The JumpStart Blog

Thanksgiving can be a particularly hectic holiday for the family.  There are plenty of things to keep an eye on, including, but not limited to, preheated ovens and the kids running around with their cousins.  However, Thanksgiving is a holiday meant to take us beyond our everyday pleases and thank yous and to draw up in our minds those things that have such positive impacts in our lives.  This fun craft is a great catalyst for having the family gather around and reflect on all that they have to be thankful for.

A Tree Full of Thanks.

The Giving Thanks Tree

Materials:

• Large, brown cardboard box
• Construction paper in yellow, green, red, and orange.
• Scissors
• Tape
• Pencil
• Sharpie

Instructions:

1. Cut manageable, large panels out of the cardboard box.
2. Have your child draw the outline of a tree in pencil, complete with big roots, a trunk, and strong branches, on the brown cardboard.  *Update*: Here is a printable template of the tree outline we used.  When you print out the two-page template, we suggest you orient it horizontally (Landscape setting) and reduce the top and bottom margins. Fill in any gaps created in the outline by the scan, according to what looks natural to your eye.
   

   Click the image to print.

3. Cut out the tree.
4. Trace around the new tree cutout on another panel of brown cardboard, and cut out the duplicate tree.


Trace and cut out a duplicate tree.

5. On one of the trees, cut a slot up the center from the bottom of the tree and ending an inch before its top.
6. Cut about a one-inch slot down the center of the other tree, starting from its top.
7. Combine the two trees by sliding them perpendicularly into the slots you’ve made.  The root bases should end up solidly on the surface you’ve been working on.  Adjust your slot cuts if you need to even-out the lengths.


Set up the tree trunks perpendicular to each other.

8. Cut out leaves from the construction paper and have the family write down what they are thankful for on each of the leaves with the Sharpie.


The JumpStart Team's items worthy of thanks.

9. Adhere the leaves to the branches with the tape.

Tape the leaves to the tree branches.

When completed, the Giving Thanks Tree can act as a truly eye-catching and thought-provoking Thanksgiving decoration for a mantel, coffee table, or centerpiece.  Here at JumpStart, we’ve had a blast filling out the leaves for our Giving Thanks Tree, and we’re certainly thankful for your viewership.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Tell Your Friends About the Giving Thanks Tree and How Thankful You Are for Them