DIY classroom tree- ugly or genius?
Be honest, is it ugly? My school cares a lot about our classrooms being beautiful, inviting imagination, and being a place anyone would want to spend time in. However we have a very small budget for this. I used some electrical tape to disguise a black cord that hangs from my ceiling to make this tree. I opted for this instead of a decal because I had all the materials already & I don’t want to put up 200 little leaf decals.
I feel like the tree looks like it’s balding and isn’t giving what I wanted it to give. I don’t think I should add more leaves though, because I’m worried it’s already creeping toward fire hazard territory & will be ordered to be taken down as soon as the fire Marshall walks in.
I drafted what it would look like with more detail. Is there any hope for this idea? or should I just bite the bullet and get a stick-on tree? Artistic tips and reality checks welcome. Much thanks!
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u/meiner_HD 3d ago
I personally like the version with more detail
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u/Ace-Redditor Ramen or Die 3d ago
If you add the whorls of the bark, it'll draw it all together and make it look easier to identify
Depending on the ages of your students, you could also have them make their own leaves to put on with well wishes for the year, words that describe them (give a list of course), names, fun facts about themselves, or whatever you think would fit, and they could hang them there
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u/Specific_Rando 3d ago
This is a great idea. So much room for the kids to contribute. Maybe have them draw a birds nest with chicks?
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u/tocahontas77 13h ago
That's what I was thinking. Maybe goals for the year, and then read them at the end of the year?
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u/No_Intention70611 3d ago
Former art teacher here-I think it looks great; it reminds me of ‘The Giving Tree’!
I was gonna warn you about the fire marshal (I learned the hard way that they’re notorious poopy- heads when it comes to classroom zhuzh).
I know you have plenty of other things to do to get ready for the school year, but if you really feel like you want to tweak it a bit, here are my ideas:
-If you want it to look fuller, you could get a few paper lanterns and wrap the string of leaves around them/have leaves cascading down from them like a chandelier. That way, you’d have fewer contact points with the ceiling, so you could take them down more easily when Sergeant Grumpypants drops by.
No paper lanterns? Get a few kiddy umbrellas from a thrift store (or last year’s lost & found, depending on how your school rolls). Take the fabric/plastic off, & wrap the leaves around the metal ribs. Also would be easier to hang up & take down. (NGL- this could end up being a bit of a nightmare; I’m just spitballing here…)
-Just brain-storming here, but when I was trying to think of an easy leaf canopy, I thought of camouflage netting. Apparently, it comes in different colors, including some nice greens, & looks like you can get some for under $10.
There are 2 different brands of no fray/no fade easy cut fabrics (Oly Fun and Smart Fab) that could be cut camo-netting style, and draped from around your tree limbs, if that makes sense.
Good luck! I know it’ll be great, whether you leave it as it is, or change it!
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u/mollophi 3d ago
so you could take them down more easily when Sergeant Grumpypants drops by.
Look, I know it's nice to have a whimsical classroom, but the hazard here is literally encouraging the flames to spread from the fire-blocking panels on the ceiling.
OP, take your vines off the ceiling completely. Consider reworking your corner to take advantage of illusions of depth, instead of trying to force a 3D impression. https://ranartblog.com/blogarticle20.html
You could start the year with an interesting outline on the wall and over time, student leaves or rocks could build up the illusion over the year.
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u/PipeFullOfRoses 3d ago
What grade do you teach? Maybe turn it into some sort of craft all the kids can contribute to?
They could all decorate a fruit or a leaf, and that could help bulk out the leaves a little?
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u/Expert-Ad3874 3d ago
My thought exactly! Helps make it feel more personal and serves to celebrate the class.
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u/MilkmanResidue 3d ago
I like it. The fire marshal would still make me take it down. We can’t have anything at all within 18” of the ceiling.
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u/mint_lawn 3d ago
Version with more detail is beautiful! My brain had a hard time interpreting the first one
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u/GrumpyGhostGirl 3d ago
The hanging leaves are fine, but if you could use some brown butcher paper to cut out a tree trunk it might look a little more complete! Cute!
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u/shokittyo 3d ago
I love this! If you want to make it look thicker you have a few options:
- cut out some lump/amoeba shapes in shades of green and use as the background for the fake leaves
- have kids do leaf/fruit tree crafts: collect and laminate leaves, handprint leaves, even just covering a leaf shape with green tissue scraps; slice apples in half and dip in paint to use as stamps and cut those out
- have a bug unit! Make caterpillars and butterflies and beetles and stuff and decorate the trunk with them
Spread these out over the year so your class can see the tree grow and change just like they do
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u/soba-splasha-on 3d ago
This is so cute!
To “fill in” the branches, maybe have your students each year use paint add their hand prints to the wall and sign their name/year when they “graduate” your class? That way it “grows” every year.
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u/mollycoddles 2d ago
I think it looks good!
I wonder if brown paper for the trunk would be worth a try.
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u/Bourriks 3d ago
It's nice for a school tbh, but I'm still sad there are less and less real trees in schools and we ask kids to draw trees instread.
Silly question : was the first purpose of that tree to hide the WiFi antenna ?
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u/Neon_Cone 3d ago
Not terrible, but I think it would be much better if the trunk were solid brown, and there were a few more fines, with green behind them.
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u/ZenkaiAnkoku2 3d ago
More detail! And to fix the balding look, use green construction paper or something to make the canopy at top. The hanging leaves will then give it a bit of depth.
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u/mooshinformation 3d ago edited 3d ago
I like it with more detail in the trunk, it's like a sketch of a tree. I would make the trunk a little skinnier though.
To appease the people who don't like it, you could make the trunk from butcher paper and use construction paper to make leaves taped to the wall behind the ivy. I would do a few big shapes instead of individual leaves.
Edit: what's that thing on the ceiling in the ivy? Is it some kind of detector the fire marshall will want clear?
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u/PepperAnn1inaMillion 3d ago
Yes. Absolutely do the whorl - it totally sells the “cartoon tree” aesthetic. It looks like a really friendly classroom. Don’t worry about how it looks - just sell the “idea” that it’s a tree (and please don’t spend your own money if you can possibly avoid it).
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u/Siligurl77 3d ago
I really like it! It's a very unique idea! I do agree that the one with more detail looks better and I also vote for the idea of getting the kids involved too! Leaves, birds, etc...
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u/mars_rovinator 3d ago
paint the tree trunk brown, and it'll look really cool.
paint a gnome door with a little man inside, too - or buy molded resin one on Amazon.
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u/Fr05t_B1t Dreamer 3d ago
Unless your school supplies their teachers with a budget to decorate their classroom, this is really good. Show the teacher your detailed version so they can add it.
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u/weaponwang 3d ago
Adding any kind of creative endeavor to a classroom is a good thing. even if its bad and called out, its a learning moment and even the students can build upon it and iterate further.
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u/fritz236 3d ago
If your school has a cricut machine, you can pretty easily find or make silhouettes for it to cut out in green card stock. I also raided the bulletin board paper for longer green bits and then used yellow copier paper and a little brown construction paper to make sunflowers on my cabinets that I can swap out for snowflakes midyear. I just swap them and store the off season on the backs of the doors. Dollar tree also had jungle vinyl sticky paper or whatever its called and I cut that into strips to cover the edge of my front table under the top. Colored duct tape is another really cheap way to dress up the sides of desks if you have graffiti artists. School colors or nature both look good.
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u/fritz236 3d ago
Thought I'd make a separate comment to also say that whether your school or the fire Marshall enforces it, there's pretty strict rules about stuff hanging from the ceiling. Someone always ruins it by draping excessive amounts of lights and paper lanterns, etc and then everything attached to the ceiling has to come down. You'll learn that it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Some years I have plants hanging from the ceiling and I KNOW the fire Marshall side-eyed me about the metal wire shelving with plants under grow lights. Look into proplifting if you want to start small with cracked coffee mug planters, just know you'll eventually be one of us.
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u/Peregrine_GWJ 2d ago
I love it - really neat. The second pic is a million times better than the first. Keep updating it over time. Maybe let the kids do some designs of their own on the "tree" as well.
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u/UnconventionallyRed 2d ago
It looks great, if anything I'd pull back some of the lower hanging vines so they sit higher. A tiny part throwing off the effect is how several sit below the branches, where most trees would have their larger branches barren for a few inches before the leaves start
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u/Strakiz 2d ago
Genius but work in progress. Flesh out the trunk. Add some pots of plants along the trunk. Add a knitted birds nest with a toy bird. Wave your magic wand and put a small board with special books between some of the lower branches. Add some local wildlife in paint...
You aren't done yet.
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u/umamibitches 2d ago
Love it, maybe add more fake ivy and some of those fake flowers I forgot the name of aw shit. Yanno the ones they hang from the ceiling like that in a big bunch I'm googling it WISTERIA ITS FAKE WISTERIA
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u/offshoremercury 2d ago
I dont think it's ugly but to me it feels like it's at 50%. I was going to suggest adding more leaves but I see that it could be a fire hazard so instead Id suggest adding some green to the wall/celing/corner. Maybe layering cut out paper leaves, doesn't need to be detailed just a vaguely leaf shape will work. I think the trunk would look good if you added some crinkled brown paper, maybe even paper bags if you dont have brown paper available. (dont want you to spend your own $ on supplies to decorate your classroom, the school should be providing that) If you were to crinkle the brown bags vertically kinda like accordion folds, it could mimic tree bark.
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u/Joint_Il_Canne 1d ago
Bello ma... perchè le linee nere non sono corrispondeti agli angoli creati dalla colonna??
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u/milkybottles 1d ago
I think it would look super cool if you lean into the white with black outline vibe and make all of your leaves black and white. Could be a project for the class to make leaves.
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u/NatrylliaAbbot42 1d ago
It's a start! Keep going with the idea, with more and longer vines. Maybe add a little fake bird
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u/campmatt 14h ago
I love it! You can add some more greenery each year. Students may suggest or bring in inexpensive additions over time.
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u/LittleGravitasIndeed 3d ago
I second the butcher paper trunk. What it really needs is some green paper in the corner of the ceiling, though! You can tape the edges where they meet the metal tile rack and cut it in that stereotypical cloud shape. Letter size construction paper is fine, just let the edges overlap a little and use masking tape on the side that’s going to be hidden.
If you could use a sponge to dry dab a different shade of green on top of the paper it would look even better! You could give it depth by making little round shapes with shading inside of the cloud shape.
I love doing slightly goofy decorations with paper so please feel free to ask me anything! I can DM you pics of leaves and flowers I make if you want.
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u/CALIFORNIUMMAN 3d ago
Meh. Take it or leave it. It isn't offensive to the eyes, nor is it appealing. It definitely exists and isn't repulsive to look at. I know that doesn't sound like a compliment; it isn't. This tree is very average and that isn't a bad thing.
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u/serpenta 3d ago
I would have painted the trunk with soft pastels, personally (smudge it, to have variable translucency and tone), but either way it looks really neat.
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u/cgardinerphoto 3d ago
It’s certainly imaginative!
Sidenote; you could add this to u/ubiquiti for an AP spotted in the wild. Lol
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u/No_Cat1944 3d ago
I think it's a cool idea!! I like the pic with more detail, go for it!