Archives|Sparkles and Sprinkles

Spring Folk Art Trees

by sparkle | Mar 24, 2023 | Craft Tutorials

We’ve been studying about Colonial history this year. The cheerful and simple folk art depicting Colonial times inspired us to learn more about folk art.

To learn about how to make folk art trees, we watched a video on Deep Space Sparkle.

This great tutorial from Deep Space Sparkle focusses on trees in the autumn, but as it is springtime, we modified the designs for spring.

We also chose to draw the designs with colored pencil, rather than Sharpies (a little safer with little ones!).

We also found inspiration from Cheryl Bartley designs. She has free coloring pages too!

We had so much fun on a late winter (almost spring!) afternoon, looking out at the trees, and creating folk art together. Before creating our art we spent some time looking closely at the trees. Only God can make so many branches and leaves, but the simplicity of folk art allows us to capture the beauty of trees in a simple and fun way. Hope your family can enjoy some art time together too! Here is a sampling of our art…

folk art trees with flower embellishments

Our 8-year-old had fun adding spring blossoms to her trees.

folk art trees in a forest

Our 11-year-old enjoyed making a peaceful spring forest scene.

folk art trees with sparkling snow

Spring often comes with surprise snowfalls. Our 8-year-old added a sprinkling of salt over her watercolor to make her trees look like they have a glimmer of snow.

folk art trees by our toddler

Folk art is for any age. Our toddler had so much fun painting her trees too!

folk art spring tree garden

Even Mama joined in the fun of painting. Making art together brings so much peace to the day!

Looking for art supplies?

Check out the links below for art supplies we love for this project.

Enjoy!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Water Princess Giving Well Activity

by sparkle | Mar 11, 2023 | Craft Tutorials

The book, The Water Princess, tells the story of the young Georgie Badiel spending entire days walking to get water for her family in Africa. Inspired by this story, we decided to make a paper well that can be used like a Lenten paper “rice bowl” to collect money for those in need.

Simply print the free printable on cardstock and read along to learn how to create the well. The French version of the well says, “Mon Puits pour la Vie” (my well for life – “puits” rhymes with “vie”). The English version says, “My Giving Well.” There is also a plain version (as requested by my daughter so that she could use it with her doll house).

If you would like to read the Water Princess before you create the well, click the image for an Amazon link.

Let’s make a well…

Click Here to Get your Free Printable

Print your printable on cardstock. The printable comes in a French, English, and plain version.

Step 1

After printing on cardstock, cut out each of the pieces of the well.

Step 2

Tape or glue the stone well into a circle.

Step 3

Fold tabs up around water circle.

Step 4

Tape or glue the water circle to the inside bottom of the well.

Step 5

Fold posts in half.

Step 6

Fold roof in half on solid line. Cut slits on dotted lines.

Step 7

insert posts into slits in the roof. Then gently bend tops of posts to secure them to the roof.

Step 8

Tape or glue the posts to the side of the well.

Step 9

Place coins in your well. After saving coins, donate to people in need.

You could use your well to collect money for the Georgie Badiel Foundation listed at the end of the book: https://www.georgiebadielfoundation.org/ (Sparkles and Sprinkles is not affilliated with this foundation, but you can learn more by clicking on the link. For French speakers, there is a neat video of a women speaking in French about the impact having a well in her community has had on her life.)

You could also use your well to collect money for other organizations that help those in need, near your home or around the world.

“…but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14

« …l’eau que je lui donnerai deviendra en lui une source d’eau jaillissant, jusqu’à la vie éternelle. » Jean 4:14