Leaf Stamps
Calling all artists! For this activity, you learn how to sketch a tree, pick out your own leaves, paint the leaves, and stamp them onto a canvas to create art! You get to take something from nature and use it to paint. Once you stamp your leaves onto the canvas, it will look just like a leaf for your tree! You also can write something you are thankful for on each leaf. This is to remind you that even though seasons change, there is still so much to be thankful for. After you are finished, you can hang it up to display your artwork for the fall season!
Supplies:
Canvas or cardstock
Paint
Paintbrush
Different shapes of leaves
Permanent marker or pen
Markers or crayons (if you choose not to paint)
Step 1- Before you begin, make sure you have all your supplies out and ready to go! The very first thing you need to do is get out your pen or pencil and your paper or canvas. You will be sketching out a tree! I will be using a pen and some cardstock paper. The first step in drawing your tree is to create your trunk! Find the middle of your paper. Draw a line from the middle of the paper, all the way down to the bottom of the paper. You can do a straight line down or make it curve a little bit to make the base look bigger! I will be curving mine! Now you will mirror that line on the other side! You can choose to have your trunk thick or thin! I will be making mine thick!
Step 2- The next step is to start drawing out the branches! You will be drawing wavy lines out of the trunk like sun rays! Start out in the middle of the paper where you started your trunk. This time draw up! You can make them go to the side and go all the way up. Once you have those lines, draw a line exactly like it right beside it. This will be the thickness of the branch. You can make the branch lines close together or far apart! Do this to every wavy line you drew! You should now have a tree!
Step 3- Now you get to paint or color your tree! You can choose to make your tree trunk any color. I will be making mine brown! If you choose to paint your trunk, have all your painting supplies ready in a good painting spot! You will also need to have a spot where your tree can dry. Once you are ready, you can paint or color your tree! I will be painting mine! Remember to paint or color all your branches. Once you are finished, you can set it to the side!
Step 4- The next step is to head outside! The season is changing and the leaves are falling to the ground. For your activity, you will pick out some leaves to paint and stamp onto your canvas! You can pick out as many leaves as you would like! They can be big leaves, round leaves, tiny leaves, or pointed leaves. Pick some that look different from each other! Keep in mind they have to fit on your canvas or paper. Look for some that have different textures! They can be bumpy, have different lines, or be rough on the sides. Once you have your leaves picked out, you can head back inside. If you painted your tree, you will need to wait to do the next step until the trunk is completely dry. If you colored your tree trunk, you can go on!
Step 5- The first thing you will do is to stamp the leaves onto the tree branches. You can choose any color paint you would like for this step. You can do many colors or just one color! I will be using red, yellow, green, and orange for fall! The first color I will be using is yellow. The leaves will not be reusable to do every color with the same leaf. Each different color needs one leaf! Go ahead and pick out a leaf for your color (ex the color red gets my spiky leaf and the color orange gets my smooth leaf). Then get your paintbrush ready and paint the top of the leaf. The top works best because it is smoother than the back! Once the top is painted, you can flip it onto a spot on your tree. You can keep doing this step until you want to change colors! Space them out all over your branches!
Tip- Line up all your colored leaves on a paper towel so you can use them over and over!
Step 6- Next, you can stamp some more leaves to the bottom of your canvas just like a pile of leaves! You can keep using your same stamps for this step. Before finishing, you can stamp some leaves falling to the ground from the branches! Once you're finished stamping, you can set your painting aside to dry! You can also put away all your paint and wash out your brushes you used!
Step 7- This step is optional! Once your paint is completely dry, you can take a permanent marker or pen and write what you are thankful for in each leaf! This is a great way to remember to be thankful! Once you are done, you can hang it up someplace you can read it all the time.
Step 8- Finally you are finished! You should now have Leaf Prints on a canvas! Can you see your different textures that made it from the leaves to your artwork? Can you see different lines? The stamps are not perfect leaves, but each looks like its own shape! You created something beautiful for the fall season that you can hang up as decoration!
~Made by Sarah C.