Kid's Craft: Leaf Project

I want to make a confession...I have not been very consistent with art projects in our daily homeschooling life. I'm going to have to start working more artsy things in. Tru and I really liked this project. It was super easy, inexpensive, and lots of fun! We were blessed to receive this book a couple of months ago.

The first few pages in the book have colorful examples of what you can make with a variety of leaves, mostly animals, and the supplies you'll need and the how to's. I liked that it talked about what to look for in the different seasons and it even had a little science lesson and field guide in the back. It did take a little preparation and patience. After we picked our leaves we had to prepare them and wait a week or so for them to dry.

We cleaned our leaves by soaking them in warm water for a few minutes. Then we gently dried them with a paper towel and placed them on newspaper.

Then we put another piece of newspaper on top and placed them in a thick book. We used a dictionary. After about a week they were ready to be used. When we pulled them out they were dry and perfectly flat. Tru thought it was pretty cool.

Once the leaves were dry Tru picked the animal he wanted to make and put it together. All by himself. He was so excited! It turned out pretty good...I know I'm probably partial...but it did. We just used a little construction paper, some glue(not glue sticks), and some cotton swabs to smudge and clean any excess glue. Walla! A fox made out of leaves from our front yard.

You could even use more leaves to make the landscape around the animal. We might do that with the extra leaves we have left. I know for sure that come this Fall we will be doing another leaf project. It would be a great family thing to do collecting leaves together once the leaves have turned different colors. Just thinking about it makes me want to fast forward through summer and skip right into fall!