Four Seasons Tree – Paper Plate Spinner
I welcome back the lovely Anya from Montessori from the Heart today, with a lovely finger painting activity – come and make a Four Seasons Tree Spinner craft with us today! These paper plate spinners are super easy to make and a great way for preschoolers to get involved and exploring the Four Seasons! I especially love the finger print tree aspect of this activity for extra sensory fun!
Preschool Four Seasons Tree Art Project
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As mentioned this is a great finger painting activity. Kids love making finger prints and this four seasons tree art is a great way for them to explore this sensory activity. You can use use homemade finger paints or store bought ones – use what you have to hand! Your little ones will not only love this four seaons paper plate craf, but they will lvoe playing with the “spinner” too.. watching the seaons change, as you spin your seasons paper plat! So fun.
So. Come on.. let’s learn more about this cute and easy four seasons tree craft!
About Montessori from the Heart
You will have met Anya Garcia, founder of Montessori From The Heart, before, when she shared the adorable sensory Easter activity with us. Montessori form the Heart is a global education platform with over 1 million followers, dedicated to making early learning simple, hands-on, and joyful. She specializes in Experiential Learning, a multi-sensory approach to learning, and Montessori-inspired methods, helping parents create enriching educational experiences at home. Anya has been named a Top Finalist for *Global Women Changing The World* in Education and recognized as #1 in “Key Early Learning Influencers in North America” further fueling her mission to make early education accessible and transformative for all families.
Anya is also very active on Instagram, and you simply HAVE to follow her there!!
You can watch the Spinner Paper Plate Craft on Video or read all about it below!
Supplies needed to make these Paper Plate Seasons Tree Spinner:
- Two paper plates
- Split pins
- Finger Paints in pink, red, green and blue* (or make your own fingerpaint here)
- Pens to draw the tree
- Scissors
*you could also work with just primary colors, red, blue and yellow and a little white – and explore some color theory with your little ones!
How to make your Four Seasons Tree Paper Plate Spinners
Explore color theory
You can add an educational element, by working with just the primary colors and a little white and to help your little one mix their own colors:
- Red + White = Pink – maybe explore more red/ more white to see what happens
- Yellow + Red = Firey Orange
- Blue + Yellow = Green – maybe add a little white to make light green
- Blue + White = light blue for snowflakes
Prepare the paper plate
Begin by preparing the paper plate and dividing it into 4 sections. A ruler or something else to use to draw a straigh line with is great!
Get Finger Painting your Four Seasons Tree Crowns
Once you have quartered the paper plate and mixed your colors (as per the color theory info above), your toddler and preschooler can get finger painting!
As you finger paint, discuss the four seasons.
In spring, we use the pink to represent the blossoms in the trees.
In summer, we used green for summer leaves.
Fall of course shows us yellows, oranges and reds for those firey fall colors! This is probably our most favourite 4 seasons tree color to work with!
Winter we used blue to reprsent the Snowflakes or bright blue skies. You could always draw some branches in brown pen instead if you wish. But here using colors is more fun for your toddler or preschooler.
Prepare the Seasons Tree
Once your toddler has finished finger painting the four seasons. Let it dry fully.
Whilst the four seasons dry, you can make a simple paper plate tree to use for your seasons spinner.
Find the centre of your paper plate and draw a simple tree trunk on the bottom half.
On the top half, draw a tree crown, that takes up ONLY one quarter of the paper plate. Cut this tree crown out!
Add split pin to the centre of your tree.
Then place the tree on top of the finger print four seasons and push the split pin through the centre of that.
Secure the split pin on the back of your paper plate.
Finished Four Seasons Spinner
Now you can play with your four seasons tree!
Isn’t it fun seeing the seasons change from spring to summer…
And from summer to fall…
We hope you have lots of fun with this fantastic four seasons tree art project for preschoolers!
More wonderful ideas from Montessori from the Heart:
More Four Seasons Art Projects
We love creating and exploring the four seasons. Here are some projects we did on Red Ted Art when the kids where little:
- Four seasons trees with Bubble Wrap Printing
- Four seasons suncatchers – exploring colors!
- Check out four seasons paper dolls too
