We ventured to the Botanic Gardens today and enjoyed the beginnings of Autumn. Crunching the leaves, trying to climb trees, smelling the last of the roses and looking at all the pretty autumn colours. Heading home with a handful of leaves and a tired Toddler I wondered what we could do with our leaves.
Cue Autumn Leaf Alphabet! Check out the full tutorial
here or the basics are below -
- Leaves
- Heavy paper
- Glue stick
-
Collect leaves, avoiding ones with any mould or rot. Lay leaves flat between phone-book pages or layers of newspaper, then weight them with something heavy. Allow one to two weeks to fully flatten and dry.
-
Arrange leaves on a page of heavy paper. Experiment with combinations of colours and shapes. If you are stumped by a letter of the alphabet, look in the dictionary for words to illustrate. Embellish leaves by cutting notches for parts like mouths, tails, and fins. From spare leaves, cut out details like eyes, wheels, hats, etc.
-
Glue leaves into place with glue stick or white glue. Lay a clean sheet of paper on top of glued leaves and rub gently to smooth and flatten. Carefully remove the top sheet.
-
Label the artwork. An adult can use a pencil to sketch in guidelines for the letters and the word; a kid can then write them in ink. When it is complete, try to keep the artwork flat, because pressed leaves can be brittle. Display collages on a bulletin board or wall. If this is a class project, you can make a colour photocopy of everyone's finished work and collect the pages to make a big alphabet book.
Here is some inspiration to get you started for your alphabet letters, follow the links for further instructions or tutorials.
6.
Foxy Family
7.
Foliage Friends
8.
Bird of Paradise
9.
Owl
10.
Butterflies
Happy Creating!
