Making a family name tree is a cute way to learn family names and help kids remember just who all is in their immediate and extended family!
This is such a good fall craft for preschool-aged children and up.
My husband’s family does a huge Thanksgiving with his grandparents and their siblings and all the kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids.
It’s really hard to remember the names of some of these second and third cousins!
Sadly, this year’s big family Thanksgiving is cancelled.
This year’s holiday is going to be a little different, but the introvert in me is looking forward to more intimate family get-togethers and a smaller social calendar.
What I really liked about making this family name tree craft was naming all the people in our family and talking with my kids about how we’re all related.
Plus at the end, you get a sweet little fall decoration that reminds you of all the people you love.
Insert all the heart eyes emojis.
Supplies Needed for a Family Name Tree
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You’ll need a few basic craft supplies to make this 3-D family name tree.
I bought all these at our local craft store, and I’ve linked to the exact or similar product in the list below.
- brown pipe cleaners
- construction paper in red, orange, yellow, and green
- safety scissors (we also tried these fun decorative edge scissors)
- washable markers
- hole punch
How to Make a Family Name Tree
Making a family name tree craft is simple, and the more the kids can get involved with each step, the better.
Skills kids will use to make this craft include
- drawing a leaf shape (or oval),
- cutting out shapes with safety scissors,
- writing names,
- and using a hole punch.
Step 1. Make a Tree
First, make a tree out of pipe cleaners. Twist 10 brown pipe cleaners together halfway.
Fan out the top section to make branches.
Spread out the bottom sections like “roots” to make the tree stand freely.
It’s probably easier to just show you what that looks like! (See below.)
Step 2. Create Leaves
Draw leaf shapes on construction paper. We used red, orange, yellow, and green paper because it’s fall and those colors are fun.
Make them big enough to write on, but not so big they don’t fit on your tree!
Cut out the leaves.
We used regular straight-edged scissors and decorative-edged ones like these.
The decorative-edged scissors make a really neat texture on the leaves and the blunt tips seem safer to me than the regular safety scissors! 🙂
Punch holes in each leaf.
(Yes, we used a three-hole punch. It’s much easier to use than the single hole punch!)
Finally, write family names on each leaf!
Step 3. Decorate the Tree
Hang leaves on each of your pipe cleaner tree branches.
My two-year-old was content to just place the leaves on the tree. This was great fine motor and hand-eye coordination work for her!
Elena, age 4, also chose the “random” approach and put leaves where they looked prettiest.
If you want to take it a step further, you can group names by family and hang each family on their own branch.
However you end up doing it, I’m sure the result will be beautiful!
Your Turn to Make a Family Name Tree
I hope you enjoyed seeing how we made our family name tree.
Elena, my four-year-old, has really progressed in how she draws, writes, and cuts with scissors.
I loved watching her do nearly all of the craft all by herself, learning how to do each step just by watching me!
This is a great craft to come back to every fall and see how kids have grown and developed their skills.
You can also repurpose the name tree by writing things you are thankful for on a leaf and hanging those up instead.
I’m sure some of those will probably include many family members as well!
Happy fall everyone!
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