Projects for fall leaves

Projects for fall leaves

Leave the leaf blower out of this!

Are you enjoying the gorgeous color explosion and wondrous, windy weather that is fall yet? I sure am! Just today we raked and played in the leaves a bit, and after our 4-H meeting my daughter and her friends ran outside to jump in our piles and giggle over the leafy goodness of it all. I just adore fall.

One of our favorite things about fall is the changing leaves, which is something I know lots of people enjoy. Unlike our ancestors, who usually prayed to their gods for the return of summer’s bounty and might have been unsure about whether or not their green trees would return, we are lucky enough to know that it’s 99.9999 percent likely that our crops will return (unless we, too, do not return from some zombiepocalypse or what have you). We also have the bounty provided by the grocery store, and most of us do not have to stock up for the season (though it’s a good idea to have a few days of food on hand just in case there’s a blizzard). Therefore, instead of mourning summer and praying for its return, we can have the luxury of enjoying this season instead, and preparing leaf projects like these:

  • Paint marbleized leaves, create leaf garlands and many other art projects
  • Create lovely leaf frame art, leaf labels for your wine bottles, or leaf-pressed autumn wreaths
  • Gather up as many leaves as you can and crunch them into a stew or potion with your favorite preschooler; we like to add expired spices, dirt and many other things into ours
  • Create an autumn leaf placemat to use at the table, or to decorate for Thanksgiving
  • Make a fun mosaic leaf bracelet for fall games, gift exchanges, or even seasonal costumes
  • Conduct an experiment with still-green leaves by placing stickers on them; as they turn colors and fall, find them with your children and chronicle their changes, removing the stickers to see how dramatic their shifts were this year
  • Design chicks and other cute animals with your leaves
  • Make a pretty tree of leaves with anyone from your friends to your preschooler, or design a lovely fall notebook with tree leaves for your college girl or boy to take back to school next semester
  • Skip using actual leaves and simply let them be, looking at them for inspiration for a watercolor painting or other original art
  • Keep your leaves around instead of blowing them around! We like to compost ours for fertile, rich soil next year