It is a wonderful thing to get creative with items around your home and leaves are a great example. They are everywhere in all different shapes and sizes. I’ll show you 2 different types of art using leaves from my garden. The first is leaf printing and the other is leaf rubbing. My children really enjoyed both activities and they cost me absolutely nothing!
Leaf printing
It really is as simple as it looks – paint some leave and press them onto paper. It wasn’t as messy as I expected but it is always good to lay some newspaper down so when you paint your leaves, so you won’t paint the table.
What you will need:
- Leaves
- Paint
- Paint brushes
- Paper
- Find some leaves in your garden or head down to a local park. The flat ones work best so grab a selection and see which ones work well.
- Lay out a sheet of newspaper or scrap paper. This will serve as a background for the kids to paint their leave on so they don’t end up painting the table.
- At this point you can get straight into painting your leaves or you can paint a design on your paper. My children and I painted the trunks of a tree with brown paint. Then we painted the top of our leaves and pressed them onto our tree. You can also use the leaves to create whatever design you like and I also tested it out with a flower pattern.
Ideas
- Fun activity for kids
- Make your own wrapping paper: use brown paper, print leaf patterns and allow to dry
- Print your own calico bags!
- Cards and artwork
Leaf rubbing
This can be a little tricky for young children as they can’t rub hard enough with the crayons or even rub in the same direction. My 4 year old struggled with this activity but my 6 and 8 year old did it easy. Again, it is a very cheap and quick activity that gives the kids a lot of satisfaction and will have them hunting around the garden for the perfect leaf.
What you will need:
- Leaves
- Paper
- Crayons
- Lay a leaf face down on the table so the underside of the leaf is facing up. Cover with a piece of paper.
- Using a crayon, rub the paper firmly in the one direction (across the leaf), where the leaf is hiding underneath.
- Right before your eyes, the outline of the leaf will appear.
Once you master the technique, you can combine rubbings and drawings to create a piece of art. For example, draw a face and use the leaves as ears. You can also use the leaves as the petals of a flower. The possibilities are endless!
Ideas
- Add outlines in felt or ball point pen
- Add watercolour to your crayon drawings
- Make cards and bookmarks
More Leaf Art Ideas
Leaf Collage
Combines leaves in drawings. More details here: Leaf Collage.
Foliage Faces
Be inspired by the foliage you can find in the backyard and turn it into faces! Read more here.
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