Crafternoons with Poppy: Creating a Family Tree

I'm a typical Chinese girl. Which means that I am part of a large extended family which struggles with conversational topics when we meet at the compulsory Chinese New Year gatherings. That never bothered me when I was younger, but now, with kids of my own, I feel the sudden need to ensure they know their family, their roots, their culture, especially since they have 2 very different sets of cultures to learn about.

We live in Singapore, halfway around the world from Max's family. So we make it a point to chat with them on a regular basis. Doing up a family tree is an idea I've been wanting to implement for a long time, so that Poppy can see at a glance who she's related to, instead of being blur at family functions. Due to lack of space, we kept it to immediate family (no distant relatives).

First I searched for everyone's pictures (this was the most time consuming part) and printed them out. On another piece of paper I printed out their 'ranks' in both English and Mandarin (for example: sister/妹妹, grandmother/外婆). In today's world, where everyone is known simply as "Uncle" or "Auntie", I think it's important for us, those of whom who have some Chinese blood, to know the 'proper' terms of addressing our relatives, even if we don't use them.

For example, I explained to Poppy that her Ah Ma is called 外婆 because Poppy has the same surname as her father, and Ah Ma is my mum, so she doesn't share the same surname, and is thus supposedly considered 'out of the direct family' (for non Chinese speaking folks, 外 means "outside"). It didn't bother her at all. She says she just wants to marry Calla when she grows up, and buy a bicycle built for two so that the both of them can ride it together when they are 8 and 12 respectively.

So anyway. I got Poppy to cut out the pictures and stick them with their respective labels. She still LOVES cutting.

While she did that, I accompanies her cutting bonanza by cutting out the tree trunk. We used the back of a drawing block for that, which turned out to be reasonably strong enough to stand. But if you'd like for it to be a little more of a permanent structure, then use something less flimsy. Hard cardboard is the best

To make it stand, we simply cut another piece of cardboard the same width of the tree trunk, and a slit on both pieces and fit them together.

Then Poppy made holes in each of the cards (she loved the one-hole puncher), and helped me thread them while I tied the knots. It's so sweet of her to insist that she and Calla were to be placed side by side :)

When the craft was completed, she asked "How come there are no leaves, Mama?". Oops. "Err... it's errr Winter time." Crisis averted :D

This post is part of "2 Weeks Creative Fun", an initiative by Alicia of An Accidental Homeschooling Mum. Which means that there are 13 more fun ideas you can look out for! Yay!

Up next is Regina who blogs at www.reginamoo.blogspot.com. Regina documents her little family as they grow as one, charting every day mundane events to milestones that will chart the shape of their future. She is enjoying being a wife and mother, two personae that she has never thought of becoming - in the past. She takes pride in being a working class stiff trying to be a first class Mum!

 

Here's the list of mums who are sharing their creative juices. Do hop by to take a look!

June 21 - Alicia - Mister Seahorse
June 22 - Adeline - Decorating Photo Frame with Polymer Clay
June 23 - Sandra - Dinosaur Galore!
June 24 - Winnie - Recycled Train Craft
June 25 - Susan - We're Building a Farm
June 26 - Ann - Goopy Goodness
June 27 - Justina - Celebrating Spring
June 28 - Adora - Creating a Family Tree
June 29 - Regina - Smoop Dogg
June 30 - Sarah - Crazy Box Cake
July 1 - Jennifer - Plant Poke
July 2 - Pamela - Make-your-own-car today!
July 3 - Ming Yuan - DIY Carousel Craft
July 4 - Dominique - Making a Subway
July 5 - Karen - Egg Craft