Sunday, October 7, 2012

An Easy Fall Project to Make w/the Kiddos!


Looking for leaves in our backyard


I saw a project on a blog hop that looked fun and easy enough to do. We modified it a bit from the original idea, using poster board instead of a folder, simply because we found so many leaves we wanted to use! I can't remember which blog it was (there were so many) so if it was yours, let me know and I'm happy to link the original.

The supplies, if you want to make this yourself are easy.  You need:

Poster board
Ruler
Glue Sticks
Elmer's Glue
Scissors
Paper for Labels
Markers (one color to represent each color of leaf)
A bucket full of different colored leaves
A kid to help you find the leaves (this is the best ingredient)

The first thing we did was gather our leaves. We started in our own backyard.
We found a ton of leaves, but only green, yellow, and brown ones.  We wanted more colors so we hopped into the car and headed to the lake to look for more leaves.



Of course he had to get as close to the water as possible to look for leaves. ;)

This leaf emerged his favorite, but it was brown and we wanted colors!! 
So we put this leaf in the bucket and headed to the park.

The park did not disappoint.  Look at all those bright colors!


We passed a Dollar General Store on the way home, and decided to stop for poster board.  I let my son pick the color he wanted, and $1.06 later, we loaded back up in the car and headed home.

His choice of poster board, and a very silly face
(he gets the latter...hamming it up for the camera, from his father ;) ).



On the way home, my son fervently screamed, "Look, a purple tree mom, over there, it's purple!"  And sure enough, it was...right in front of the post office.  And so we pulled over.  Good eye, Tuck! ( <--cartoon reference for those who don't watch Wonder Pets ;) ).


Once we got home, I put him in the hot shower, it was coldie out there!!  And we relaxed a bit and then he wanted to get busy making the project.

           We organized all of the leaves by color (my son is 5 and he LOVED this part).

We sectioned off the board with the ruler, to make an even amount of space for each color of leaf.  One lesson learned here for those of us who are not very crafty...Crayola washable markers are wonderful, really, but they smudge very easily on poster board (because it's glossy) until they dry.

We cut...

& made labels 

For the labels we simply cut squares out of typing paper and then used markers the same colors as the leaves to write their names out.  Brown for brown, orange for orange, etc.  Little man is just learning to spell sight words, so he gave me the colors, and I wrote them out.

Then we glued the labels (with the glue sticks) and carefully put them into place.

We put Elmer's Glue on the back of the leaves and held them in place a few seconds to make sure they would stick.


This was serious stuff and I let little man take over for this job.

And here he is putting the last red leaf into place.

Then he held up his project for me to take a picture.

We let it dry overnight, but not before he wanted me to take 'one more picture.'

It was a very easy project to make (hurray! because my craftiness is very limited...not by choice!), and it was a lot of fun!

My son and I had a LOT of fun making this little project, and it's now hanging on the corridor wall, welcoming anyone who walks through the front door.


42 comments:

  1. Stopping by from the "Weekend Blog Walk" - new follower :)

    xoxo
    Anni

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  2. LOVE IT!! Rosey... this is the second craft as such that I have seen... I so wish we had leaves like that here... Wish there was one for cacti! That we have a ton of! Grace, peace and blessings, Carla

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    1. Thanks, Carla. I used to live in a warm climate w/no leaves too. Makes them that much more fun now. :)

      Now if only there was something to make me love winter... ;)

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  3. What fun! I so wish we had that variety of colored leaves here!

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    1. We worked hard to get those leaves. :) That's probably what added to the fun. Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. The colors are just wonderful! I love Fall! Was that a lake near your house? I love the slope that blends in the water.

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    1. It's very close to our house, and one of our favorite places to go. :)

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  5. Love this! I plan on doing this with my 2 little ones for homeschool art! Thanks so much for sharing!

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    1. It's a great learning opportunity Pamela. There's tons of things to teach about leaves, what a great idea. Have fun. :)

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  6. What a wonderful project! WOW purple even!

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    1. There are some purple trees that I just love, but we didn't find that particular kind on our outing. We have a tree in our front yard that goes from green, to pink, to red each year before it dies, but it's past the pink stage now. I think that's neat to watch every year. :)

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  7. My son would love this project, what a fun idea! Too bad we don't have leaves like that around us anymore :( we used to have a purple tree at our old house, and it was my favorite!

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    1. My grandma had one close to her house and we'd always talk about it on our walks. It was one of my favorites too. :)

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  8. Great fall craft project for the kids! I LOVE that poster board he picked out. It looks really good with the colored leaves. Maybe craftiness skips a generation and he's going to be the one whipping out the hot glue gun soon?

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    1. Ha, that's funny because I thought the same thing. When he picked it out, I was thinking, "I should have known he'd pick the unusual one," because he always does. Not that I mind, I like it actually. And then when it was done I thought, well, that looks great, good choice! :)

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  9. What a cute little boy! And this is looks like a fun project! Would have to do this with my little cousins!

    Xoxo Jessica

    ps. glad to follow you along!

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  10. The colors are breathtaking! Thank you for sharing these gorgeous photos! How I wish we have autumn here, too.

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    1. Thanks. I wish Fall lasted a little longer than it does, for many reasons, but most def. for the colors. :)

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  11. Sounds like you and your son had a blast making this!!

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    1. It was really fun watching him have fun. Who knew it would be so exciting to search out different colors of leaves? Lol.

      Thanks for stopping by.

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  12. I LOVE this so much! The leaves are JUST starting to turn around here, so I think I;d like to try this with my boys when they turn a little more. They'd have a blast.

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    1. I thought it would be a good activity for groups too (classrooms, Sunday School, etc.) just because it's so economical. If you make it, I'm sure it will be fun. :)

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  13. Okay, I'm like enjoying the craft, enjoying the craft, enjoying the craft. . . . .gonna make some comments about "of course they have to get as close to the water as possible" and then I saw his outfit!!! We used to have the same one. Unfortunately, my kids have outgrown it. Did I know you (or your son) were Seminole fans?

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    1. Oh and "blech" on the game Sat. night. I told everyone I blame my hubby for falling asleep during half-time.

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    2. I saw a post you did not long ago that said "Go Seminoles" and I gave a cheer from my computer. :) I earned my Bachelors years ago from FSU, but I earned my Masters from MSU (hence the Spartans hat in the outside pictures taken that day, lol).

      Hubby is going to Univ of Mich (ugh) right now.

      And my PhD (if I ever get the dissertation done, double ugh) will be from an entirely different school. We are def. a house divided when it comes to football, but the Seminoles will always be my absolute favorites. :)

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    3. I was in Tally from 88 - 97. I took the long drawn out process to a bachelor's degree! LOL got my degree in '96. I was so sad when I left Tallahassee. It was my home for 9 years!

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    4. We purchased the Fl Prepaid plan for the kids, knowing we'd NEVER leave the state (lived there 18 years) and then we moved to the north.

      Now my son has to live in FL a year to get residency before he can start college under that program. He just visited and says yeah, it's reeaaal hard to hang out in Florida for a year. Brat. :)

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  14. What a wonderful project! Look at all those colourful leaves! Your son clearly enjoyed every moment working on it and of course learning new things in the process. It is so good to see all the stuff about autumn in foreign countries including the beautiful trees. Have a great Thursday.

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    1. Thanks, Judy, and thanks for stopping by to read! Hope you have a great Thursday too.

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  15. fun and creative memory making. love it! thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. Wishing you a beautiful day xo

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  16. What a cute idea!! I am trying to come up with some summer projects and I might just knock off your knock off, except use summer colors as our inspiration. Thanks for the link up over at the Cafe!

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    1. Knocking off knock-offs is good. It makes me less of a project-thief. :) I so wish I know where I saw that so I could give proper credit, but it's been a long time now. Thanks for visiting!

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  17. What a fun project for your son. Looks like he had a blast!! You two found such beautiful leaves too. Cheers.

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  18. Oh this is wonderful Rosie! What a great project to do with my kids too! Thank you for sharing over at the Cafe xx Nat

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  19. Thanks for linking with us Rosie, it's an awesome project. I need to do something like this with my little ones...you can be crafty anyone can just play...remember disasters might happen but bit by bit you get more "delights and this my friend is a delight!

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    1. Have I told you what a sweetheart you are lately? LOL

      I'm linking up to support Lizy today and I had to go back almost a year (to this post) to find something crafty, hahahahaha

      We did have fun making this board. The collecting was the best part. ;)

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  20. Oh my Goodness girl! I don't even know where to start! Love the project! Little man looks so adorable like to eating him alive with kisses and it's just the perfect activity for Fall!!! But most of all thank you Rosey because you are just awesome for supporting me! Really from the bottom of my heart you are a blessing in one's life! Hugs and sharing on my FB! Lizy

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