School has been under way for 2 months and the fresh excitement of a new school year has dissipated as the rigors of academics consume the days.

Time for Grandpa and Grandma to interject some FUN into the studies! Read on to glean some local and long-distance ideas for doing some creative, hands-on activities for all ages with one of the wonders of God’s creation — leaves!

Step 1: Go on a nature walk with the grandchildren and gather a wide variety of leaves as they turn colors and fall to the ground. If you live long-distance, gather enough of each variety for yourself and your grandchildren and have them do the same in their respective locales. Collect those evergreen leaves that don’t turn colors as well. If you live in a region where the leaves don’t change colors, or if the leaves have already fallen in your neck of the woods, ask a friend or relative from a deciduous-rich locale to send you some. Or, purchase a lovely variety of artificial leaves from a craft store. You could even print off leaves from free-image sites on the internet.

Step 2: Flatten the leaves between sheets of paper and bring or mail a set to each grandchild.

From this point, choose any number of leaf projects below and do them with your grandchildren. If you live long-distance, choose those that will work well to do via telephone or video chat.

Leaf Identification

Give your grandchildren some resources for identification: web searches, encyclopedia, local DNR offices, parks and recreation departments or county extension offices. Have your grandchildren keep track of which leaves they recognized without researching and which they had to look up. Glue the identified leaves to sheets of paper to keep in their science portfolio. Take these out at a later time and quiz them to see if they remember each leaf type. For older students, you can expand into researching the trees that each leaf came from or study the scientific parts of leaves and trees and learn the function of each part.

Crayon Leaf Art

On a newspaper-covered surface, arrange a few leaves on a sheet of white paper and sprinkle pieces of shaved color crayon pieces over the leaves and paper. Cover with a sheet of waxed paper, waxed side facing the leaves. Press a hot iron over the waxed paper until the crayon pieces melt. Let cool and pull off waxed paper to reveal a colorful piece of art. Have the grandchildren sign their masterpieces.

Leaf Designs

Look through the leaves and pick out some with a variety of shapes, curves and textures. Glue them onto a sheet of paper, placing the shapes in a way that creates a new design. For example, curved leaves could become rolling hills. A willow leaf could become a hammock placed horizontally between two long pine needles that represent trees. Have the grandchildren write a paragraph describing the scene they’ve created.

Magnified Drawings

Using a magnifying glass, or for older students a microscope, draw the veins and structure of the leaf that is more clearly visible when magnified. Contemplate the intricacy of God’s design that is not visible to the naked eye.

Rubbings

Place a leaf, or several leaves in a variety of shapes, between two pieces of white paper. Peel the paper off a crayon of your choice and rub the sides of it across the paper, making sure to cover the leaf area completely. A distinct impression of the leaf will emerge. Tell your grandchildren that this is similar to the process used in early letterpress printing, a type of relief printing. The very first Bible, the Gutenberg Bible, was printed using the letterpress technique. With older students, try the same thing using oil pastels. They also can get a rubbed image by placing a sheet of foil wrap on top of the leaves and using their fingers to press over the entire surface of leaves. The foil will take the shape of the leaves.

Leaf Bouquet

Grandchildren young and old can have fun designing a lovely leaf bouquet. Leaf length can be extended by gluing artificial stems onto the leaves. These can be twigs or colored pipe cleaners or anything they find around the house that works. Encourage them to be creative in adding embellishments to the richly colored leaves, such as feathers, or including a picture or note, fastening everything together with yarn or ribbon.

With these simple leaf projects, you will have taught them some research skills, botany, art, writing, history, printing and design! And in the process, you will have shown them the mighty works of God!

Celebrate with an all-time fall favorite — a cup of hot apple cider!

“He changes times and seasons.” — Daniel 2:21

     — Rich & Barb Heki, for Grandparents of Homeschoolers™