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Birchbark paper craft

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Way back in June I went away to a cottage for the weekend…without any children. However, I suffer from the same problem that most parents do – I couldn’t stop thinking about the kids. So, while I could have been out swimming in the lake (although it was pretty cold) I was actually foraging in the bush, looking for fun supplies for my girls. Somehow I ended up bringing home a giant bag of birch bark!
 
My girls love to identify birch trees. I must admit they are easy to spot, with their papery white bark. There is something very graceful about a birch tree. Their leaves seem to sparkle in the wind. A truly Canadian and beautiful tree. We have often talked about how native Canadians used birch bark to make canoes and as paper. With our bag of birch bark in hand, we decided to do a little crafting.

 When we dumped out the bag, the bark had taken on many different shapes. Some pieces were very curly (I have another craft in mind for those) and some were very frayed or smooth. I suggested we let the paper inspire us. It was pretty amazing how this bag of bark led to 3 different ideas. Two of the ideas will be featured in future posts – for today let’s explore bark as paper.

How to Make Birch Bark Paper Art

First off, if the paper is too curled, simply wet the paper and place it on a flat surface – we used a baking sheet. Then cover the birch bark with something flat and heavy…like a second baking sheet. Let the bark sit overnight and in the morning you will have a much smoother piece of bark.

This is the piece of birch bark we chose to work with for our art project. Any size or shape will do. That’s all part of the fun of making this nature art project.
I asked my youngest daughter to take a look at the bark and decide what it looked like to her. She said it looked like underwater. She imagined underwater creatures living there. Like sharks, fish, dolphins, whales, and starfish with seaweed and bubbles all around. With a set of markers and some time to create, here is what she made.
She was so excited to see that the lines in the bark made little natural mouths for the sea creatures!
 

So, now we have an original piece of art on birch bark. Sometimes we find our inspiration from a book, or perhaps from something we see. It is also important to let the materials inspire the artist at times. Who knows what your child might have seen hidden in the folds of the bark.

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Comments

  1. RedTedArt says

    Oooh how lovely! I love collecting bark with the kids and am not always sure what to do with it! Love the idea of using it as paper!!

    Thank you for joining in at Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

  2. Aleacia says

    I love the idea of creating images on bark, just like indigenous people did! That can be a whole other lesson in itself 🙂
    Thanks for linking up to Flutter By Friday!

    Aleacia