Leaves!

I love Leaves!  I don't like raking them but I sure do love gathering them up and using them for our school art projects!  This year I was a little worried because the leaves here in Central Alabama had not started to fall as much as in years past.  No worry, my neighbors were more then happy for me to run around the neighborhood and gather up their leaves.

I'm not a teacher that likes to do the same art project year after year.  I guess I get bored it.  Either I change it or just do something different all together.  These next two art projects are the exceptions to the rule!  First, let me show you "Leaf Man and Leaf Lady 2010"!

Look closely!  "She is kicking!"

"He is running!"

"He has funny legs!"

I'm not sure if the children like this because it is a fun project OR because I tell them they can use A LOT of glue!  Either way, it is fun and always a big hit at our "End of the Year Art Show".

Here is the other art project that I love doing.  I never get tired of this one!  We call it "Squishy Leaf".  SUPER EASY, SUPER MESSY, SUPER FUN!  First get a really large leaf pattern.  I like to give choice.  I have three different leaves that I cut out from poster board.  Everyone gets to pick three colors and either a shimmery bronze or gold.

Cover with plastic wrap (some people use wax paper, but I like the plastic wrap because we can see the paint better), and mash!

Here is the final product!  Aren't they wonderful?!?!?

I don't like worksheets or art work that has been copied  and all you do is color/paint.  BUT (why is there always a but?)  I found a beautiful tree and had it enlarged onto heavy cardstock paper.  We made our own watercolor paint by mixing our regular brown paint with lots of water and we went to work.  I let them use cotton swabs instead of paint brushes.  I wanted to see what would happen if I gave my students NO DIRECTIONS.

After the trees dried we added fingerprint leaves.

Look at a few of the final results!  WOW!

I love this one because "the leaves were falling to the ground".

The parents I'm sure were laughing at me when these went home.  I was grabbing the children's folders and pulling out these pictures.  I tried to explain to the parents how amazing the art work was.  OH MY!  These children were showing some mind blowing fine motor skills.  Remember, we are ONLY 3 and 4 years old!

At the beginning of the school year, wwaaayyyy back in August, we arrived at school to find out that our Director and Assistant Director had done a little house cleaning.  There were boxes and boxes of "treasures" that either our school was getting rid of OR the church.  Either way, I made out like a bandit!  One of the "treasures" was several bags of this - 

OH MY!  We cut some old paper towel tubes and glued on our leaves.

WOW!  Instant centerpiece for Mom's table!

On Friday, everyone was to bring in a leaf (OR as many as you wanted to bring in).  Oh the fun!  We made a giant "L" and everyone glued on their leaves.

 WOW!  That a big "L"!

My sweet husband found me some big bunches of leaves in our yard.  Bless his heart, he knows there are some things that are better than flowers - leaves during "L" week!  I took them to school   

 and we made our scientific observations as to what will happen to them.

Hopefully, they will still be hanging up on Monday so we find out!

Thanks to my sweet friend (and fellow teacher), Mrs. Felicia, we were able to find a wonderful leave shaped cookie cutter.  We made Leaf Toast with cinnamon butter for snack.  What a YUMMY way to end our week!