WWW: Leaf Imprints

For our first Wonderful World of Wednesday art activity, we made leaf imprints on paper.  This activity was inspired by an episode in Special Agent Oso where his special assignment was to help a little girl make some leaf imprints. Their three special steps were:

1. Place a sheet of paper on the table.
2. Place the leaf on the paper with the bottom side facing up. (the side where the veins can be clearly seen)
3. Place another sheet of paper on top and make the imprint using crayons.

The materials were inexpensive and easy to acquire.  Bond paper is a staple in our home, crayons are aplenty, and leaves abound Lola’s potted plants.

materials: assorted leaves from the garden, bond paper, and crayons

Once we had all the materials, the toddlers were all set for their very first leaf imprinting.

arranging the leaves on her paper

first attempt

best work (with mama's help though)

I found out though that Jade was still a little too young to make the imprints as she couldn’t manage to properly hold the crayon and place just enough pressure to make the imprint appear on the paper.   It was still a great turn out for our first attempt on making leaf imprints.  With plenty of practice wielding the crayon, Jade would soon be creating marvelous leaf imprints all on her own.

playing with the leaves

leaf imprint sans the leaf ^_^

Quite expectedly, Jakei’s work was missing the leaf imprint.  He is after all barely two years old.  He was actually more interested in putting the leaves inside his mouth than in making imprints of them.  I finally took the leaves away from him and just let him scribble with his crayons.

See the star on the left side of the paper?  He unintentionally drew that while scribbling and when he saw it, his eyes lit up and he said, “Star!!!”.  My little boy wasn’t able to make a leaf imprint but he was able to draw a star.  That’s all in a day’s work for a toddler.