Easy Tree Painting
This easy tree painting is a perfect art project for fall. All you need is one small broccoli floret and you can make 4 or 5 fall tree paintings. Some kids might not love eating broccoli, but they’ll definitely enjoy painting with it! My 10 year old and 7 year old LOVED this activity! They experimented with all sorts of fall colours, and even blue and purple – and all of their trees looked surprisingly good. Feel free to grab the printable tree template (see below) so you can easily print out a tree shape for your little artist. Painting trees can be difficult for some kids, but our template will make things super easy!
Check out our Broccoli Painting video tutorial:
*Note: Scroll down for the step-by-step photo tutorial.
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Here’s what you’ll need:
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Cardstock Paintbrush (optional) Printable tree template (optional) Acrylic paint Paper plate Fresh broccoli floret (uncooked)
Click the links below to open the pdf templates. Then print your template onto regular printer paper or cardstock.
OUTLINE: Light Outline Printable Tree Template «<
How much broccoli is needed for one painting?
You only need 1 small floret of broccoli that can be used for at least 5 paintings, probably even more. It’s easy to dab off the extra paint before moving on to new colours – it’s also okay if the colours mix and blend a little bit. We used each broccoli piece to paint 4 or 5 trees and it held up well.
Why does my paint look like blobs instead of leaves?
If you have dense blobs of paint on your tree instead of dainty leaf dots, you have too much paint on the broccoli. It’s important to dab the extra paint off the broccoli before stamping it onto the tree.
Do I have to use the tree template?
You definitely don’t have to use the tree template! Feel free to paint your own tree trunk and branches. You can draw an outline lightly in pencil first, or simply paint the tree freehand. You could even cut a tree out of construction paper and glue it to the paper before painting it.
What can I use instead of broccoli?
Try cutting a kitchen sponge into a circle shape or use sponge brushes. Just be careful not to use too much paint, and to really dab it off, since a sponge absorbs so much. You could also use q-tips, the tip of a pencil eraser, fingerprints, bubblewrap, or cotton balls (connect a clothespin to them for easy dipping).
Painting with broccoli is so much fun, so why stop at fall colours?! Use pink, white, and green for spring trees or paint with white on blue paper for a winter tree!
Here’s even more kids art ideas:
Halloween Q-Tip Art
Q-Tip Flower Painting
Fall Leaf Chalk Art
Paper Roll Fireworks Painting
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
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