ˜‰

  3. Great idea!

  4. So pretty! We’ll have to try this. We used corks to stamp a pumpkin patch last week.

  5. Mark,
    I only have two corks. Maybe I need to invite you and Valerie to my house to drink some of our wine!!!
    Christy

    • Only 2 corks?? We can’t have that, now can we? The children’s art supplies are at stake, for goodness sake!! πŸ˜‰

  6. Cute! This works great with small chunks of bread instead of corks, too.

  7. Hmmm- I do believe we would have make our tree leaves with Sparkling Cider Lids…it’s our “wine” of choice! ;0)

  8. It’s gorgeous. Thanks so much for sharing your projects with the world πŸ™‚

    P.S. We have neither corks, nor wine…we may have to try the bread idea.

  9. It’s beautiful! As is Clara – so nice to see her grow from a baby to a little girl. I think my son would probably stamp 5 times and say it was all done; I am impressed your girls stay with the art long enough to make such a beautiful end product.

    • Thanks so much, Lynn! She absolutely loves to paint, but I think she really gets into the projects if I can sit down at the table and paint with her (which I almost always do, because I can’t help myself)! It’s so much fun!! πŸ™‚

  10. Back when I was teaching, the teacher before me left a big HUGE bag of corks in the room. I so took those home when I quite teaching.

    I mean really, who wouldn’t want to keep that?

    That, did however beg the question, did teaching drive her to drink?

  11. I’m sure fishing cork would work, too πŸ™‚ The tree turned out great. It’s always fun to find projects for small hands, that still look good around the house!

    • Great idea!!! There’s really no wrong way to do this project — those are some of my favorite kinds of crafts. Have fun!

  12. What an awesome tree!
    Great idea too, I just bought a box of dot-a-dot markers for the same purpose, but I’m totally taking them back now πŸ™‚

  13. Very fun! I’m impressed she only stamped on the paper!

    • Me too!!! She must be getting the hang of all this painting, I guess. πŸ™‚ But I had some freezer paper on the table — just in case! πŸ˜‰

  14. That is cute! We need some corks!

  15. Alexa Ogno says

    You could always ask for corks (or bottle caps, etc) at a restaurant or bar. Just think how many art supplies those places throw out on a good night.

  16. Love it! Corks and all ~ bright and beautiful ~ frugal {unless you count the cost of the corks!} and fun!

  17. Looks beautiful !! Have to go cork hunting now lol πŸ™‚
    Heres our autumn tree printing..
    http://puttiprapancha.blogspot.com/2010/10/blow-paint-trees.html

  18. Oh, now you’re talking! This is a craft I can totally relate to. A little somethin’ for me and a little somethin’ for the kids! Love the cork stamps!

  19. Simply amazing… , what a great fun !!! Love it

    -Smita
    littlefoodjunction.blogspot.com
    (fun food ideas for kids )

  20. LOVE the end result! It turned out beautifully!! My daughter loves to stamp with corks too…I think it has something to do with the way it feels in their hand! It’s just the right size.

    • We’ve done lots of stamping projects with corks before, but I love how open-ended this particular project was. It’s SO much fun!! Enjoy!!!! πŸ™‚

  21. beautiful!

  22. awwww look at how grown up she’ looks. What a fun project for her and looks great on the wall too. Where on earth do you store so many crafts?

    • I can’t believe how fast she’s growing! I don’t really store very many of them, although there are several projects on display in frames around the house. Mostly, we just save the photos of them — which I really treasure because I can see the looks on their faces while they’re doing the projects!! Great question!

  23. I never would’ve thought of using corks, or saving them for calendar prints! Brilliant!

    • Oh, yes, seasonal art like this is perfect for a calendar! Have fun crafting with the kiddos!! xoxo

  24. Valerie,

    Big fan! Two important questions –

    First, how do you store all your art/craft items, tools, etc? Any good suggestions?

    Also, do you have an actual draft budget you could post as resource for us other wanna-be frugal families?

    Thank you!

  25. Carrots work great for circle stamping (and for non-drinkers like me).

  26. What a beautiful tree – I love the fact that Clara sings while painting.

    • It is the sweetest thing — one of these days I’ll video tape it. She really gets into painting! πŸ™‚

  27. She is an awesome job, it came out great!

  28. Am wanting to do this project, but need to do it with multiple kids…so I am wondering how you did the tree trunk part-and if you have a template for it. Or if you found it somewhere? I am not very artistic. πŸ™‚

    Thanks!

  29. Wonderful! I love it!

  30. I set this up for my daughter after nap and it was a lot of fun. Next she wants to do an apple tree using the red paint and cork top. πŸ™‚

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  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Early Childhood, Valerie. Valerie said: New Post ~ Toddler Art β€” Autumn Tree Painting: Clara and I worked on this simple Autumn painting project together … http://bit.ly/92LbVB […]

  2. […] Valerie at Frugal Family Fun Blog posted a painting project for preschoolers […]

  3. […] be really seen in the photo, I love his color choices too The dots are made with wine corks -lovely idea from ever creative Valerie at Frugal Family Fun […]