This twig and tissue paper fall tree craft has preschoolers making and decorating their very own fall trees. This easy nature craft uses real twigs for tree trunks and squares of fall-coloured tissue paper for leaves. Kids will explore texture and colours, and get some fine-motor development in as well.
We are so fortunate to live in a country where the leaves on our trees turn to vibrant shades of gold and crimson every fall. Because we do, the hooligans and I make a lot of colourful fall leaf crafts and fall tree crafts here in my daycare at this time of year.
These twig and tissue paper trees are easy for toddlers and preschoolers to make and they won’t cost you a thing to make when you use twigs found in the yard and tissue paper saved from past birthdays and celebrations.
Tissue paper is one of the best materials for kids crafts! Check out our tissue paper apple trees, hand and tissue paper trees, and our colourful fall wreaths to see what I mean!
The vibrant tissue paper and the twigs in today’s fall tree craft allows kids to explore the colours and textures of the Autumn.
Before you make your craft, you can head out to the yard to search for your sticks, and to observe the colours of the leaves on the trees. Have the children name all the colours they see in the leaves so they can help select the colours of tissue paper for your craft.
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
Supplies for twig and tissue paper fall tree craft:
The preschoolers had decided that red, green, orange and yellow should be the colours that we used to make the leaves for our trees. The toddler wanted to include blue as well.
I cut the tissue paper into 3 inch squares. No need to make them leaf-shaped because they’re going to be scrunched and crumpled for this craft. .
I placed the tissue paper “leaves” in a plastic bowl so the kids could just reach in and grab whatever colour they wanted. Keeping them in the bowl also prevented our tissue paper leaves from blowing away.
Make a base for your trees:
So the twigs would stand up while we worked on them, I pushed them into a sheet of styrofoam. This isn’t necessary though; you could stand your twigs up in a jar, or leave them laying on the table.
Attaching your tissue paper leaves:
I poured some white glue into a shallow bowl, and then the kids used paint brushes to brush the glue all over their twigs.
Then they crumpled the squares of tissue paper and stuck them to the branches of their trees.
While their trees dried, I had each of the kids make a small base for their tree.
I cut some small squares from our styrofoam sheet and the kids painted those with brown paint.
If you’re wondering about our denim craft aprons in the picture below, I make those from the legs of our old jeans. You can see the easy how-to here.
Then we stuck the trees into the bases so they could stand up on their own.
The kids were so proud of their efforts!
You can see why! Don’t these little trees look lovely? The tissue paper leaves look so vibrant in the sunlight.
Ways to display your twig and tissue paper fall trees:
These colourful twig and tissue paper trees will add a splash of colour to any table in your home.
You could display them in a vase, or in a jar filled with small stones.
You could even fill a small flower pot with soil and display them that way.
This twig and tissue paper fall leaf craft is a truly wonderful craft for toddlers and preschoolers to make to celebrate fall and all the colours of the season.
More fall crafts for preschoolers:
Get the 3-5 Playful Preschool e-Book!
25+preschool activities by 25 bloggers, 10 printables, plus links to 50 additional crafts and activities all for $8.99!
Follow the Hooligans on Facebook
Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
