Handprint Tree

Zeke really enjoyed making handprint trees this week.

First I let him paint his hand with brown pain and a paint brush, then after making his handprint I showed him how to fingerprint leaves onto his tree.

L is for Leaf

Circle Time
Leaf Songs and Stories, and Leaf Books

Activities
Coloring with markers
Stringing Beads
Leaves collected on a leaf walk and a magnifying glass
Leaf matching game

Felt Board

Art Study
Van Gogh's Mulberry Tree

Snack
Lemonade, and ants on a Log (aka cream cheese, raisins, and celery)

Arts and Crafts
We stuck leaves to contact paper

And also, made tree handprint paintings

Cooking
I planned on making sugar cookies cut with a leaf shape. But then the leaf shape I thought I had couldnt be found, and I had apples left over from A week anyways. So we made apple cake :)

Field Trip

The arboretum, where we searched for leaves.

Leaf Songs and Rhymes

Autumn Winds (can be done as a circle game, like ring around the rosie)
Autumn winds begin to blow
Colored leaves fall fast and slow
Whirling twirling all around
Till at last the touch the ground

5 Little Leaves
5 little leaves so bright and gay
Were dancing about on a tree one day
The wind came blowing thru the town
And one little leaf came tumbling down
(4, 3, 2, 1)

We also tried a longer story this week, which went over quite well. It was simple enough to memorize and while Zeke didnt really ask for it, like he did our Daisy the Dino story, he listened each of the 2 or 3 times I told it.

The Little Leaf
Once upon a time a little leaf was heard to sigh and cry. The twig he grew upon asked him "What's the matter little leaf?" and the leaf answered, "The wind told me that one day I will fall to the ground."

The twig told this to the branch on which it grew, and the branch told it to the tree, and when the tree heard it, it rustled all over and told the leaf, "Don't be afraid. Hold on tight, and you shall not go until you are ready." And so the leaf stopped sighing.

Every time the tree shook itself and stirred up it's leaves, the branches shook themselves, and the twigs shook themselves, and the leaf danced up and down merrily as if nothing could ever pull it off. And so it went all summer.

Then, when the bright days of Autumn came, the little leaf saw all the leaves around him become very beautiful. Some became yellow, some red, and some striped with both. IT asked the tree what it meant, and the tree said, "All the leaves are getting ready to fly, and they have put on these beautiful colors for the joy of it."

The little leaf began to want to fly as well and it grew very beautiful thinking about it. Just then, a little wind came and the leaf let go, without even thinking about it, and the wind took it up and turned it over and over, and it flew thru the air.

Leaf Matching Game

I put together a leaf matching game for Zeke this week, since the animal matching one went over so very well.

First I copied off a pattern to decorate the front, colored and cut it, and pasted in onto a manila folder.

Then I copied off 2 sheets of leaf patterns and colored and cut those as well. The first set I pasted into the inside of the folder (I also labeled the leaves as oak, maple, ect). The second I laminated. You can see I also stapled a baggie into the inside of the folder to hold the laminated leaves.
Thus a very simple matching game was made.

A fun idea for a slightly older child would be to print off patterns (or real pictures) of leaves, paste them into the folder, and then take a walk in your nearby neighborhood, park, or arboretum to find real leaves to match. This would be a great way to learn how to identify different leaves.

Or alternately you could cut the leaves in half, so that the child is matching up one half of the leaf to the other buy shape.

Great Leaf Books

The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger

This was both mine, and Zeke's favorite book. In fact, I very much want to buy this one. The collage illustrations, made from graph paper, magazine pages, touches of paint, and even I'm pretty sure at one point a water bill, are stunning. But even more rare (for a children's book) the text is beautifully rendered. A "riot of fiery leaves" fly thru the air, apples get "musky" and leaves "crackly dry", a harvest moon "blooms amber" and the sun "beckoned and teased". I could read this book over and over, and Zeke could listen to it just as many times.



Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

This is a preschool/kindergarten staple. The die cut pages and leaf collages (made from photocopies of real leaves) are both stunning, and sometimes hilarious (I just love those leaf chickens!) as the story follows the journey of the Leaf Man, for after all, "A leaf man's gotta go where the wind blows."





Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson

This book had very simple text, a bit more geared towards Malachi, then Ezekiel. I just loved the texture of the illustrations, however, not to mention the variety of shape and color in the leaves.





Who Loves The Fall by Bob Raczka

Not strictly a leaf book, this one still stole our hearts...and got us very excited for the season! With bright illustrations and catchy rhymes it takes us thru everything we love best about fall, from the obvious (pie crust fillers) to the not-so-obvious (former caterpillars-aka monarch butterflies). Zeke especially enjoyed the reference to "helicopters" as we have a Maple tree and these curious flying seeds ourselves, but I think its safe to say everyone will relate.