My Life in Tree Rings: A Dendrochronology Craft

I loved counting tree rings as a kid. It's really interesting to be able to determine the age of the tree, but absolutely fascinating that the rings reveal times of drought, fire, or other stresses, as well as good times with rapid growth. Dendrochronology is so cool! I love visiting state parks and museums with events from human history marked on a cross-section of a tree. That's the inspiration for today's project. 

This craft is best for kids who are at least 11 or 12 and is even better for teenagers. For my sample, I went back to age 18. Making this craft as a 53-year old would have taken a lot more time and much larger paper! Affiliate links below. 

 

My Life in Tree Rings

Materials:

• hot press watercolor paper
• paper trimmer
• colored pencils
• watercolors
• black fineliner
• glue stick

Steps: 

Use a paper trimmer to cut the paper so that it is 9" x 9". Cut some of the scraps into 1/4" strips; these will be what you use to label your rings. 

With a pencil, lightly draw a small circle in the center of the paper. Then draw rings around that circle, stopping when you reach your age. It is perfectly ok if the rings are uneven; that's how they are in a real tree! Draw bark around the outermost ring. It should be thicker than the rings and have an uneven, craggy texture. 

Trace each of the rings with a brown colored pencil. Use a darker brown to trace the bark. 

Paint your tree rings. The innermost ring should be the darkest and the outermost rings the lightest. Be sure not to add so much pigment that the lines are obscured. You can add as much (or as little) pigment as you want to the bark and the background. 

While the paint is drying, make a list of the most important events in your life. These can include the birth of younger siblings, starting school, major vacations, adopting a pet, changing schools, joining a club or team, or whatever else you deem important. Write each item on a strip of paper, then cut the ends to make an arrow. Glue each strip so that it points to the proper tree ring. 

Here's a closer look at my sample. I've included my birth (1972), my sister's birth (1975), the start of kindergarten (1977), joining 4-H (1983), my first international travel (1986), MOAS (1989), and high school graduation (1990). 

I wonder if I would have chosen the same items at age 18. I'm guessing not. There's probably something else that would have felt more important. From my perspective at 53, it's a lot easier to see which events from my childhood had the biggest impact on the rest of my life. One item that's missing from my project (because I don't know when it happened) is my first visit to UC Davis. It was probably around 1984 or 1985, but whenever it was, I instantly fell in love and knew that's where I wanted to go to college. That day had a huge impact on me, because not only am I a UCD alum, but I'm also a UCD wife and a UCD mom!