Recommended Age: 3 years and onwards
Level of Parent Involvement: Low
Prerequisites
- None
Materials
- A tree with an interesting pattern on the trunk (if you do not have any trees in your outdoor space or live in an apartment, this might be a nice opportunity to go for a walk with your child, packing a bag with sheets of paper, crayons and masking tape
- A4 sheets of paper, you can use A3 to get more coverage (for an older child wanting to extend the length of the exercise)
- Wax crayons
- Making tape
- A bag if going for a walk to hold the materials
Preparation
- None
Steps
- Invite the child, letting them know that you will be going outdoors to do some bark rubbing, together with the child dress according to the weather (hats, jackets, sunscreen etc)
- Let the child know whether you will be going to your own outdoor environment or going for a walk to find some trees with interesting patterns on the bark
- Walk around outdoors looking at the trunks of different trees, noticing with the child the different patterns of the bark
- The child may choose their favourite
- Show the child how to wrap the paper around the trunk of the tree, using the masking tape to secure the paper to the trunk
- Let the child know that when you rub a crayon, using the length of the crayon, the pattern of the trees bark appears
- Peel the paper off the crayon (if necessary), show the child how to rub the crayon on the paper, revealing the pattern of the bark with the colour of the crayon
- Notice with the child the pattern of the bark, asking them what they see (stripes, swirls, lines etc)
- Take the piece of paper off and invite the child to have a turn
- Assist the child if necessary to secure the paper to the tree
- Remind the child to fill the entire page, pointing out white spaces by suggesting, “would you like to use red or blue to fill that space in?”
- Once the child has finished write the name of the tree on the back of the paper (if you don’t know the name this may be a project you can do with your child using google. You can take a photo of the tree then research with the child what it is called)
- Invite the child to find another tree with different patterned park to do another bark rubbing picture
Variations
- Make rubbings of linoleum, tile, wood, or stone surfaces in the home
- Go in both directions. Rub from left to right, and then top to bottom
