Fall Leaf Paintings (Fall Leaf Week)

We started Fall Leaf Week with our Leaf Hunt (there’s TWO free printables, including a book!), and now we’re using the leaves we collected to do Fall Leaf Paintings!

Materials for Fall Leaf Paintings

You’ll need:

• leaves (flexible ones, not ones that crumble/are too dry)
• paint
• foam paintbrushes
• paper
• painting shirt/smock
• something to cover workspace
• masking tape or painter’s tape

Cover your workspace with a cloth, drop cloth or tablecloth. I use (and reuse and reuse) a disposable tablecloth, because they’re cheap and effective.

Cover your child – haha – with a painting shirt or smock.

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Making Fall Leaf Paintings

Lay a piece of paper on your workspace. Using a small piece of tape on the back of a leaf, tape the leaf to the middle of the paper.

Squirt a few different colors of paint on a paper plate. I used fall colors – red, yellow, orange – but you can use any colors that your child loves. Camden’s favorite color is orange, so fall colors are his jam.

Show your child how to take the foam paint brush, dip it in the paint, and then – starting at the leaf – draw a stripe outward. Repeat with other colors. (Depending on how much experience your child has painting, you may want one foam brush for each color, or have them just rinse it well in between.)

When they have finished painting, carefully remove the leaf. Set the painting aside to dry.

Note: Obviously these leaf paintings look the prettiest if all the white space except the leaf is covered. But if your child wants to leave extra white space – intentionally or unintentionally – let them! It’s art; it’s about freedom, creativity and expression. Let them know that any way you do art is the ‘right’ way.

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What Book Did You Read?

We read Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming. It’s a really cute book about Squirrel, who loves to collect all the pretty fall leaves in all different colors. But when he discovers one of his leaves is missing, he heads out on an adventure to uncover the culprit!

It’s the perfect book to accompany these paintings, because it’s a beautiful display of all the fall colors.

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Fall Leaf Week:

• We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt
• Fall Leaf Paintings (this post)
• 15+ Beautiful Fall Leaf Themed Books
• Invitation to Create: Fall Leaf People
• Leaf Cutting Sensory Bin