by James Johnson

Created on: November 02, 2009

Arbor Day is about trees, nature and conservation. Any craft ideas that emphasizes the great outdoors are useful and good for Arbor Day, There are quite a few, lets look at some.

One idea is to use dead branches and create a small tree for indoors. It could be attached to a clay base or even just a flat piece of wood.You could either glue real, dried leaves onto it or cut them out with construction paper. It would be like a little bonsai tree, but not need watering!

Another interesting Arbor Day Craft idea was to pick up brightly colored trash and build sculptures. It could be a tree with the trunks made from tin cans and chip wrappers for leaves Bottle caps could be used to create butterflies or birds. It might be best to make a few samples, but then encourage the students to use their imagination. It is a great way to get rid of trash, but if they are concerned about picking up other's garbage, have them bring their own from home!

This craft idea could actually be expanded and a large version be built in a central location as a large trash sculpture. This would require some forethought and care, but is a great class or school craft project and could be started several days before Arbor Day, and then unveiled!

Origami lends itself to Arbor Day crafts. You can fold all sorts of trees using either recycled newspaper or fresh construction paper. The origami can then be used to make birds, butterflies and the many creatures that depend on trees. All of these can be assembled into a diorama for either the class or placed on the bulletin board. Origami is great and educational, teaching the children how to follow direction and about spacial relationships.

Other Arbor Day crafts could involve learning to weave grass or collect large leaves and make hats. On Arbor Day do a fashion show and even give prizes for most unique design or best looking. It would be fun and educational! There are straw baskets that can be made, gourd bird houses, bird feeders.

As stated previously, any craft that promotes nature and the woods promotes Arbor Day! Take these craft ideas, present them to the class and then ask them what they think would be fun and exciting to build for Arbor Day. It would be interesting and educational to the teacher to see what they want!

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