Purpose:
Autumn leaves are a source of fascination for children as well as a way to introduce colors and seasons. This method for pressing
leaves adds bursts of brilliant fall color to the natural colors of the
leaves. The children are always amazed to see the finished product. They
look particularly beautiful when hanging in the window of your classroom or
home. They will enliven discussions about fall, colors, trees, and nature.
As children talk and describe, they are developing a knowledge base as well
as vocabulary and sentence structure, all of which help build a foundation
for later reading skill development.
Materials/Advance Preparation:
- a selection of colorful leaves that the children gather from the
ground (the fresher the better)
- old crayons (preferably fall colors—red, orange, yellow)
- grater or crayon sharpener
- waxed paper
- newspaper
- iron
- scissors
- If using a grater, grate the crayons in advance. See #1 below.
Directions:
- Carefully
grate crayons (an adult should do this). Alternatively, you can use a crayon
sharpener to get shavings (children can do this). Place the gratings or
shavings in plastic
containers.
- Cut
waxed paper into lengths of 11-12 inches.
- Place
several layers of newspaper on a table.
- Place
a piece of waxed paper on the newspaper.
- Have
each child arrange one, two or three leaves on the waxed paper.
- Have
the children sprinkle a small amount of crayon shavings around the leaves.
- Cover
the leaves with a second piece of waxed paper.
- Put
a single sheet of newspaper over the waxed paper to protect the iron if you
wish, and iron the leaf picture on high heat.
- Give the children a chance to
admire and describe their work, either individually or as a group.
Depending on your goals and their ages, you may ask them to describe and name
the colors and/or the features of the leaves (shape, veins, etc.), the trees
they came from, the seasons.
- Hang
the pictures in the window. They make beautiful transparencies.
Notes: The leaf pictures are very striking, as the melted
crayon makes bursts of bright color around the leaves. Also, since the advent
of microwaves waxed paper has been made differently. It no longer sticks to
itself very
well when ironed. The crayon shavings provide an additional source of wax to
make the leaf pictures hold together.
Autumn Leaf Pictures