Painting Leaves

I recently saw a wonderful post on Coffee Cups and Crayons: Leaf Chalk Art. They have the same problem we have – a lack of fall leaves! This inspired them to paint leaves with chalk markers. So beautiful!

On our next walk, we found some nice fresh leaves and broke out our tempera and acrylic paint immediately when we came home.

This Painting Leaves art activity was so simple and fun and had beautiful results!

 

Art Projects for Kids: Painting Leaves - simple and oh so beautiful! Perfect for kids of all ages :)

(E was 4 years and 10 months old.)

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Materials for Painting Leaves

  • Fresh leaves.
  • Tempera paint and/or acrylic paint.
  • Paintbrush(es).
  • Tray, cookie sheet or similar to work on.
  • Something to hold the paint. We like paper plates when there’s a lot of different colors and/or only a small amount of each color. For fewer colors, we often use muffin tins or apple sauce cups.

 

E picked out all the colors she liked from our tempera and acrylic paints and squeezed a small amount of each onto a paper plate. She chose her favorite leaf and got to work.

 

Art Projects for Kids: Painting Leaves - simple and oh so beautiful!

 

She really enjoyed the unusual painting surface and painted one leaf after the other. She was so proud of her artwork!

 

Art Projects for Kids: Painting Leaves - simple and oh so beautiful!

 

Art Projects for Kids: Painting Leaves - simple and oh so beautiful!

 

I painted one leaf myself in between trying to keep N from pulling down the tablecloth, and since I decided to use dots in my design, E gave it a try herself. She soon chose to paint over them again, though 😉

 

Art Projects for Kids: Painting Leaves - simple and oh so beautiful!

 

While all this fun was going on,

 

Art Projects for Kids: Painting Leaves - simple and oh so beautiful!

 

N figured out how to climb up on a chair which gives him access to the tabletop… There go my quiet moments 😉

 

Art Projects for Kids: Painting Leaves - simple and oh so beautiful!

 

E would’ve happily kept painting more leaves if we hadn’t already been late for dinner.

 

Art Projects for Kids: Painting Leaves - simple and oh so beautiful!

 

I was thinking about possibly trying to laminate the painted leaves to preserve them but didn’t follow through. As they were, the leaves predictably dried out within a day or two, and the paint started flaking off, so unless you take extra steps to preserve them, keep in mind that this is definitely process art. Enjoy it while it lasts 🙂

 

Have you tried painting leaves? Do you have fall leaves where you live? How do you use them? Leave a comment below to let me know!

 

Here are a few more simple painting activities you might like:

Rainbow Art with Cotton Balls

Magic Milk Process Art

Toddler Art with Flour Paint

Colorful Circles Collage Process Art

 

And some other activities using items from nature:

Summer Flower Sensory Soup

Nature Exploration on a Mirror

Painting Pine Cones

Pine Cones and Acorns in the Water Table

 

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ABCs & 123s is THE book for you if you're looking for learning activities for kids from preschoolers to kindergarteners and beyond! 40+ hands-on play based FUN learning activities cover everything from letter recognition to double digit addition, from writing numbers to understanding base-ten. Your kids will have so much fun learning and reviewing all kinds of math and literacy concepts!

 

For a ton of art ideas for kids of all ages, go visit my Art Ideas for Kids board on Pinterest!

 

Follow Tina @ Simple Fun for Kids’s board Art Ideas for Kids on Pinterest.

 

 

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13 Comments

  1. They look awesome! We are going to have to trying painting too!

  2. We’re going to do this today. I wonder if Mod Podge would preserve them. They’re SO pretty. Great idea!!

  3. Susie Wallace says:

    We have beautiful fall leaves in Oklahoma. I collected some beautiful ones two years ago and dipped them in melted wax. I used “gulf wax”, for canning, from the grocery store. I melted it in a baby crockpot. I then hung them above our dining table for fall decorations. They looked so good when it was time to put up the Christmas decorations, I saved them. I used them again the next year. The colors were not as vibrant, but they were still supple enough with the wax to not crumble. I bet you could do the same with the painted ones