A tree house of my own: I decided to present an exciting and fun architectural challenge to my fourth and fifth graders. I asked the students to create a tree house that reflected their own interests and personalities, a tree house of their own.

The world of architecture offers so many exciting opportunties for humans to create dwellings that interact with the environment. From first grade through fifth, students in our community study how people live around the world. Students enjoy learning about different dwellings and how they are constructed.

I decided to present an exciting and fun architectural challenge to my fourth and fifth graders. I asked the students to create a tree house that reflected their own interests and personalities--a tree house of their own. I knew that this could be a lesson in which students could incorporate the familiar elements of art and principles of design. Students could let their imaginations flow and incorporate their ideas into the world around them.

Tree Houses in History, Art, and Literature

Throughout history, people have been fascinated with tree houses. The Romans made tree seats. During the Italian Renaissance, the Medicis built an extravagant tree house that housed fountains, a marble table, seats, and two spiraling marble staircases on opposite sides of the tree. Some of the most famous tree houses exist in the imaginations of authors and artists. One of the most famous fictional tree houses of all was created by writer Johann David Wyss: the home of the Swiss Family Robinson. A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh and his friends visited Owl's tree house in the Hundred Acre Wood. In the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch painted a figure that lived in a surreal tree house.

Getting Started

I began by asking my students if any of them had constructed a hut, fort, or tree house. Students excitedly shared experiences, and discussed construction problems and successes. We discussed dwellings of people who lived in different parts of the world. We brainstormed how and why certain cultures created homes and buildings with specific styles and materials. I showed pictures of buildings designed in a variety of architectural styles as well as paintings that depicted different forms of architecture throughout history. We discussed how the architect Frank Lloyd Wright created his buildings in harmony with nature.

I asked students to design and create a tree house that reflected their personal interests and personalities. The tree houses could be realistic, imaginary, or a combination of both. The final tree house projects were mixed-media compositions using a minimum of three different materials. The background should depict one of the four seasons and interact with nature in some way.

Students began their compositions by making preliminary sketches of their tree houses. They answered a variety of questions to initiate the thinking process such as, "How many trees will I need for my house?" "Is this a house of the past, present, or future?" "Is my house realistic or imaginary?" "What materials will I need to construct my tree house?" "Is my house architecturally sound?" "How many people can fit into my house?"

Constructing the Tree Houses

After the preliminary sketches were made, students received a 12 x 18" (31 x 46 cm) piece of construction paper. Several students chose black to depict their tree houses at night; others chose white in order to create a watercolor wash in the background. For the tree trunks and branches, students used pieces of 6 x 18" (15 x 46 cm) paper in different shades of gray and brown. I recommended 3 x 12" (8 x 31 cm) pieces of green and white paper for the ground. I showed students how to tear the paper slowly to create the rough, irregular texture of the bark and ground.

To organize materials efficiently, I used shallow, cardboard soft-drink boxes. Five boxes were set out in the room: one held different sizes of construction paper; another tissue paper, multicolored foil papers, aluminum foil, and corrugated cardboard. A third box held toothpicks and small, thin wood pieces in a variety of shapes; the fourth had yarn, jute, and twine; the fifth contained buttons, beads, and other items students could use to enhance the texture of the tree houses. Students used glue for the adhesive and markers and oil pastels for details.

As the students started to construct the houses, ideas snowballed. Each student was engaged in the technical details that personalized each house. Some of the houses had two buildings, some were in the shape of castles, and others exhibited complicated designs of the future. Students worked with over-lapping, folding, twisting, knotting, cutting, and tearing to create desired effects. Several students chose to give a three-dimensional effect to their houses, designing porches and decks that folded out from the paper and windows and door that opened. Most students used more than the three required materials and combined materials for special effects. The results were stunning compositions that exhibited thought, imagination, and expressive use of the elements of art and principles of design into solid architectural compositions. When students finished the tree houses, we displayed them around our school. Parents and teachers raved about how the students had created the mood of fun and fantasy through clever use of color, design, and materials.

Assessing the Work

Students shared their work with each other, discussing techniques, materials, and sources for their ideas. Some students elaborated on specific purposes for certain parts of the houses and told stories about their tree houses. Students assessed how they effectively used line, shape, color, texture, space, balance, harmony, and unity in their compositions.

Extending the Lesson to Other Subjects

One of my goals in teaching art is to integrate art with the regular classroom experience as much as possible. Sometimes I will work with the classroom teachers to correlate an integrated lesson; other times I will pass on suggestions that can be developed in other subject areas from my initial art lesson. Classroom teachers could use this lesson to: extend students understanding of math through studying measurement, proportion, space relationships, and calculating size; or extend their creativity in the form of writing stories and poetry about the tree houses. Students could research countries and cultures of the world where tree houses are used as permanent dwellings for a social studies lesson.

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students use visual structures and functions of art to communicate ideas.

Resources

Casanave, S. "Tree Houses Take a Bough",, Smithsonian, August, 1997, pp. 94-103.

Nash, E., Frank Lloyd Wright Force of Nature, 1996. New York, NY: Smithmark Publishers.

Betty Morgan is an art teacher at the John Eliot School and the Hillside School in Needham, Massachusetts.