Create whimsical leaf faces with leaves, charcoal pencil and gray or brown card-stock, for nature-based art. Make hand-leaf puppets outlining each child's hand on construction paper. Allow children to cut out the hand outlines and crayon in faces. After the faces are finished, staple or tape each hand to a popsicle wooden stick. Leaf prints are made simply by dipping a leaf into a shallow pan coated with a thin layer of paint. This activity works best with large leaves. Press the leaf onto the paint and then press the painted leaf onto paper and lift off, resulting in a print.
Outdoors nature movement classes excite and energizes kids. Find an area where leaves cover the ground. Invite children to make leaf bird-wings by laying in the middle of the leaves and moving their arms. Shout "One-Two-Three" and ask children to change the shape of their wings. Bring a small hand-drum and in three rounds ask the children to jump, skip, and hop in the leaves, freezing when the drum stops.
For indoor movement time, cut out colored art tissue in the shape of leaves. Show the children how a "leaf" falls by gently tossing the tissue-leaf in the air and allowing it fall to slowly to the ground. Develop movement vocabulary by asking for descriptions of the falling leaf. Invite discussion with words like floating, dancing, falling and twirling. Play a favorite CD or "Dance of the Falling Leaves," encouraging the children to dance moving in the way leaf did.
Add the song "Falling Little Leaves" to enhance the activity or as a finger-play circle time activity.
Falling little leaves/ Falling from the trees
Round and round / Round and round/ Falling little leaves
Play a noncompetitive game of Leaf Scavenger Hunt while on a nature walk. Partner kids up and give each team a lunch-sized paper bag containing a list of nature items. Each team will have a different list of nature items and leaves to hunt for, along with a designated presentation. After the hunt, the partners complete the project by giving their designated presentation and referring to the hunted items on their list. Each presentation will be different, from singing about the attributes of leaves to presenting a mural sized poster of a leaf. Set up a science center with varied leaves children bring from home along with a plastic magnifying glass. Children can also craft bird's nests made of leaves, bark and other natural forest materials. Cement the material with natural clay that resembles mud and thus, is more authentic.
Beware of poisonous leaves such as poison oak, poison ivy and sumac when taking nature walks. On contact, the plants can cause an uncomfortable but non-contagious rash. Educate children first about poison oak and on what to look for by showing them pictures. Ask children to draw the pictures of poisonous leaves as reinforcement, although not all poison ivy leaves follow the same leaf pattern. Avoid areas that are prolific with poison oak, but as a precaution, ask children to wear long sleeves and pants on nature walk days.