DLTK's Holiday Crafts for Kids
Tissue Paper Cactus Craft

Get ready for an artistic adventure where we'll journey into the heart of the desert, all without leaving our craft table!

Today, we're going to create our very own desert scene, complete with a wide, open sky that can be as bright and blue as a sunny day, as colorful as a sunset, or even sprinkled with twinkling stars at night. And what's a desert without its most iconic resident, the towering Saguaro cactus? We'll bring this desert giant to life giving it a fun, textured look that pops right off the page. So, gather your art supplies and let your creativity soar as we blend colors, play with textures, and craft a beautiful desert landscape that's as unique as your imagination. Let's dive into this crafty exploration of habitats and make our own slice of the desert come alive!

Materials:

• White drawing paper
• Watercolors or pencil crayons
• Cotton balls (for clouds, optional)
• Sand-colored or yellow construction paper (for the desert ground)
• Green tissue paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pencil
• Cactus template (optional)

Craft Instructions:

1. Create Your Sky:
   • Begin with your white drawing paper as the base for your artwork. Decide if you want a daytime blue sky, a colorful sunset, or a starry night sky.
     • Blue Sky: Use light blue watercolors or pencil crayons to paint or color a soft, clear sky. For fluffy clouds, pull apart cotton balls to create wispy shapes and glue them onto your sky.
     • Sunset: Choose warm colors like yellows, oranges, reds, and purples. Blend your watercolors or pencil crayons from the horizon upward, mixing the colors to create a vibrant sunset effect.
     • Night Sky: Color the top portion of your paper with dark blues or black. You can use a white crayon or paint to add dots for stars, and even a crescent moon for extra detail.
2. Add the Desert Ground:
   • Cut pieces of sand-colored construction paper to fit the bottom part of your artwork, creating the desert floor. Use a few different pieces overlapping to give some depth to your background. Glue it onto the lower part of your paper.
3. Outline the Cactus:
   • On a separate piece of paper, draw the outline of a Saguaro cactus with a pencil. If drawing isn't preferred, use the printable cactus template provided and then cut out the shape.
4. Prepare the Tissue Paper:
   • I like to crumple up the tissue paper quite a bit before I cut it to increase the texture.
   • Cut the green tissue paper into small squares (about 1-2 inches). These pieces will mimic the texture of the cactus.
5. Assemble the Cactus:
   • Take a piece of tissue paper, slightly crumple it to give it dimension, and glue it onto your cactus outline. Continue this process until the entire cactus is covered, overlapping the pieces to create a rich, textured look.
6. Final Assembly:
   • Once your cactus is complete and the glue has dried, attach it to your desert landscape. Place it on the sand-colored ground, ensuring it's well-positioned against your beautifully crafted sky.
7. Add Details:
   • Feel free to embellish your desert scene. You might add more desert flora, animals, or even a setting sun against your sunset sky. Use your creativity to make your habitat come alive!

Crafting Tips:

• Encourage children to experiment with blending colors for the sky to see how different times of day or weather conditions change the landscape's appearance.
• For younger artists, demonstrating how to blend watercolors or layer pencil crayons can be helpful before they start their sky.

This craft activity allows children to explore their creativity while learning about the desert habitat and the art of collage-making. Enjoy bringing your unique desert scene to life!

Craft Templates:

• Close template window when done printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Template   (B&W)

Print friendly version of these instructions