Wreaths make nice decorations for the classroom or for the front door at home. Make one by cutting the middle out of a paper plate keeping the edges in tact. Either cut out leaves printed on construction paper in red, orange, brown, yellow and green or use real preserved leaves. Hide the white edge by gluing leaves all around.
Cut a dowel rod in three short pieces and two long pieces. Have the children trace shapes of leaves on construction paper using cookie cutters as their guide. Cut them out and punch a hole in the top of each leaf. Use a piece of yarn to string through the hole and tie it in a knot just above the leaf so it will hold the leaf fast. Tie yarn to the middle of one long dowel piece. This will hang the mobile from the ceiling. Tie three short dowel pieces so they are at each end and in the middle of the long piece. Tie a leaf from each end of every dowel. Add more dowels and leaves if desired, but make sure everything balances once it is hung from the ceiling.
Place real leaves collected from outside under a piece of white paper. Rub it with a crayon, and the shape of the leaf will magically appear. Discuss the different shapes of the leaves with the children. Make individual leaf rubbings and label them with the type of leaf or have the children make a collage by placing multiple leaves under the paper and rubbing lightly.
Dip a leaf, vein side down in a disposable pie tin with paint just covering the bottom. Place the leaf, paint side down, on a piece of paper and press lightly. Remove the leaf and it will leave a beautiful imprint. Use one color paint and make imprints all over the paper and let it dry. Use another color and imprint over top of the first layer. Use as many layers and colors of paint as desired.
Collect fall leaves and brush both sides with vegetable oil. Place leaves between multiple layers of newspaper and weigh them down with bricks or a heavy book. In about three days they will be dry and retain their color. (ref 3)