Kitah Bet's Textured Leaf Art

BS”D

In watching the process of fall, children notice the leaves changing day by day.  This multi-tiered project mimicked the process of fall and combined with our study of the senses. 

We started with sand paper and children felt the rough texture, comparing it to our new peg boards made with nails.  “It’s like this!” observed one child of the paper’s roughness compared to the pointiness of the nail tops. 

The art of this project contained three components—first the children looked at the fall leaves in a vase on the table and drew their renditions of the leaves with crayons.  “Look! A leaf!” exclaimed one child.  “I made a leaf!” pointed another. “I made lots of leaves!” added a third child. 

Next, children added fall-colored dot paint and water colors.  “It looks like orange paint!” noticed one child.  Some children decided to add the actual leaves to their art, by decorating the leaves on the table with water color.  Remembering the honeycomb art and leaf stamping we did earlier this year, children took their painted leaves and turned them face down on the paper.

Several children requested to repeat this project: “Morah, I want to do another one!” Watching their classmates, children copied each other on drawing their leaves and painting more shapes and lines with the watercolor.  This project brought nature into our classroom in new art mediums, giving children a tangible way to express themselves in the seasons.