Fall Leaf Line Drawing

This was an easy project (in terms of supplies and messiness factor), and the finished project looks pretty neat.  The inspiration came from my favorite art blog again, Art Projects for Kids.  Her instructions are here.


First, I gathered a bunch of leaves from the backyard and brought them with me to the classroom so each student could examine one for inspiration.  As we looked at our individual leaves we talked about the colors,  and all the tiny details in the stems and veins that they might not have noticed before.  They were amazed at all the tiny details.

Next I passed out a white sheet of paper with a lightly drawn leaf on it.  I used the blog author's finished project as a template.  (You could draw your own leaf, try enlarging a leaf clip art, or click on my image below twice to enlarge it, copy and paste it to Word and print it from there).  It is fine if the drawing is very light.

Next, the kids used a medium point black Sharpie to outline the leaf and a fine point sharpie to outline the veins and stem.  (In the art supply room there is a box of both types of markers).  Then we talked about fine lines and patterns and a I drew a few examples on the white board.  They filled in each section of the leaf with a different pattern.

Can you tell which one is mine, and which one is my son's?  The kids enjoyed coming up with their own ideas for patterns.  When we were finished, some wanted to color in their leaf so we used warm colored pencils. 

This was an easy project that you could use for any age group.