Among houses, castles, and vehicles, it's time to plant the first living thing of our batch: the tree — the most repeated element in our lesson backgrounds (a "quick tree" here, a "ball of leaves" there) and the least honored with a full lesson of its own. Today we do it justice with two lessons in one: first the complete tree with its carved trunk and branches, then the undisputed loveliest art project of the entire series: the "four seasons tree" — the same tree drawn four times, telling the story of a whole year: spring blossoms, summer's green and fruit, autumn's falling gold, and winter's white silence. Four paintings worthy of a small exhibition on any wall.
We need four sheets (or one big sheet divided into quarters with two crossing lines), a pencil, and the year's full palette: green, pink, orange, white, and brown.
First: The Basic Tree, Step by Step
- 1) The trunk: draw two parallel vertical lines widening slightly at the bottom — a tree stands on a broad "foot" anchoring it to the earth; never make the trunk an even tube.
- 2) Little roots: at the trunk's base, open the lines right and left with short arcs sinking into the ground line — the tree's fingers gripping the soil.
- 3) The branches: from the trunk's top, open two lines like a big letter Y, then from each branch open a smaller Y — the secret of all trees: every branch forks like its parent, and the child who grasps the "Y rule" can draw any tree in the world.
- 4) The leaf cloud: around the branches draw a big cloud shape with consecutive arcs (the sheep-and-clouds scribble — the eternal friend!) — the tree's green crown, swallowing the branch tips so only their inner ends show.
- 5) Trunk details: scattered short vertical strokes on the trunk — rough bark — and a small circle holding a smaller one: the famous wood knot, possibly a squirrel's front door!
- 6) A ground line with short grass around the base — our tree is planted, not hanging.
Second: The Four Seasons Project
Now the magic: we draw the same skeleton — trunk, branches, cloud — four times, changing only the "clothes":
- Spring: a light green leaf cloud scattered with small pink circles — opening blossoms, and a bird from our old lesson building a nest among the branches: small crossed twigs.
- Summer: deep full green with shiny red circles — ripe apples begging to be picked, and under the tree a big oval shadow where a rabbit rests from the heat: the deepest shadow your child has drawn yet.
- Autumn: the cloud in adjacent patches of orange, yellow, and red, with the main event below: falling leaves — small colored drops fluttering along curved motion lines and carpeting the ground. The most animated season of all!
- Winter: the boldest move — no leaf cloud at all! The bare branches alone with the full Y rule exposed, white snow lines along them, falling flakes, and perhaps a small snowman beside the trunk. The hardest season in form and the most elegant — where your child proves they truly mastered the tree's skeleton, because no leaves cover it anymore!
Hang the four paintings in a row in season order — and you'll own the loveliest artistic "timeline" explaining the year's cycle better than any book.
The Rings Fact: A Tree Counts Its Own Age
While your child draws the wood knot, tell the story that has always amazed humans: if we cut a tree trunk (never our tree, of course!), we'd find nested circular rings inside — one ring for every year the tree lived, exactly like the turtle shell rings from our old lesson! Wide rings mean years of rain and plenty; narrow ones, years of thirst. Some ancient trees carry thousands of rings — trees that were growing before our grandparents' grandparents. Then the sweet question: how many rings does YOUR tree have? Let them decide its age themselves.
The Lesson's Stumble: The Lollipop Tree
The classic stumble: a thin straight stick trunk topped by a perfect ball — a cold geometric tree without life. The three quick cures: widen the trunk's base (a tree stands firm), break the ball's perfection with uneven arcs (nature knows no perfect circles), and let a branch or two poke out of the cloud breaking its border. Three touches turn the "tree symbol" into a tree that almost sways in the wind.
The Bottom Line
A trunk widening at its base, Y-rule branches, and a leaf cloud changing outfits four times a year — the tree we finally honored today with a full lesson and a seasons exhibition. Your child learned that one skeleton carries endless stories, and that omission (a leafless winter) is as much an art as addition. Tomorrow we pick our garden's loveliest bloom: the flower lesson! And the Rasm Kids course grows a forest of skills in your child, season after season.
