Are the leaves changing by you? We are starting to enjoy the fall colors as we move into October. On our back patio door we have a beautiful sun catcher that the girls made at Montessori last year. I love how the light comes through the colors.
I don’t have exact directions, but the concept is not that complex. Have your child trace their forearm and hand on a piece of brown construction paper. Give them some kid safe scissors and let them cut it out.
Let’s Lasso the Moon Tip: Don’t cut the trunk out for your child. It is much cuter with the jagged edges from them doing the cutting.
Grab fall color crayons like: yellow, red, and orange. If they want the whole rainbow, go for it! Put the trunk between the sheets of wax paper. To create the melted leaves follow these basic steps from Sundance Beach:
Step 1: Choose the crayon colors you would like for your window art cutouts.
Step 2: Peel the paper off of each crayon you are using.
Step 3: Collect crayon shavings on a piece of wax paper, preferably from a crayon sharpener since that is the safest method.
Step 4: Fold the piece of wax paper in half and crease each side of the paper into a nice, neat little package to contain the crayon shavings.
Step 5: Place a piece of paper on either side of the folded wax paper to protect the surface to be ironed on.
Step 6: Go over the paper with the iron a few times and check the crayon in the wax paper to see the melting progress. Continue until desired effect is achieved.
Isn’t the little tree gorgeous? The project goes perfectly with the book Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro. We are absolutely smitten with the “Let’s Read and Find Out About Science” series. They have two stages:
Stage 1 books explain simple and easy observable science concepts for preschool and kindergarten age children.
Stage 2 books explore more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades and include hands-on activities that children can do themselves.
How cool is that?!? Click here to see some of the other awesome titles for Stage 1 and Stage 2 in the series. We have read so many of these and they’ve all been wonderful.
I love the scene Sundance Beach created for their window. We might try this technique and cut our leaf shapes to create a fall mobile.
So many ideas, so many possibilities, so little time.
The Story of Our Crap, I Mean “Stuff”