Giant Colorful Watercolor Fall Leaves for Kids

Leaves are falling this week during our Weekly Virtual Book Club for Kids and we are reading Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert!

Leaf Man is filled with snazzy leaf collages and images. Inspired by the book we decided to do a collage of color on our leaves using crayon and watercolor.

MATERIALS NEEDED FOR GIANT LEAF ART:

• roll of finger painting paper
• painters tape
• crayons
• liquid watercolors
• paint brushes

INSTRUCTIONS FOR GIANT LEAF ART:

To get started I drew two large leaves onto finger printing paper (shiny side down) and then I cut them out.

After they were cut out, I secured them to the floor with painters tape so that they wouldn't move around while we were painting and drawing. 

We started off by covering the leaves in crayons. I loved seeing the different patterns and visual textures that were created.

Next I got out our liquid watercolors and diluted them a bit and then we began painting our leaves. It was fun to watch the reaction between the watercolor and the crayons.

Once the leaves were covered in colors, we laid them out to dry and we read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert!

The leaves were gorgeous anywhere we put them and it was fun to see how they changed colors in the light. I especially loved the contrast between the yellow crayon and the bright blue on my daughter's leaf.

We loved mixing the colors and trying to figure out which colors made what. The end results were beautiful!

Have you ever tried making leaves "giant-sized"? Have you done any crayon resist recently? This project was not only fun and colorful, but the kids took great ownership of how their leaves turned out!

MORE LEAF THEMED BOOKS:

Featured Book: 

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

Additional Books:

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert 

We're Going On A Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger 

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson 

Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip C. Snead

MORE LEAF THEMED ACTIVITIES:

Alphabet Activities

Learning About Letters with Leaves & Falling Leaves Song - Kori at Home

Beginning Sounds Activity: Leaf Sticker Tree- Growing Book by Book

Letter Recognition Game with Free Leaf Printable

Name Activities

Leaf Name Sticky Wall - Inspiration Laboratories

Learn to Write Your Name with 'Letter Man' - Chickadee Lit

Write Your Name In Leaves - Adventures of Adam

Number Activities

Learning Fun With Leaves - Clare's Little Tots

Preschool Printable Counting Leaves-CraftCreateCalm

Sensory Activities

Fall Loose Parts Sensory Invitation - My Storytime Corner

Fall Leaf Auditory Processing Activities

Science Activities

Preschool Leaf Science Experiment - Preschool Powol Packets

Simple Preschool Science: Leaf Matching Activity-- School Time Snippets

Color Activities

Giant Colorful Watercolor Fall Leaves for Kids- Toddler Approved

Basic Math with Fall Leaves for Preschoolers - Views From a Step Stool

Leaf Color Sorting - My Bored Toddler

Pre-Writing Activities

Leaf Art ~ Prewriting Patterns for Fall

Leaf Tracing Pre-Writing Activity - Books and Giggles

Leaf puppets - messy little monster 

Movement Activities

Number Leaf Scavenger Hunt - The Educators' Spin On It

Follow the leaves: Cardinal Directions and Map Skills for kids - Extremely Good Parenting

Shapes Activities

Leaf Art - Making scenes/people with leaves - Mama Smiles

Exploring Leaf Shapes - Nature Walk Activity - To be a Kid Again

Leaf Shapes Fingerprint Activity - Artsy Momma

Do you have a favorite leaf themed book or activity? Come tell us about it!