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| Teach science and art of leaves. |
Leaves are changing colors rapidly as days shorten. Families have little time left to teach young children the science and art of leaves. Soon they will be crunchy little bits. For these activities you will need a bag, variety of leaves, paintbrush or sponge, paper, paper plates, heavy books, clear packing tape, and white craft glue. Teaching the science of how leaves change color is a good way to combine art and science with common materials. While walking with children collect a bagful leaves like maple, oak, and willow. Discuss how maple trees are shaped like an open hand whereas oaks are long and thin with a few fingers sticking out.
Sort quickly before the leaves dry and curl and help children tape a sample leaf on each plate as a label. Take out a few leaves at a time and help children match leaves to the one on each plate.
Science Chat
Science Chat
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| Science Conversations About Leaves |
You can carry on a science conversation about attributes like kind of tree, color and shape. Explain why leaves change colors. The leaf’s main job is to make sugar food for plants to live and grow. They use part of the air called carbon dioxide, sunlight, and green color in the leaves. There are many excellent library books and free online videos to help children understand the process of photosynthesis and vocabulary. This sugar food is carried by the trunk to the roots and stored. As sunlight hours become shorter in autumn the work slows down and a cork wall forms across the base of each leaf closing it off from the tree. The water supply is stopped so a leaf dries and dies. As it dies, green color fades so red, yellow, orange and other colors that were there all along show up. Eventually leaves turn shades brown. Older children will enjoy “leaf pigment experiments” found online to show the different hidden colors.
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| Dabs of Color - It's Just the Start!! |
After sorting, spray leaves with hair spray to retain color and allow to dry. Press the leaves in a thick book with a weight on top. Paper towel sheets can keep leaves from touching and damaging pages.
Science Art
After a few days, leaves will be ready to glue onto fall pictures. Children can make gift bookmarks by coloring strips of paper and gluing on small leaves. Adults can place clear wide packing tape on the front and back to thicken the paper bookmark.
Children can also dab a little red, orange, or brown poster paint or almost dry watercolor paint on leaves and press on paper to make leaf prints. They can also make rubbings by placing a leaf under a paper and gently running a peeled crayon over the leaf. The leaf’s veins and outline will show up. For more see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning through the Seasons.
Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
