Tree of Life Watercolor Painting

Each year, a tree forms a new layer of cells. If we could look inside a tree’s trunk, we would see these cells arranged in concentric circles called growth rings. These rings help us better understand a tree’s personal story by telling us its age and giving us insight into its unique history.  

Use A Tree’s Life to learn more about the history of this tree. How old is the tree? What do the rings’ clues tell us about its personal story? What are some major events that happened during the tree’s life?

Offer a favorite art material (we love oil pastels) and invite your child to draw a set of concentric rings inside the My Tree of Life that matches his age. Prompt him to choose one important event from each year of his life (for example: a birthday, the first time he lost a tooth, the first day of school, when his baby sister arrived, etc.). This is where storytelling and connection comes in – spend time sharing your child’s stories with him and offer up a few of your own along the way.

Use a black sharpie marker to write in each event along a growth ring. Start with his first year of life in the center and work outward. Add color to the tree by painting over top with watercolor and hang it up as a reminder of his own unique story!