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You are here: Home / Themes / Fall / Falling Leaf Art and Science

Falling Leaf Art and Science

By Shaunna Evans 6 Comments ยท This content may contain affiliate links.

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Singing is a big part of our daily activities. A simple preschool fall songs inspired us to create some “falling” leaf art. We also incorporated a little bit of science along the way.

Materials for Falling Leaf Art

FIND ALL OF OUR LEAF THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS
FOR HOME PRESCHOOL AND PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS.

Setting Up

To set up the activity I peeled the backing off of large sheets of Con-Tact Paper (affiliate link) and taped them sticky side up on the ground. Then I set out some fall materials~leaves, small twigs, pumpkin seeds, and acorns.

Use anything you like. Not everything will stick to the paper, but that’s where the science lesson comes in!

You may also choose whether to use real leaves or not. Since those gorgeous real fall leaves don’t fall where we live I chose to use some that we bought from Dollar Tree a while back. If you do use real leaves, you might have the added sensory play of crunching up some of those leaves to scatter over the canvas.

Fall Leaf Song

Before creating our art we practiced singing and dancing to this simple song. It’s one that I’ve been singing in the classroom for years, but I’m not quite sure who to credit as the author. Let me know if you do!

Leaves Are Falling Down

(Tune: London Bridge)

The leaves are falling down.

The leaves are falling down.

Red, orange, yellow, brown

The leaves are falling down.

Leaves are falling down fall song for kids

After singing we talked about what makes the leaves fall down to the ground. We discussed how gravity is a force that pulls things toward earth.

We also discussed whether the girls thought all of the items would stick to the paper and made predictions about which objects might fall off onto the floor when we lifted our paper up at the end. This was another way to incorporate science discussions as we talked about weight.

Then it was time test gravity and our predictions by letting our leaves and other fall items go.

Creating Falling Leaf Art

The girls had fun watching where the items landed. They giggled with glee as sometimes the wind caught a leaf and blew it a different way than they had planned. (If you are doing this on a very windy day, I’d recommended doing it inside, but it was fun to try outdoors on a very mild day.)

Falling Leaf Art

Eventually Tinker couldn’t resist the call of the delightfully sticky contact paper, and she sat down to add her own personal touches to her art creation.

Fall Sticky Art for Toddlers

When both girls were satisfied with their creations we took pictures of them so we could compare the before and after of the next step.  Again we discussed what we thought would happen when we lifted the contact paper off of the ground.

Falling Leaf Open-Ended Art for Toddlers and Preschoolers

As the girls predicted the twigs and acorns fell to the ground almost immediately, but they were surprised to see that many of the pumpkins seeds stayed on the paper.

Shake-Fall Leaf Art and Science Activity

They both wanted to add more leaves now that they were sure the leaves were going to stick. Then we found a bright window to hang their creations in.

Falling Art Window Display

 

Falling Leaf Art~Open-ended art for toddlers and preschoolers

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.

More Fun for Fall

While you’ve got all of these fall items out, why not try some more sensory play and art activities?

Fall Nature Collage

Invitation to Create-Fall Collage

Leaf People Fall Art

Leaf People Fall Art

 

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Filed Under: Art, Fall, Invitations to Create, Nature, Preschool, Science, Toddler Tagged With: leaves, process art, science

Previous Post: « Nighttime Potty Training Tips
Next Post: Picture Books About Art ~ Painting and Drawing »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Erica

    September 22, 2014 at 8:10 am

    Thank you, Shaunna!! I loved it!! My 2 students and I are exploring nature. Great idea!!

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      September 23, 2014 at 2:12 pm

      Thank you so much, Erica!

      Reply
  2. Dayna @ Lemon Lime Adventures

    September 20, 2014 at 1:21 pm

    Wonderful! I love the art and science involved. I featured this today on Saturday Science!

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      September 20, 2014 at 9:07 pm

      Thanks so much, Dayna!

      Reply
  3. ChristyM

    September 13, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    What a clever way to discuss weight with the littles!

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      September 20, 2014 at 9:12 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply

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