Find a special place outdoor where you and your students can
observe nature throughout the school year. Visit this same place each season
and observe and collect leaves from a variety of plants, including trees.
Observe the weather and temperate while you look for animals and insects that
live in or use trees and other plants. Help students record their experiences
in a nature journal or create a classroom poster. Compare your records for
each season – describe the changes, make predictions for the next season’s
visit.
Fall Art Projects
Paint with Pine
Needles
Gather needles from the ground beneath a tree and use a
strong rubber band to create bundles of “bristles.” Attach a stick handle, if
desired. Let’s paint!
Leafy Greeting Cards
Have children collect leaves and press them between pages of
thick phone books or between layers of newspaper with weight on top. After a
couple of weeks, take them out. Give each child their personal collection of
pressed leaves. Create “Happy Fall” greeting cards by gluing leaves to
construction paper and decorating.
Leaf Prints
Paper
Stamp Pads
Paints and brushes
Variety of Leaves
Encourage children to make prints by pressing leaves onto
stamp pads or painting them, then pressing onto paper. What shapes and patterns
can they make?
Leafy Critters
Use different leaves to create animal shapes.
Leaf Rubbing
White paper
Leaves
Pencils
Have each child place their leaf vein side up on a flat
surface, put paper over the leaf, and rub the side of the pencil on the paper
over the leaf. Encourage students to explain why the pencil created the pattern
it did? Let them trade leaves and do another rubbing – compare the results of
the two rubbings.
