DIY Family Tree Collage

Who knew that my kid getting Homework was going to turn out to be so much fun? Delilah started Pre-K a couple of weeks ago (I know, right?) and this past week, her very first homework assignment ever was to create her family tree.

She was sent home with a worksheet that looked like this:

We were very excited. Dee doesn’t have brother/sister branches to include yet, but we have some very special cousins and aunties and uncles and grandparents that Delilah wanted to show off on her tree. We talked about it for a while, and we came up with the fun idea of collaging our tree instead of coloring it. 

I suggested instead of using construction paper, we recycle the Zoo magazine that she had just finished looking through, and cut all the green and brown bits we could find out of it. Dee was immediately on board. For three days, we’d set her up at her desk as she meticulously cut out a wild kingdom confetti of sorts. By this morning, all that was left to do was put it all together.  I helped her trace the tree with elmer’s glue but otherwise, she got to work.

She’s very big in to drawing in between the lines right now, so pasting our puzzle of green clippings into the tree shape was basically the greatest thrill of her life. She did a mind-blowingly good job:

Seriously, I’m so in to how her homework assignment came out I’m thinking of getting it printed on canvas or something. I guess that makes me officially a Mom.

Anyway, all that was left to do was sprinkle in our family pictures (Dee wanted to add some extra leaves on top “so it really looks like we’re in the tree” and I have to say, that really kind of pulled the whole thing together. The kid has an eye.

Voila!

Today was kind of a rough morning for my Sweet Dee, we changed schools for her to start Pre-K: she’s now in a big kid’s school that goes all the way up to fifth grade, instead of the small Temple nursery program where she was so comfortable, familiar, and loved.  It was a hard decision, but one that she’s adjusted to incredibly well, and we’re so proud of her. 

Still, over the long weekend she started to talk about missing her old school and teacher, and this morning in the car she finally just burst in to tears about how much she missed “Teacher Meryl and The Friends” — the way her class was referred to at her previous school. My heart sank as every fear I had about transferring her came to fruition. She sobbed and told me the big kids scared her. (This, just moments after while happily gluing away on her family tree she told me she had met a favorite big kid who was so nice to her…but toddlers are fickle beings and whether or not I like it my heart goes with the girl’s whims.) I think it was a hard one for both of us, so I was absurdly thrilled when we arrived and she spotted one of her classmates as we parked. She immediately lit up and ran over to show her new friend her art project, and and the two held hands while they walked to class. Growing up is no joke.