Have you tried creating leaf art for kids to make at home? While you’re out getting some exercise, take a bag with you and the kids can collect leaves, bark and other natural materials. There are so many projects to do with leaves, but these 3 are our favourites. On your walk, you can talk about why they have fallen to the ground, the different colours, and what they could be used for in art. There is no limit to a child’s imagination, you just have to give them a little push in the right direction.
Bird wall art
These are a great idea for a gift. There’s nothing better than something handmade, especially from a child with all their heart. You can search for templates online, or draw an outline yourself. We printed out some images of the birds so we could follow the same direction of the feathers. Leaves look very much like feathers so any type of bird will work with this art.
You can download our templates here: Bird Wall Art Templates
You’ll need:
- Downloaded templates
- Aquadhere CLEAR exterior woodwork glue
- Double-sided tape
- Thick cardboard
- Scissors
- Ruler & pencil
- Weights to hold down the leaves when glueing (we used heavy clean objects)
Instructions:
- Stick your main template down on a piece of thick cardboard. If you’re framing the art, make sure it fits inside your picture frame.
- Cut out the individual template shapes. Sort through your leaves and materials and choose larger flat leaves and cut your materials to shape. For the wing, cut a piece of thick cardboard using the wing template. Select leaves that will work well on your wing paying attention to the direction of the feathers.
- Stick down the comb, beak and feet first using the glue. If the leaves are not flat, place a weight on top of the leave until they have stuck. Next, work on your wing and use a weight to hold it down flat until it dries.
- Now for the body. Think about how feathers are layered. Start at the tail and work from the back so that the leaves look like feathers.
- Stick down the wings & eyes last and you can fill in any gaps. If you’re going to frame your art, make sure your artwork has dried completely first.
Leaf Crowns
This activity is hours of fun and in two parts. Collecting and painting the leaves is one session. Then they can create leaf crowns in another session. Why not then ask them to do a play and encourage the kids to use their imagination and create a royal event.
What you’ll need:
- A collection of fallen leaves
- Craft paint (we used acrylic)
- Various sized paintbrushes
- Egg carton paint tray
- Cardboard for the headband & a stapler
- Super Glue
Instructions:
- First, paint the leaves in solid colours and let dry.
- Now they can add different designs and colour schemes that worked together then let dry.
- Cut a strip of cardboard approximately 3 cm wide and lay it out flat.
- Find the middle of your cardboard band and get the kids to start laying out their painted leaf designs.
- Starting in the middle, glue down one leaf at a time and work your way out on each side.
- When their leaf crowns are exactly how they would like them, measure and staple each child’s headband individually at the back.
Rainbow trees
If your house is anything like mine, there’s always some materials laying around you can use to create a masterpiece on. These rainbow trees are a perfect way to use up any leftover leaves you collect from the leaf crown project above. We went looking for some flat branches on our walk and decided that they would make awesome trees.
What you’ll need:
- A collection of fallen leaves, branches and bark
- Acrylic paint in lots of colours
- A variety of paint brushes
- 3 mm MDF sheet as your base, or similar
- Super Glue
Instructions:
- Once you have selected the branch for your tree frame, cut a piece of MDF sheet to fit the size of your branch. You may need to break some of the branches to make them flat on the board.
- Glue down your branches.
- Select and layout your pre-painted leaves.
- Glue your leaves down one by one and you might need a weight to rest on top while it sticks.
- Don’t forget to glue down your bark for the base of the tree to represent your dirt mound.
Leaf art for kids
If you’re looking for more fun ways to entertain the kids and you’ve enjoyed making leaf art for kids, head over to our Kids section. We keep adding more ideas each week so keep checking back.
