Materials
2 pieces of plywood, 16" x 24" (40 cm x 60 cm) Variety of leaves10 pieces of corrugated cardboard, 12" x 20" (30 cm x 50 cm) Paper towels2 belts or camping straps for tightening press
Instructions
1. Take a nature walk and collect freshleaves for pressing. Talk to childrenabout what happens to the leaves ontrees when the weather changes (theychange color, fall to the ground, dryup).
2. Invite the children to help you assemblea leaf press in the following manner:Begin with a piece of plywood forthe bottom, then one piece of corrugatedcardboard followed by a papertowel. Arrange leaves on the papertowel, keeping them as flat as possible.Cover the leaves with another papertowel, then another piece of corrugatedcardboard. Continue this patternuntil all leaves are in the press (keepinga few leaves out to compare withpressed leaves at a later date), and topwith the second piece of plywood.
3. Wrap belts or camping straps aroundthe press and tighten.
4. Have children open the press andchange the paper towels after aboutfive days. Tighten up the press again.Depending on how wet your leaveswere, you may need to change thepaper towels again.
5. Leaves should be completely dry within four weeks.Compare them to leaves that were not pressed.More to doArt: Properly pressed leaves will last a long time. They can be used to make greeting cards ormay be pressed between sheets of wax paper and hung in a window. Make a reusable placemat by mounting leaves with white glue on light cardboard and covering both sides with clearvinyl or laminate.Math: Have children count the leaves and sort them by size, color, shape and variety.
