We celebrate Tu’Bshvat, the birthday of the trees, at my school, but anyone can do this for spring or fall. I asked all the kids and teachers at school take a few minutes to go out in nature and draw something they see on 3×5 index cards. Colored pencils only! I drew a tree and glued all the cards onto the tree. The kindergartners also did tree projects in one of their judaica classes so I took pictures of them, printed them out in different sizes and did the same thing with a smaller tree. I think the effect is quite nice and can think of lots of different ways to repeat this kind of project. The kids love coming by and finding their artwork on the trees. So do the teachers! It’s really fun to watch. I want to add a few lines from the poem Trees by Joyce Kilmer next week. We’ll see how that goes.
A poem lovely as a tree.A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
