Leaf Rubbing Art and Reflection is a fun fall activity that allows you to bring your favorite leaves inside your home! This activity is a great way for you to explore some of the leaves in your environment and reflect on other things that are changing in your life!
Supplies:
● 4-7 leaves from outside (or fake ones if where you live doesn’t have leaves)
● A white piece of paper
● Crayons of varying color
● A black marker
● A piece of wax paper
● Tape (scotch or painters tape)
Before we start, make sure you have gathered all of your supplies, including your leaves. Remember, if you don’t live in a state where leaves fall on the ground this time of year, be sure to ask a caregiver to help you find some fake leaves instead!
Step 1: Now that we have our supplies, we can get started! First, we are going to get our leaves ready. To do this you are going to grab your piece of wax paper and tape it to the table so that it doesn’t move. I recommend using the painters tape (the blue tape) so it is easier to remove from the table after you are done! You can tape the wax paper so it is tall, or so it is wide, it is up to you! I recommend taping the top and the bottom of the paper!
Step 2: Then you are going to take each leaf and tape them by the stem to the wax paper. I recommend using the scotch tape, but any tape you have will do! You can tape them in all different directions, however you picture them falling!
Step 3: Next you are going to place your white piece of paper on top of your leaves and position it how you want! If you don’t like the way all of your leaves are facing, don’t worry! We are not taping down the white piece of paper, so you can rotate your paper to get the leaves in the correct position as you go!
Step 4: Now you are going to take your first crayon and color over top of one of the leaves. It is best to use the side of the crayon! You should be applying some pressure, but don’t push so hard that you break the crayon! The good thing is you can color over it as many times as you want until you start to see an outline! As you start to color on top of the leaf, you will see the outline of the leaf on the paper!! Continue doing this with all of your leaves. Remember, you can change colors, rotate the paper, do multiple leaves twice, you name it!
Step 5: Great job! Your leaves are looking awesome! Go ahead and take your paper and set it to the side and we’ll clean up a little bit before moving on to the reflection portion of the activity. It is most helpful to leave the leaves taped to the wax paper for this. Just simply untape the wax paper from the table and fold it up so the leaves are stuck inside. Then just throw it away!
Step 6: Now we are going to take some time to reflect. Go ahead and grab your paper with your leaves colored on it and your black marker. On each leaf you are going to write down something in your life that you see is changing, just like how leaves change colors and fall at this time of year. Maybe you started a new school, so you are changing around who your friends are! Or maybe you just started playing soccer for the first time, so you have a new favorite hobby! Write down all the things you can think of.
Step 7: How do you feel about those changes? Do any of them make you happy? Do any of them make you sad? For most of us, we will have changes that do both, and that’s totally okay! Each season of life brings about new changes and things that are important in our lives. The cool thing is that we get to experience all sorts of things because of it and learn tons of new things along the way!
You did it! Let’s look at our final product! How did it turn out? Were there areas of change in your life you were surprised by? Try hanging this up in your room or on your fridge and reflect on some of these things as we go through the fall season!
~Made by Becca B.