Celebrate trees and think of the many reasons to love them with this festive party crown! It’s truly amazing all the things that trees do — everything from cleaning the air, providing a home to animals, giving us shade on a hot day, and so much more. This Tu B’Shevat craft gives your kiddos a chance to not only be creative, but also inspire others to be thankful for trees! Be sure to download the free Birthday of the Trees Party Crown Leaves PDF, which also includes a sheet of blank leaves so that your kiddos can brainstorm their own “We Love Trees!” list. Chag Sameach!

Looking for a Tu B’Shevat decoration? Look no further than a tree itself — its fallen branches make delightful decorations! I used a pine branch because that is native to my area and has full branches, even in the winter; but you could substitute a branch from any tree where you live. Your kiddos will love choosing a branch and then painting it. There are so many things to love about trees, but first and foremost, they are simply beautiful! This craft gives kids a close-up look at a special part of a tree and gives them an appreciation of how magnificent they truly are!

Have you ever met a kid who didn’t like playing with a stamp pad? Nor have I! Your kiddos will surely love making a Fingerprint Tree to celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees! They can make a trunk using a brown marker, crayon, or colored pencil, and then poke their fingers in a green stamp pad to make fingerprint “leaves” on the tree. Year after year, my kindergarten synagogue students LOVE making this; and, truth be told, most of them end up putting their whole hand in the stamp pad, which is, of course, all the more fun (but less fun for the grown-ups if it’s not a washable stamp pad — make sure you use a washable stamp pad)! Each year, I am amazed at the uniqueness of my students’ tree creations and how much they inspire me to appreciate the beauty of trees even more!

Tu B’Shevat reminds us of our sacred obligation to care for trees and the environment and to REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE. This fun and colorful craft gives kiddos the chance to do all three! They’ll REDUCE the amount of new art materials your family buys by using upcycled cardboard as their canvas; they’ll of course REUSE the cardboard, giving it a second life; and, if the day comes that they no longer want to keep their masterpiece, it can easily be RECYCLED! Sounds like a win-win-win and the perfect way to honor trees!

If you’ve been saving all those extra buttons for years, now’s the time to break them out! Gluing buttons is so fun, and gluing them into the shape of a tree is even more exciting! Your kiddos will surely love creating this unique Tu B’Shevat craft while at the same time honoring the Jewish value of BAL TASHCHIT (do not destroy) — a win win!

Puffy paint is positively palpitating, and your kiddos will flip for its foamy fun! It’s so easy to make — just mix one part white glue with two parts shaving cream, add a few drops of paint, and voila, you have puffy paint! There is endless room for creativity when your kiddos create a Puffy Paint Cardboard Tree, and it makes a colorful and unique decoration for Tu B’Shevat — perfect for celebrating all the reasons we love trees! Make sure you make some extra puffy paint and mix it with different colors so that your kiddos have lots of time to play with it. Wishing you and your kiddos hours of delight as you make these dazzling decorations!

The best way to celebrate trees is to protect them — not just on Tu B’Shevat, but every day! Honor the Jewish values of SHOMREI ADAMAH (guardians of the earth), BAL TASHCHIT (do not destroy), and L’DOR V’DOR (from generation to generation) by having your kiddos use upcycled materials for this beautiful art project — cardboard from a box as the canvas and magazine scraps to create the tree collage. They’ll have so much fun, all while learning important lessons in being kind to trees and the planet! Sounds like the perfect birthday party for trees!

Get ready to squeal when your kiddos make these Whimsical Felt Trees — they’re THAT cute! This simple sewing craft for Tu B’Shevat, the Birthday of the Trees, gives kiddos a chance to explore how beautiful and unique trees really are. Sewing felt is actually pretty easy, even for little hands; and these sweet little trees can be used as decorations for your Tu B’Shevat celebration or for anything you want. Hip hip hooray for trees!

Hands down, Tu B’Shevat is such a wonderful holiday! Celebrate the birthday of trees by having your kiddos make a Handprint Tree! Just trace their hand (and part of their arm) to make the trunk and branches and then have them cut out lots of paper leaves (or use a leaf craft punch). Glue everything to a piece of cardboard that your kiddos can paint first if they wish. This would be a fun project to do every year to see how your kiddos’ hands have grown and to display their artwork as beautiful Tu B’Shevat decorations!

Good old-fashioned leaf rubbings! This was one of my favorite activities as a child — it’s so simple, yet completely magical at the same time! This Tu B’Shevat, give your kiddos a chance to take a really close look at leaves and appreciate their beauty and uniqueness by setting up an invitation to create leaf rubbings. Depending on the climate where you live, this may require some advanced planning as some people have snow on the ground on Tu B’Shevat. You can collect the leaves in the summer or fall and keep them pressed safe in a book until Tu B’Shevat — what an exciting surprise that will be!