Autumn - Lots of Autumn Leaf Activities

The leaves are changing colors and it's time for my preschoolers to make some colorful leaves.  There are so many fun crafts to do for this season.  Here are a couple we did last week.

PAPER TOWEL FOOD COLORING EYE DROPPER LEAVES:

You'll need paper towels, plastic eye droppers, water and food coloring.

I cut paper towels into leaf shapes.  Then I put them down for the kids on stack of newspaper (want a thick stack so the food coloring doesn't go through to the table).   I put red, yellow, and orange (mixed one drop of red with a few drops of yellow) food coloring in small bowls with some water.

Then I let the kids have fun taking color from the bowls and dropping it onto the paper towel leaves.
The kids learned fast how much they wanted to squeeze out.  They loved watching the color spread after it hit the paper towel.

By adding each color wonderful autumn leaves were made.

In order to keep track of which child created which leaves, I put them to dry on a light colored piece of construction paper that had their name on it.  I forgot to take a picture, but after the towels - oops, I mean leaves - dried, they left a neat pattern on the paper.  Many of the children wanted to take that paper home as well.

Another craft we did was LEAF RUBBINGS:

You just need to cut out leaf patterns from cardboard.

It is important to tape down the cardboard leaves to the table (or newspaper you might have covering the table ) so they don't move.  Then place a piece of white printer paper over the cardboard leaves. Give the children fall colored crayons with the wrappers off so they can roll and rub them across the paper.  They are amazed when they start to see the leaves appear.  It is probably a good idea to hold the paper still for the children so they can rub and rub with out the paper flying off the table :).

Here is a finished leaf rubbing picture -

Another fun fall leaf craft is TISSUE PAPER LEAVES:

I cut many small pieces of tissue in fall colors (red, orange, yellow, and brown).  The kids could also practice their cutting skills by cutting the tissue themselves. 

  I drew a large leaf shape on thick white paper and let the kids glue down the tissue on the paper.

They really took their time and enjoyed putting different colors all over their leaf.  They used glue mixed with a little water to brush over the tissue, making it stick to the paper.

Almost done, after they dry, then I cut them out.  It is good to leave the area around the leaf while the children are pasting the tissue so they can really cover and not worry about staying in the lines.

Once dry I cut out on the leaf outline to create the beautiful fall colored leaves you see in the picture below.