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Leaf Rubbings
When nature starts repainting trees and bushes with the colors of fall, collect some leaves and make your own leaf rubbings.
What you need:
- leaves
- crayons with wrappers removed
- thin white paper
What you do:
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Go collecting. Go outside with your child and collect leaves. Pick a few samples of several different kinds of leaves. (Flat leaves that aren't too dry work the best.) Ask your child how the various leaves are different in shape, size, color, and texture. Then ask, "How are all these different leaves the same?"
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Get rubbing. Put a leaf on a flat surface, front-side-down. Cover it with a piece of paper. Lay a crayon flat, lengthwise, over the leaf and paper. Without moving the leaf or paper, gently rub the crayon until the leaf's image appears. Repeat for each kind of leaf. Suggest that your child use either green or bright fall-color crayons.
What you talk about:
Ask your child if looking at the rubbings revealed anything new about the leaves. Explain that food and oxygen get carried through our bodies by blood in tubes called veins and arteries. Ask your child if leaves have a similar system. Have your child point out the veins in several different leaves.
Activity: Susan Goodman
Leaf art: NWF