Fall leaf crafts :: autumn word tree

We love fall leaf crafts! Anything that combines a dash of the outdoors, a splash of colourful printing and a bit of playful learning is all good with us. We’re going to be using this autumn word tree for lots of different word games over the coming weeks – here’s how to make one.

Fall leaf crafts :: autumn word tree

There are some activities that are absolute classics and every child should try, and I think autumn leaf printing is one of them. It’s such a sensory delight! Children are learning about the changing of the seasons, playing with natural, sensory materials, and creating gorgeous art – all with just a few leaves gathered on a nature walk.

 

We like to use a really big roll of paper for our leaf prints, so we can all work together and make lots and lots of them. We used our kitchen table and I set out a roll of decorators’ lining paper and some plates of paint.

 

 

Combining a few colours on each plate gives a great effect when you print from them. And we added some glitter glue because… well, you don’t need a reason for a bit of sparkle, do you?

 

 

We’d gathered some leaves on our walk that morning – lots of different shapes and showing the first signs of the changing season.

 

 

Then it was time to print. Don’t the leaves look glorious? I think we might repeat this on fabric rather than paper, so we can make a table cloth.

 

 

This time though, I had other plans for all those leaves. We’re working on learning lots of high-frequency / sight words at the moment and I wanted the leaves to become our word wall for this season. Well, a word tree actually.

We cut out the leaves, and popped a sticker on each one, with one of our spelling words written on it. Then I put a little piece of magnetic sticky strip on the back of the leaves, turning each one into a fridge magnet. {When I started I thought it might take an age to do the cutting out, word sticker, magnet thing for every single leaf, but actually it was really quite quick and easy.}

 

Then we made a tree trunk for our fridge door, and stuck on all the leaves, making ourselves a work-of-art word tree, that looks gorgeous, and which we’ll use time and time again for all sorts of word games over the next couple of months.