Invitation to Draw Fall Leaves

I’m excited for the opportunity to study fall with my boys! I plan on making a beautiful Fall Nature Table, if I can find enough objects to fill it, that is! We may need to take a trip up the mountain to gather pine cones and other natural treasures. Since I’m always on the lookout for good materials, I didn’t hesitate to collect these fall leave when we went to a park a few days ago. These beautiful leaves were just begging us to take them home to begin our investigation of fall 🙂

And how cool are these frames we used to study the leaves behind?! They’re only .99 cents each at Ikea, a super good deal! They’re double sided and have plastic instead of glass, so they’re perfectly safe to be kept around little hands. I originally got the idea to frame the leaves from the post 5 Ways to use Ikea Tolsby Frames. I totally want more now!

I set out the frames, paper, a magnifying glass, and chalk pastels on the table for my boys to investigate. My oldest son Cannon, not usually one to enjoy drawing, got right into this activity! I was happy to see him examining the shapes and details of the leaves for his drawing!

He compared the chalk colors to the leaves, asked about the leaves’ veins, and carefully included the stems in each drawing. He even wanted to include the brown “polka dots” on his drawing of the yellow leaf!

There were also comparisons of size, as he noted the green leaves were much smaller than the other ones. I wish I had gathered extra leaves so he could also investigate the different textures (crunchy, smooth, fragile, etc.) I searched our bookshelf for books about fall leaves, but I didn’t have anything to share since this was an impromptu lesson. I’ll have to pick some books up from the library on our next visit. The book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert is on the top of my list!

We’ll be keeping these framed leaves near the window so my boys can investigate them whenever interest strikes. Don’t they look like beautiful sun catchers?

How will you study fall leaves with your preschoolers? Leave a comment or join the community and share pictures of what you’re doing with your preschoolers and toddlers!