To ask you how to craft a model tree?

[porcelaine]

Posting here in the hopes anyone crafty might be able to help out.. despite almost a year in lockdown my craft skills leave a lot to be desired!
My dd(6) has got really into Enid blyton books like the wishing chair and the faraway tree, but there aren’t really any toys available related to them, presumably because the books are so old. She’s got the idea that we could make a faraway tree together, and I’d love to do a project like that with her but I have zero experience or knowledge of the best way to do that. I can get hold of stuff like cardboard, paper, glue, basic craft materials and paints, don’t want to break the bank but happy to buy stuff. I know vaguely about things like papier mache but am a total novice. Any tips on good YouTube channels, websites, techniques etc? I think the faraway tree is a sort of oak tree with a lot of branches and leaves, it’s not a Christmas tree and a lot of the stuff I’ve found so far is about making a pine type tree.
Sorry for the very random question......

How big?

Table top size, use news paper and masking tape to make trunk, roots ,branches. Nice and lumpy like bark.

Then cover the whole lot in pva glue and kitchen roll. smoths out the surface and makes it firm once dry. Then paint. The canopy? not sure crumpled green tissue paper might work.

buy one of these & add leaves / decor

www.hobbycraft.co.uk/advancedsearchresults.aspx?query=tree

Google is your friend: www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/340655159300106150/

or go big
www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/436004807678654238/

Also this?
www.bakerross.co.uk/giant-wooden-display-tree

I once made a craft tree at home with 2 wooden tree cutouts from HobbyCraft fixed to a board about 15cm apart, and then I put a cardboard platform between them to be the treehouse where the toys could play + lots of paper leaves on the outside - that worked pretty well & was strong enough for plenty of play as well as the making.

If you are good at woodwork you can cut actual tree branches to shape and screw them to a heavy wooden baseplate/bury them in a plantpot full of soil, then you can thread things (pompoms, tissue paper leaf shapes etc) onto wire or thread and wind it round the twigs for foliage.

Small roll of chicken mesh/chicken wire from wilko. You can roll it up and shape it with a wider base. Use thicker bendable wire to make branches by twisting it together and onto the chicken mesh, then cover with papier-mâché or plaster bandages and paint.

Does it have to be a 3 d model? Could you do this then fix on a wall? I’d make a large trunk out of cardboard pain it brown then but out lots of leaf shapes from green paper and tissues various colours etc stick them all onto the wall in a tree shape?