• 3 leaves that have not yet fallen
• Heavy, thick book
• Construction paper
• Hot glue
• Paint brush
• Acrylic paint in yellow, tan and red
• White paper or construction paper

What You Do

1. The best leaves for this project are still attached to the tree. Find leaves that are turning colors but aren’t completely dried out. You need one leaf for each color you will paint.
2. Press the leaves in the pages of a heavy book. Leave overnight.
3. Remove leaves from the book. Look at the underside of the leaf. Brush off any debris, pollen or dust that may have gathered there.
4. Fold a piece of construction paper in half.
5. Hot glue the front side of the leaf to the construction paper so that the underside is facing up. The underside has the veins and lines of the leaf, the front side is smooth.
6. Using a paint brush, paint the underside of the leaf with a generous amount of paint. Be careful to paint only the leaf and not the construction paper it is glued to.
7. Using the leaf as a stamp, press it down carefully onto the white paper. Hold it in place and gently rub the construction paper so that all areas hit the white paper.
8. Carefully remove the stamp and repeat this process with your other leaves and colors.
9. Allow to dry completely.

For tree you need:

∙ Coffee Filters

• Yellow, Orange, Red and Green Markers
• Liquid Starch
• Scissors
• Stapler
• Interesting Bare Stick
• Low Temp Glue Gun
• Wax Paper
• Foam Brush

For planter you need:

• Clean, Empty Container
• Heavy White Paper
• Liquid Starch
• Yellow, Orange, Red Tissue Paper
• Foam Brush
• Rocks
• Glue

Instructions for tree:

Color the middle of six or more coffee filters with markers making patches of Yellow, Orange, Red and Green. Make sure you cover an area at least as big as your leaf patterns.

Cut maple leafs out of the coffee filters. An easy way to do this is to staple a leaf pattern to a coffee filter, stapling all around the outline and cutting on the line. Lay you leaves right side up on wax paper. Brush with liquid starch. Colors will run together. Let dry. Peel leaves from wax paper and use low temp glue gun to attach to your stick.

Instructions for planter:

Cut a piece of heavy white paper to fit around your container. Tear yellow, orange and red tissue paper into irregular shapes. Use liquid starch to attach the tissue pieces to the paper, overlapping colors. Let dry. Glue to container. Fill it with rocks and stick your Maple tree inside.

What You Need
 

• Large piece of brown construction paper
• Leaf shaped cookie cutters
• Tempera paints in yellow, orange, and red
• Clear Con-Tact paper (if making placemat)
• Scissors

1. Dip the cookie cutters in the different colors of paints and "stamp" them onto the brown construction paper.
2. Cover the whole thing with clear Con-Tact paper and use as a placemat. (Adults will need to cover with Con-Tact paper)
3. This is a fun project for children to paint.

It Is Autumn - sung to "Skip To My Lou"

It is autumn up in a tree.
It is autumn up in a tree.
It is autumn up in a tree.
Up in a tree it's autumn.

Leaves are changing up in a tree...
Leaves are falling from that tree...
Squirrels are living up in a tree...
Acorns are growing up in a tree...