Winter Tree Watercolor

What You Need:

• Watercolor paper 
• Watercolors
• Masking tape
• Paintbrush

What You Do: 

1. Head outside during the winter months, and ask your child to observe a bare tree. Have them describe the shape of the trunk and branches, noticing details such as how the branches get thinner as the tree gets higher, etc. 

2. Once back inside, set out the materials needed for the watercolor painting. 

3. Have your child envision the bare winter tree or trees (it’s up to them if they want to create a landscape with multiple trees or a single tree) they wish to create. 

4. Have your child sketch out their tree/s with a pencil on the watercolor paper first. 

5. Then, help them place the masking tape on the paper to create the trunk and branches of the tree/s. They will need to cut or tear the masking tape into different shapes and widths to make the tree branches varied in size. 

6. Once they are satisfied with the placement of the masking tape, have them choose the colors they will use for the background. There are no set rules for the background colors. They could do blue with a little purple for a daytime sky, or dark blue and black for a night sky, or perhaps a sunset sky using red, orange and yellow. 

7. Encourage your child to paint all over the piece of paper, filling it with watercolor, and blending them together as they paint. Let the paint dry completely. 

8. Finally, have them gently remove the masking tape to reveal the white silhouette of their leafless winter tree/s.  

This watercolor could be done with trees from each season as a comparative art project. Your child could observe the same tree throughout the seasons and create a watercolor tree for spring, summer, and fall too!