— August 25, 2024

Do you have a child who loves art but is not much of an outdoorsy kid? I have one of those, the weather has to be utter perfection for him to stay outside longer than ten minutes at a time. But he will spend all day doing arts and crafts. He does not even come to me anymore for the supplies but is constantly dragging art supplies out from our homeschooling closet and setting them up at the table. Because of this, planning art activities that use leaves provides my child with the motivation to get out in nature.

The art activity is simple but messy. Paint and leaves are used to stamp the imprint of various leaves onto paper. The uniqueness of each leaf will be enhanced, encouraging your child to creatively choose placements and select which leaves to use. 

Leaf stamping is one lesson from the week Ll is for Leaves. Ll is for Leaves  is an entire week of lessons complete with coloring pages, book suggestions, more activity ideas, and printables. Click the button below. It is all entirely free! Your preschooler will not look at nature, plants, and leaves the same again. They will be an inspiring botanist and appreciate nature in a new way!

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Go on a nature walk with your child.

The objectives aren’t simply to collect leaves.

Goal #1: Experience nature. 

The main goal with the nature walk is to get your child outside to experience nature with all five senses. You want your child to connect with God’s creation and find beauty and joy in it. Do not force anything, there is no need to at this age. Allow them to observe and experience the sights, sounds, and textures at their own pace.

Goal #2: Observe plant life. 

The next goal is to observe the plant life. Ignite your child’s curiosity by being curious yourself. Share observations about different leaves. The size or color. Take it a step further and comment on the margin, what the outside of the leaf looks like. Is it razored or smooth-edged? What does the veining on the underside look like? What plant did it come from and then, what is the name of that tree? 

If you are unsure of the tree’s identity, spend time looking it up. I highly recommend a field guide book for your area instead of a phone because a book encourages more hypotheses and less immediate gratification. But do not force this! This field guide book, Trees, Leaves, and Bark by Diane Burns, is an excellent option! I also enjoy my own North American Wildlife book from Reader’s Digest.

Do not require your child to stand there and flip through a book with you. The simple act of showing interest and researching it yourself is planting the idea in the mind of your child. 

Do encourage them by including them verbally. Explain what you are doing in short sentences and point to pictures. Ask about the characteristics of the leaves in the book and the leaf you are attempting to identify. Include them with short simple sentences for more complex ideas like where the plant is located on a map or during some seasons the plant has flowers or bears fruit. 

Goal #3: Collect leaves for art.

Crazy that this is not priority number one! I know. It’s pretty simple though, as your child experiences and observes nature their natural instinct will be to pick a leaf. Especially after they notice you are showing particular interest in leaves that day. Your basket will naturally fill up with leaves of varying size, colors, and shapes. 

General tips for collecting leaves.

• Be sure to gather a few of each type, especially if you have multiple kids who will be participating. 

• Do you live in a suburban neighborhood? We used to and that neighborhood was great for collecting leaves. Oaks, sweetgums, maples, with plenty of bushes and plants near the sidewalk.

• If there is a scarcity of plants in your neighborhood or most of the plantings would require you to traipse through someone’s yard then plan a day just to collect leaves at a park or nature preserve.

• When hunting for leaves, be sure to include plant safety. Most plants that are vines should be avoided altogether. Low lying plants around trees or in dense wooded areas should also be avoided. Take time to familiarize yourself with pictures of some poisonous plants in your area. Such as poison sumac, poison ivy, and poison oak. And the best motto is, “if in doubt…don’t touch it.” 

Art that uses leaves.

Nature is a work of art so using it to create art is only natural. That is why there are many ways to use leaves in art: crayon rubbing and a collage comes to mind as well as the activity today. Leaf stamping is simple, easy, and does not require help for 3-5 year old’s. The materials are basic. Including white construction paper and tempera paint so that it is temporary and will not stain. Also, paint brushes or sponges are excellent for applying the right amount of paint to each leaf. Both products are linked for your convenience.

Although you may not need to help your child, they will require a demonstration. Show your child how to paint the leaf, properly press down, and lift carefully. Otherwise, they will probably use the leaf as another paintbrush and not leave the imprint.

Cleaning the paintbrush is unnecessary unless you have a child who has a specific creative outcome in mind. Depending on your child’s age will determine if they are just stamping and experimenting with the method or if they get creative with the concept and create a story in the picture. 

Fall art for preschoolers. 

I enjoy choosing paint colors depending on when we are doing this activity. If it is fall then I only supply fall colors such as orange, yellow, red, brown, and green. If you are doing this at another time of year then use other colors if you desire. 

After the painting is all done, the best picture that depicts whole leaves and minimal smearing gets hung on the fridge. This is an excellent decoration for fall if you choose appropriate colors!

Creative art activities for preschoolers.

Leaf stamping is an excellent way to motivate your child to experience nature and in accord observe nature in all its uniqueness. Show enthusiasm yourself to learn about the plant life around you and your child will follow suit. 

If your child enjoyed this preschool leaf activity or you are looking for more fall themed activities be sure to check out Ll is for Leaves. 

Ll is for Leaves is a part of a full 26 week curriculum to teach your child the alphabet and so much more. Each letter of the alphabet is themed and you are supplied with activity ideas, coloring pages, book suggestions, printables, and more. All for free! It is Letter of the Week reimagined for all that home learning has to offer. Click the button below to learn more.

Leaf Stamping

Activity Instructions

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