How to Make Paper Coconut Trees

Create a stand by cutting an island shape out of a thick piece of cardboard. Two or three plies of cardboard can also be glued together to create a thicker stand. Paint the stand with craft glue and sprinkle it with sand while the glue is still wet. After it dries, paint it a light brown/yellow sand color.

Create a trunk out of 6-gauge wire. The trunk can be 3 to 8 inches long, depending on how tall you would like your trees to be. Wind a long strip of brown paper around the wire. The strip of brown paper should be 6 to 12 inches long; long enough to cover the entire length of wire. Glue the ends. If you wish to achieve a more realistic coloring on the trunk, wrap the wire in white paper and hand-paint it using various shades of brown.

Create your palm leaves by folding a piece of green craft paper in half lengthwise. Fold the paper in half width-wise. Keep doing this until you have a square that matches the size of palm leaves you would like to have.

Cut an elliptical leaf shape out of the folded paper. Because the paper has been folded, you will get several leaves at once. If you wish to achieve a more realistic coloring on the leaves, cut the leaves out of white paper and hand-paint them using various shades of green.

Make a series of small cuts around the borders of the leaves to create a jagged edge.

Glue a piece of 20-gauge wire to each leaf, starting about halfway down the center of the leaf. Make sure wire is long enough so that it extends 1/2 to 3/4 inches from the bottom of the leaf.

Attach four or five leaves to each trunk by wrapping the extended wires around one end of the trunk. The wire glued to the leaves should be facing down. Let just a bit of the tips of the wrapped around wires stick out for poking on the coconuts.

Make coconuts by painting small foam craft balls brown. Let paint dry.

Put a dab of glue on the tips of the leaf wires that are wrapped around the trunk. Attach the coconuts by poking the tips of the wires into the foam coconuts.

Dip the other end of the trunk in glue and poke it into the center of the island stand.

Place a thin bead of glue around the base of the trunk to better secure it to the island. After it dries, touch up with paint to match the island or trunk color.