how to make a tree mural?

Question

Hey, I teach art at a preschool for children with special needs. I had them make leafs last week- paint them, print and glitter them up! Now I have over 100 leafs and would like to make a huge tree and put it all together as a mural. Do you have any ideas as to how we can make the tree? I really want it to be 3D. So far, I've come up with drawing a large outline of the trunk and branches and having the kids paper mache it some how and paint it brown- or collage with ropes...?
Thnaks for any ideas!

Answer 1

To get lots of dimension see if you can find a large tube and cut it down the middle and fasten that to the wall.

The apply your ropes and paper mache(make you own with flour, water and news paper) Get the texture on the trunk and the bottom roots and the top branches.

Then get some wall texture material from the hardware store It's really cheep and using a cheep throw-away brush (or your hands) apply the texture to cover the other stuff. When that dries, paint away and add your leaves.

Don't forget some birds and butterflies