making a cardboard tree

I like having a tree in my classroom.  Not a real one (while that would be wonderful, we make do with potted plants) -- a two dimensional -on-the-wall one.

This year, it was time for the tree join the alphabet and the number line to have a make over.

The old tree had done its time.  (Sorry about the photo - the shiny coating caught the sun's glare). And I am trying to just about eliminate pre-packaged, from the teacher store classroom decor.

Down came the tree and the paper.  

revealing the mish mash of bulletin boards underneath.

The first re-building step was to recover the bulletin boards with fabric.  The fabric seems to soften the room, does not show thumb tack holes, is relatively inexpensive - and comes in a range of colours.

Time to build the tree. A couple of cardboard boxes cut into strips. A recycling project! I was worried that two boxes would not be enough - but I ended up recycling some leftovers. 

I dithered and fretted about branches and angles and spent over an hour getting this up.

And then I decided just to get 'er done. The branches grew.

We have a wonderful, simple, recycled and natural tree in our dramatic play area.  A tree that will keep changing with the seasons and our investigations.