Leaf Creatures - A New Way to Save Leaves

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

15 Sep 2006 06:00 AM

When I was kid, I used to wander around and find loose, colorful leaves that fell from the trees during autumn and put them in wax paper and press them so I could save them in my little fall collector books. I did this a great deal and over the years, the practice gradually faded out as many of the things we do as children do.

This year, I'm going to teach my daughter about the joy of leaf collecting, only we're not just going to press them into wax paper. We're going to take the different leaves with their different colors and we're going to lay them out on some different colors of paper. Then my daughter will get a marker and add to the leaf image whatever she sees there.

Leaf Creatures

• You'll need some clean, relatively dry and colorful leaves
• Colorful construction paper
• Craft glue
• Markers
• Hole Punch
• Frame or Wax Paper

Collect leaves and make sure they are dry. Get a different assortment from the type of leaf, leaves in different shapes and colors. Carefully lay the leaves out and set them against different color backgrounds that set off the color of the leaves. Challenge your child to see what creature do they see there.

Use some craft glue to set the leaves against the paper and then let your child use a marker to add to the image created by the leaf. Let both dry and then press it with wax paper to protect the leaf and to create a slightly distorted image. Use a hole punch to punch holes in the sheets and either tie them together with ribbon or put them into a notebook.

You can skip the wax paper and hole punch in favor of frames and setting the leaf creatures up into the frames under glass to keep them dry and protected. Then you can hang the leaf art up in your child's room or set them up around the house.

Use Your Imagination

Be sure to use your imagination and challenge your child to use theirs. Leaf creatures are a lot like cloud shapes - where you lay on your back and gaze up at the sky and see what the clouds remind you of - whether it's a castle, a horse or a cat. I've seen leaves made into lizards, dragons, cats, dogs and feathered masks. The challenge is not to just try and make the leaf fit the image, but see the image that the leaf presents.

Have you ever collected leaves in the autumn before?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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