This past weekend we had our church family camp, and the theme was about us being a church family. They wanted to create a 3 dimensional tree where each leaf would house a picture of a family that was on the retreat. They asked me to create it. We started brainstorming ideas. All I had seen done in the past was a paper mache or twisted paper version. However, after a quick brainstorming, we came up with swimming noodles and duct tape. I was suppose to set it up before the retreat, and I had a sinking feeling the night before. I thought it just wasn’t going to work. I hadn’t thought it through enough and suddenly realized I needed a base to keep it standing straight. Also, since we were navigating new waters, I was just unsure of the concept. Well, it worked, and it was actually really cool. I was super stoked about the results.
The first need was the base. My husband took a flatter piece of wood, approximately 36 x 28 inches. He then drilled a dowel to the center of the board going straight up. He also attached little pieces of wood around the dowel to create more stability. I should have taken a picture. If you need more information than that, let me know.
The next step was to duct tape the swimming noodles together. The center noodle had the dowel going up it. We also had the outer 5 noodles go a bit lower than the center noodle so that we could attach the upper limbs to the taller center stalk. We wrapped the brown duct tape around and around the structure. We Then wrapped noodles individually to create the branches. With the branches, we would take the ends and tear them down a little so they would branch out more into smaller branches.
I started to make leaves out of green duct tape, but they were too heavy. So, I ended up just cutting out a bunch of leaves out of paper. I would fold floral wire over a few times to make them a bit stronger and tape it to the leaf. Then, I would take brown duct tape and tape the leaf “stem” (floral wire) to the branch. Again, I should have taken a picture, but if you want me to describe it more, let me know. It was nice to have the leaves on floral wire because they could bend into leafy shapes and have stability.
The final step was to add everyone’s picture to the tree. A tree like this would be great for a retreat, classroom, or on-stage production.
This is such a cool idea! If I’m every an Elementary school teacher I will totally do this in my classroom!
Great idea! I could see this in a class room as a thankful tree – kids write what they are thankful for on the leaves
at a baby shower – guests write wishes for baby on the leaves or you could add birds/owls to the tree
Halloween party/display – add bats, ghosts, spiders
Easter/spring time tree – add flower buds made from plastic eggs
I love that you made a tree! I can use this idea for my pumpkin patch next season! THanks for sharing it and for the great tutorial and pictures!