How to Make a Large Bat Tree for Your Classroom

During the month of October, you can accent your classroom, by building a large bat tree. This way you can identify your students with their facial picture on a bat. This article will explain how to make this unique craft. You will need one extra large pumpkin, a large tree branch, orange ribbon, facial snapshots of your classmates, scissors, cardboard, a plastic bag and a five-gallon bucket of gravel rock.

Step One; Cut your extra large pumpkin in half. Clean out the insides of the bottom pumpkin. Clean all the way to the rind. Set it aside to dry our a bit.

Step Two; Place a small plastic bag inside the pumpkin and fill it with your gravel rock. Make sure that you have enough to hold your branch. However, do not overfill it to breaking.

Step Three; Place your large tree branch into the gravel rock. Make sure that it is good and secure. You don't want it falling over. The gravel should be strong enough to hold the branch.

Step Four; Cut out the facials of your students. They have to be small enough to fit on your bat design. Place them in an envelope for safe keeping for now.

Step Four; Cut your orange ribbon into equal lengths for each student. Your ribbon should be of one color. Keep it as thin as possible. some have used black fine thread, too.

Step Five; Cut out a design for your bat. It has to be big enough to hold the facial image of a student. Once you get a design made, use it for each student. Make your bats out of thin cardboard. Now using a black marker or paint, cover both sides of the cardboard and set them aside to dry.

Step Six; Take glue or Scotch tape and attach the facial images in the head area or center of your bat image.

Step Seven; Poke a small hole in the top center of your cardboard bat. Run your ribbon or thread through and tie a small knot in the end.

Step Eight; Hang your facial bats on your tree branch. You have now completed your bat tree.

You want to place your bat tree in a place where it can be seem by everyone. This tree will give your classroom an identity of the students that are in it. Some teachers place it by the door our just outside the door of the classroom. It depends on the traffic of the area. You want it to be seen, but not in the way. This project is also a great way to accent and celebrate the fall and Halloween season in your school.