The July 2012 Haiti trip had a Moringa Tree theme running throughout, so teaching kids the basics of how to draw a tree fit in well with our work. After learning how to plant and care for a tree, they had a chance to practice drawing one.
One method for encouraging a more life-like result is to have students think of trees as being made up of lots of “Y”s. They learned that starting with one large letter “Y”, and adding lots of little ones was a good way to build a tree. Thin lines were used in the beginning, and later thickened up. Leaves were added at the end, along with a colored background.
This project worked well for kids of all ages as they could add more complexity to their trees if they were able. Using oil pastels on good black paper made for striking artwork when it was complete.