How to Make a Classroom Palm Tree

How to Make a Classroom Palm Tree
••• palm tree image by Christine Valin from <a href='http://www.fotolia.com'>Fotolia.com</a>

Three-dimensional classroom decorations add an extra dimension to making school fun. A palm tree is a great addition for a tropical theme, but also to help reinforce lessons on the rain forest, jungle, beach, trees or conservation. Make your palm tree a class project and reinforce recycling by having your students bring in used paper lunch bags for the trunk. You can decorate your finished trees with cardboard cutout animals, balloons for coconuts, or even Christmas lights.

    Get an empty carpet roll tube (free from many home improvement stores). With a handsaw, cut it to the height you desire.

    Stand the tube upright in the large plant pot. Fill the pot with sanitized play sand to secure the tube.

    Cut the closed bottoms off the lunch bags with the scissors. Slip the now circular brown paper rings over the top of the tube. Scrunch the paper bags as you stack them up from the bottom to create the texture of the trunk. Continue until you reach the top of the tube.

    Carve the piece of Styrofoam using the knife so it fits snugly into the opening at the top of the tube. Insert it there.

    Snip off the hook on the wire hangers with the wire cutters. Unfold the hangers so they are straight.

    Lay a sheet of green tissue paper on a flat surface to make the palm fronds. Pour a line of glue down the center of the paper. Place another sheet of tissue on top. Pour another line of glue down the center. Press the straightened wire hanger onto the line of glue, leaving 8 inches of wire bare for the stem. Press another sheet of tissue paper over the hanger.

    Fold the tissue paper in half over the hanger. Set it aside to dry. Repeat with all of the hangers.

    Bend each hanger into an arc to make the palm frond once the glue is dry. Using the scissors, round off the square corners to make a leaf shape. Cut 1-inch strips into the tissue paper along the bottom edge.

    Stick the wires into the Styrofoam block at the top of the tube, spacing them out so they resemble palm fronds.

    Things You'll Need

    • Empty carpet roll tube
    • Handsaw
    • Large clay plant pot
    • 50 lb. bag of play sand
    • Scissors
    • 80 brown lunch bags
    • Knife
    • 12 inch Styrofoam block
    • 7 white metal hangers
    • 21 pieces of green tissue paper, at least 30 inches wide
    • Wire cutters
    • White glue

    Tips

    • You can also fill the clay pot with small pebbles, rocks or dirt.

Related Articles

How to Make Famous Landmarks for a High School Project
How Can I Build an Igloo for a School Project?
How to Build a Mallard Duck House
How to Make a Solar System Model at Home for a School...
How to Make a Volcano
How to Make a Plant Cell Model Step-by-Step
How to Make a 3D Model of a Flower
How to Make an Electric Fan
How to Make an Erupting Volcano Science Project for...
How to Build a Rube Goldberg Device to Raise a Flag
How to Make a Windmill Out of Cardboard Paper
How to Build a Solar System Model for Kids
How to Make a Volcano for Kids Using Mud
What Are Some Ideas for 3D Math Projects?
How to Make a 3D Pyramid With Paper
What Products Are Made From Trees?
How to Build a Spaghetti & Marshmallow Tower
How to Build a Longhouse for a Third Grade School Project
How to Build a 3D Model for Cell Biology Projects Mitochondria...
How to Make an Animal Cell Model Using Recyclable Material

Dont Go!

We Have More Great Sciencing Articles!