Are you tired of the old tried and true art ideas? Here are some different ideas to try with your children in the school or home.
Leaf Pictures
Arrange twigs around rectangles of heavy box cardboard to form a frame. With hot glue or craft glue attach pressed leaves and more twigs or pieces of bark to make pictures of animals, landscapes, vases of flowers or other scenes.
Angel Feathers
For this project you will need magnolia leaves. Mix one teaspoon baking soda per one quart water. Lay the leaves in a granite ware or porcelain boiling pan. (The big blue kettle that you boil corn in are just right.) Boil for one half hour. Let the leaves cool in the solution, then spread them out on newspapers and scrape off the green surface of each with a knife. You should have the shape of a feather left.
Now mix a solution of water and chlorine bleach. Use two tablespoons per quart. Put the leaves carefully into the bleach water.(Don't splash on your clothes or your floor!) After the leaves turn white ( about one hour), rinse with clear water. Dry gently with a soft washcloth. Put between paper towels and press. Add wire for stems and wrap with florist tape.
Thanksgiving Place Mats
Use pressed leaves to decorate cardboard rectangles (12 by 16 inches). Add pieces of ribbon, yarn, grass, thread or even dried pressed flowers to shape and ornament your mat. Cover top and bottom with contact paper. Trim the edges with scrapbooking scissors in scallops or other patterns.
Iron-on Leaf Designs
For this project, choose nice shaped leaves of different sizes. Decide what you want to transfer your design unto. You can use cloth dinner napkins or stationery, a t-shirt pocket, or a ladies apron. With a bright colored crayon, color the back sides of your leaves. Place the leaf, colored side down, on the item to be printed, cover with a thin piece of cotton cloth, and press with a warm iron for a few seconds.
Paint Spatter Silhouettes
Lay out newspapers then poster board or water color art paper. Arrange your leaves on the art paper and then flick paint off a toothbrush over the leaves Here's how. Dip the brush in paint, then hold brush over the leaves. Run your finger across the brush to make the paint sprinkle evenly with no large drops. After the paint has begun to dry, lift the leaves to see the outline that remains. Dry and frame or hang up for a wall display.
Leaf Prints
Lay a leaf on a surface and cover with a sheet of white paper. Use a crayon or several fall colors of crayons to rub over the leaf. Rub all over the leaf with the side of your crayon to leave a shape of the leaf on the art paper.
There are so many things you can do with leaves and dried grasses and nature finds in home or classroom. Be on the lookout for items that bring nature into the schoolroom where children can learn while happily creating pieces of art and decorations.
For more ideas read More Leaf Art Projects.
