Materials
plastic bag (one per child)
leaves from various trees
wax paper
iron (adult only)
large mat
Instructions
1. Give each child a plastic bag. Take the children on a walk through the
neighborhood to gather leaves from different kinds of trees.
2. While the leaves are still fresh, place them between two sheets of wax
paper and press with a warm iron (adult only).
3. Glue one leaf of each type to a large mat divided into several areas. Each
leaf should have its own section of the mat.
4. Identify the species of trees to the children. Talk about the leaves and the
trees they come from.
More to do Art: Make Leaf People. Help each child tape a large leaf to a piece of
drawing paper. Encourage the children to use the leaf as the body of a "leaf
person," using the stem as the neck. Invite them to draw the rest of the
person, or use multiple leaves to create an entire leaf family.
Bulletin Board: Make a large tree trunk with bare branches out of brown
construction paper. Tack it to a classroom bulletin board. Invite the children
to cut out autumn leaves from construction paper. Let the children tape
their leaves to the branches of the tree.
