We had a little fun exploring different tools that we could paint with about a week ago, and that turned into the idea for this quick springtime craft. Soft items like cotton balls or pom poms are perfect for making the delicate flowers of a cherry blossom tree!

To start, I drew the outline of tree trunks for me and Travis, with plenty of branches to fill in. Big kids will probably like to draw their own trunk!

Attach a clothespin to each cotton ball, and set out a big dish of pink paint – exciting!

I showed Travis how to dip in the cotton ball and then press and lift off the paper to recreate these pretty springtime blooms.

His was a bit more smeared, but he still liked the mechanics of the craft.

We ended up with two pretty cherry blossom trees, one by Travis and one by mama. Big kids may wind up with something closer to this:

We’ll have to cap things off with a visit to see the cherry blossom trees in the neighborhood!