3rd June 2011 – Tree of Life activity day

During the June half term I volunteered in the Tree of Life activity day at the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.

Origami bugs

The activities that were planned for that day were all inspired by the ancient art of origami. There was an origami expert on hand to show us how to make ladybirds, dragonflies, butterflies, flowers and birds out of sheets of coloured paper. The bugs and flowers were the easiest to make so I manned that table and helped the children who came along to make them.

Origami dragonflies

The children then decorated their origami animals with glitter and felt pens and they were then hung on one of the trees in the winter gardens.

There were also colouring sheets and a trail around the gardens for the kids to explore when they had finished the origami.

Jenny hanging the decorations on a tree in the Winter Gardens

Lots of the children really took to origami and  made several of each animal, but some of the younger children couldn’t get the hang of it so decorated birds and bugs that we had made earlier. One little girl decorated a whole family of bugs which included a mummy, daddy and two baby bugs, they looked like fireflies when they were finished as they were so glittery.

Beautiful birds and butterflies on the tree

Rainbow oragami butterfly

When we ran out of room on the tree, Jenny threaded the birds through the wire on a near by tree trunk to look like they were nesting. She also put some of the bugs inside the paper flowers and stuck them in the ground, where they blended into the greenery and looked really pretty.

Birds hung up on the trees

Bugs in origami flowers

It was a really fun afternoon and at the end of the day all the birds and bugs looked wonderful on the tree.

There are always activities at the TWAM museums during the holidays and you can check online to see whats going on at a museums near you.