Fall Leaf Painting with Edible Paint

This month the members of the Poppins Book Nook are sharing book-related activities about the seasons. Since it’s fall we decided to share one of the fall crafts we made this year.

We don’t get real fall leaves where we live, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying great fall books and learning about the signs of fall. One of the books we are especially enjoying this year is Fletcher and the Falling Leaves. Fletcher, a young fox, is alarmed when leaves start falling off his favorite tree. He tries to keep them from falling, but he can’t make it stop. One morning he awakes to a surprise that finally helps him understand. My girls love the tree’s beautiful transformation and the great illustration at the end of the book.

Fall Leaf Painting with Edible Paint

FIND ALL OF OUR LEAF THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS

FOR HOME PRESCHOOL AND PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS.

We tried painting with sweetened condensed milk earlier this year, and the girls loved the thick yet smooth texture of the paint. Tinker was especially intrigued by how the paint drips slowly of the paint brush. I knew they’d both be excited to give it another try.

Lovey took the lead on mixing up our paint. We divided the sweetened condensed milk between three bowls, because we were planning to make red, yellow, and orange paint. Then Lovey slowly added food coloring until and stirred until she was happy with her “fall colors.”  She loved mixing the red food coloring with the yellow food coloring to make orange.

These were her finished paints!

Using card stock I cut out a few leaf shapes (okay maybe they aren’t the most realistic shapes…whoops!).  I set the leaves, paint, and paint brushes up with a few books that included pictures of fall leaves. Before the girls started painting we spent some time looking through the books and discussing fall leaves.

Once we started painting, Tinker was again fascinated by watching the paint slowly slide off the brush.

 She used that method to paint her leaves.

Over and over again she got more paint and let it drip onto her leaf. This ended up making a very cool swirl of colors. She enjoyed it so much she painted two leaves.

Lovey tried a more traditional painting method. Then after a while she remembered that I said this paint was safe for kids to eat, so she asked if she could taste it. I LOVE the skeptical look on Tinker’s face. She just kept telling Lovey, “No, Sissy! We don’t eat paint.”

Our fall leaves have been on display most of fall. At first when the paint dries it has a glossy look to it. Then over time it dulls a bit and hardens even more. The girls have been intrigued by the subtle changes.

Here is another fall leaf craft we had fun making together.

PRINTABLE LEAF THEME LESSON PLANS

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

This set currently includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:

1) Roll and Say Fall ABC Game (uppercase and lowercase versions)
2) Roll and Count Leaves Math Game
3) Small Leaf Cards for Sorting and Patterning
4) Sight Word Trees Activity Mats, Letter Cards, and Sight Word Cards
5) Color Word Leaf Cards
6) Leaf Number Cards (0-35)
7) Sorting Leaves Color Mats and Leaf Cards
8) Fall Leaves Emergent Reader (3 versions)
9) Leaf Observation Recording Sheet

GET YOUR LESSON PLANS

Home Preschool Leaf Theme Lesson Plans

Preschool Classroom Leaf Theme Lesson Plans

Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.