Gather Your Newspaper Palm Tree Supplies

Introduction

When I was a kid we used to make newspaper palm trees all the time. I just realized that I have never done this with my kids before. It is a simple craft that even your younger children can participate in, so you can make it a fun afternoon activity. We don't have any palm trees here in New Jersey where I live, but there are an abundance of them in Florida where my family lives. You may end up wanting to go on vacation after this craft if you don't live in an area where palm trees readily grow.

Difficulty Level

• Relatively Easy

Supplies Needed:

• Newspaper sheets
• Scissors
• Paper tape
• Green paint
• Brown paint
• Paint brush

Tape the Newspaper Sheets Together

The first step in creating your newspaper palm tree is to lay a few sheets of newspaper next to each other so that the ends overlap. I overlap mine about 1 inch, but I don't think it will make much of a difference if yours is a little over or under that mark.

Once you get your newspaper sheets in place, put a little bit of paper tape over the areas that overlap so that they stay put.

Note:

I suggest using no more than eight sheets of newspaper when you do this craft.

Six is probably ideal, but any more than eight and it will be hard to pull out all the palm leaves later on.

Roll the Newspaper

Pick an end of your newspaper and begin rolling toward the opposite end. It doesn't matter which end you start with, but try to keep your roll nice and tight. If the roll is loose, you're palm tree won't look like a palm tree. Palm tree's have skinny trunks, so keep that in mind as you roll.

After you have the newspaper all rolled up, secure it with a long piece of a paper tape. You won't need the tape any more after this step is completed.

Make a Few Cuts

Now you need to make a few cuts in one end of the newspaper roll. Make the cut at least six inches deep. I have seen crafters cut half way down the newspaper roll so go ahead and cut farther than that if you want.

You'll need between three and five cuts for your newspaper palm tree to be successful. 

Place one of your fingers inside the newspaper roll where you just made all of your cuts. Hold on to the bottom of the newspaper roll firmly with your opposite hand. Start pulling up with your finger. You'll see the palm tree leaves starting to emerge. Stop when all of the palm tree leaves have been released.

Now comes the part all kids love the most. You get to paint the palm tree. Give kids some green paint for the leaves of the palm tree and some brown paint for the trunk of the palm tree.

Don't worry about your kids painting the newspaper palm tree perfectly. As you can see above, one of my kids just painted the palm tree the best she could. It would be extremely hard for kids to paint each newspaper leaf because they'd also have to get underneath of each leaf.

Older children may take the time to do this, but most younger kids won't.

The leaves will look heavy until you give the paint time to dry. After that, you can fluff the leaves up a bit.

That's it. Now you have a cute newspaper palm tree to play with.