Rainbow Trees

April 18, 2013

written by Cathy Baker, mom of two tweens, who I recently convinced that playing with chalk is still fun!

Spring is finally showing it’s sweet, and most welcome, face around here! woo hoo!! While we are enjoying the neighbors flowering trees and gorgeous bulbs, our yard is pretty bare still.

Well this past weekend, I convinced my girls to try this project that involves only chalk and water. I saw it in Family Fun magazine. Here was our inspiration…

Here are some pictures of the tree that is making me smile in my front yard. I hope it makes the neighbors smile too!

Getting started… experimenting on different techniques…

We had a box of pastel chalks that we used.  The inspiration photo from Family Fun said to soak sidewalk chalk in water.  Here are some different things they tried.

• Coloring with just chalk on tree – This was fun for drawing actual pictures.
• Use a brush to paint water on tree, then color with chalk.  Went on smoother.
• Dip the actual chalk in water and then color.
• Soak the chalk in warm water for a few minutes til it disingrates, then carefully pour out extra water, then use your fingers to smear the chalk on the tree. This was their favorite method (probably because it was the messiest!) And it also covered the best. note: Their hands were slightly pink tinged for half the day, but it eventually washed off by day’s end.

As you can see, they needed a step stool to get up even higher…

And here they are with their messy hands, and proud smiles.  They spent close to two hours soaking up the morning springtime sunshine while happily working on this project together!

And the best part…when it rains, it will just wash away!

And one more little tidbit… Did you know there are real rainbow trees?  Technically they are called Eucalyptus Deglupta. Wikipedia says, “Patches of outer bark are shed annually at different times, showing a bright green inner bark. This then darkens and matures to give blue, purple, orange and then maroon tones.”  If these trees would grow in my yard, I’d so plant them! Nature is beautiful!

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Category: Random and Fun
Tags: chalk, rainbow trees |