Maker Monday: Fall Leaf Rubbing

Questions for Engagement

• What’s going on in this artwork? What do you see that makes you say that?
• What colors do you see? What season do these colors remind you of? What season are we in now?

Materials Needed

• White drawing paper
• Crayons without paper wrapper (choose fall colors like yellow, orange, red, and brown)
• Variety of leaves (ones that aren’t too old work best!)

Optional Materials

• Watercolor paint (red and yellow)
• Mop paintbrush
• Water

Activity

Fall’s a special time of year in the mountains of Western North Carolina. The leaves change colors from green to yellows, reds, oranges, and browns. Today we’re going to use leaves to help us create a fall picture.

1. Gather a collection of leaves from your yard or neighborhood. Leaves that aren’t too dry work best!
2. Choose a leaf, and turn it so the backside of the leaf is face-up.
3. Lay your piece of paper on top of your leaf.
4. Choose a crayon, and lay it flat on top of your paper where the leaf is.
5. Hold the paper, press hard with the crayon, and gently rub back and forth across the leaf until you see the leaf’s image appear on your paper.
6. Follow these steps to add as many leaves to your paper as you’d like—leaves and colors can overlap.

If you don’t have paint, you can enjoy your fall leaf rubbing as-is. If you’d like, you can add a wash of watercolor to your leaf rubbing. A watercolor wash will cover any white space on your paper, and the wax from the crayon will repel the paint.

7. To create a wash, use a wet paintbrush with watercolor.
8. Use yellow paint first, and paint across your paper with the watery paint.
9. Clean your paintbrush.
10. While the yellow paint’s still wet, dip your wet paintbrush in red. Add red to select areas of your paper, or paint across the entire paper to make some orange.