These are activities we have probably all done before and your children may also be doing them at school but it is so easy and lots of fun. Children love doing things at home that they have done at school.
First, take a walk around the yard or block and collect cool leaves. For language you can talk about the sizes, shapes and colors of the leaves and encourage your children to find a good variety. When you get home you can also sort the leaves by color, and size. Older kids can even sort by tree type. You can print out pictures of leaves from the internet and find out what tree they belong to.
Next, you can make leaf rubbings. All you need is a hard surface a crayon and leaves. Large crayons work best but any crayons will do. The crayons work best when you peel them and hold them sideways. Put the leaf under the paper and start rubbing. You can encourage your children to turn the rubbings into actual pictures. Maybe they could use a big leaf for a body and a small one for a head. Maybe they could make a leaf collage. Kids of all ages can make beautiful creations.
Don’t throw the leaves out when you’re done.
Have your child pick out his favorite leaves and iron them between two pieces of wax paper. This makes a really cool picture.
When you are done with both of these pictures you can even take construction paper and mount them for a great colored background. Glue a new fall photo of your child in the middle of these creations. By doing this the memories can last forever.
Try doing this every year and collect them in a box or large envelope. Both you and your child will love to look back at them for years to come!
