Tree of Good and Evil (from a paper bag)

This week we read the story of creation and the original sin. The girls have been through both of these stories several times, so I felt comfortable combining them. Last time we discussed creation we made a little timeline. I drew the days on a strip of paper (1 piece cut lengthwise and glued together), and the girls illustrated each day.

This time we made trees out of paper sacks to represent the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil complete with forbidden fruit and a serpent. For the base tree I used this cute little tree from Pikadilly Charm. You start with a paper bag.

Cut the top into several strips. The longer the strips, the shorter the trunk and vice versa.

Then open the bag. Holding at the base twist the trunk of the tree. (The girls needed help with this part; it actually thwarted me the first time too.)

Then twist together the strips of bag to form branches (we twisted 2 strips together, but I guess more would form bigger branches).

Once we made all our branches, we added forbidden fruit. I gave the girls the choice of pom poms or foam stickers, and they chose stickers.

After covering their trees with fruit, we added a pipe cleaner serpent.

Once we had our trees we discussed how we needed to think for ourselves about what God wants us to do rather then listening to what everyone else tells us. (Being an independent thinker and seeking truth is pretty important to me.) Hopefully their little trees will remind them not to listen to serpents they will encounter!