Cooking, Baking and Crafting for busy schedules
One of the things I miss most about teaching…. adorning my classroom! Seeing all of my mom’s adorable monkey decorations when I went to see her classroom last week made me very happy. My oldest daughter is starting kindergarten this year, and I want to do everything I can to support her teacher! I had so much fun playing on her Smartboard and even teaching her a few tricks! This year, her teacher has decided on a Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom theme. What could be more fitting for her classroom than a few palm trees? Her kind teacher shared a link to a palm tree constructed from a pool noodle, so I got to work creating a few for her! It was a really simple project that was a lot of fun! Here’s how to make your own palm trees.
You will need:
- pool noodles
- brown paper lunch sacks (about 100)
- brown spray paint
- green tissue paper
- 16 gauge floral wire (I purchased a bundle of lengthy wires that were pre-cut). ).
- hot glue
- duct tape
Directions:
- First I cut a pool noodle in half with scissors. I taped half of the noodle to another whole noodle using duct tape.
- Cut the bottoms off of the paper bags.
- After slid onto the pool noodle, scrunch the paper bags together. Tape the bag’s top and bottom in place.
- Spray paint the palm trunks brown.
- Take one piece of tissue paper and lay it flat to create the palm fronds. Apply glue in the middle of the paper in a line. Place the piece of floral wire onto the glue line.
- Place another sheet of tissue paper on top of the wire after applying another line of glue.
- Now fold the tissue paper in half lengthwise. Cut the edge in a circle shape as shown below.
- Cut about one inch strips almost to the center wire.
- Simply insert the wire into the pool noodle to attach the palm fronds to the trunk.
And now you have a cute palm tree decoration. Since the palm won’t stand by itself, fishing line will probably need to be used to hang it from the ceiling!
*Click here for the original source for this idea!
Jodi is a mother of three who stays at home and holds a degree in education. She has applied her background as a teacher, youth worker, camp counselor, and private tutor to her experiences as a parent. Her parenting style and philosophy are influenced by her classes in psychology, art, teaching children, parenting, and marriage. She is a constant student of this thing called motherhood. Her passions for Jesus, motherhood, entertaining, creativity, and the culinary arts are all embraced in Meaningful Mama.
Parenting is not easy, but it is so important. My goal is to help inspire and equip parents in a more intentional, creative and enjoyable parenting experience.
Since this tree only lasted a week before it completely drooped, I would look for better ways to strengthen it.
I attempted to create leaves using green duct tape, but they were excessively bulky. I therefore simply cut out a bunch of leaves from paper. To make them a little bit stronger, I would fold the floral wire over several times and tape it to the leaf. Next, I would attach the floral wire, or leaf “stem,” to the branch using brown duct tape. Once more, I should have taken a photo, but please let me know if you would like me to go into further detail. The leaves on floral wire allowed for stability and the ability to bend into leafy shapes, which was nice. Adding each person’s picture to the tree was the last step. Such a tree would be fantastic for an on-stage play, retreat, or classroom.
Our church family camp was held this past weekend, and our theme was “us being a church family.” Their goal was to construct a three-dimensional tree with a picture of a family on retreat inside each leaf. They asked me to create it. We started brainstorming ideas. The only thing I had ever seen done was a twisted paper version or paper mache version. But after some quick brainstorming, we decided to use duct tape and swimming noodles instead. I had a sinking feeling the night before, and I was supposed to set it up before the retreat. I thought it just wasn’t going to work. I didn’t give it enough thought before realizing that I would need a base to keep it upright. In addition, because we were exploring unfamiliar territory, I was unclear about the idea. Well, it worked, and it was actually really cool. I was super stoked about the results. The first need was the base. My spouse took a piece of wood that was flatter, about 36 by 28 inches. Next, he drilled a dowel straight up and into the center of the board. Additionally, he added small wood pieces to the dowel to increase its stability. I should have taken a picture. If you need more information than that, let me know.
