L is for Leaves

We have had so many nice, clear days over the past week, I can't remember the last time I saw a cloud. E still likes to go outside and collect flowers so, the other day, I thought we'd mix it up a little. Instead of going out and collecting flowers, our morning walk became a leaf-finding expedition. E took along her little basket (another op-shop find) and we headed towards a local park where there are lots of big gum-trees. We found only a couple of fallen leaves along the way, but once we got to the park, her basket was soon filled.

We carried it back home and sorted through all the leaves that we had found. Some were long and some were short. Some were green, while others were brown, or orange, or even purple. Some were big and some were very small. It was a really good activity for introducing opposites and adjectives (although E, of course, just sees it all as talking and playing).

E had a great time making collages with some of the leaves, using pieces of clear contact that I had cut for her. The contact works really well for this because there's no need to use any messy glue and once they're finished, the leaves aren't going to fall off. We stuck the finished collages up on a window to let the sun shine through. The morning sun gives them a nice glow, showing all the different colours in the leaves, while the late afternoon sun gives a silhouette effect.


There were a lot of leaves left over after making the collages. I think we collected a few too many, but I may use it as an excuse to do another craft project with them later this week (if they last that long). Most of the left-over leaves were arranged in one of E's vases where she'd usually only have fresh flowers.

I also did a new drawing for our alphabet series (two leaves in the shape of an 'L') and E, as usual, helped with the colouring. It seems that activities with leaves are usually reserved for the Autumn months, when many leaves are changing colour and starting to fall. Doing these activities in Spring, meant that we found a lot of new leaves sprouting (like on our little plum tree which has just 'woken up' after the Winter) and we could compare different types of leaves on each new plant that we found. There just isn't as much variety in the leaves that are on the ground at this time of year.

-Polly