Kid Territory: Crafts: Leafy Animal Art!
A leaf is a leaf, right? Well, not when you look at it a certain way. Have you ever looked at clouds and seen shapes in them? You can see shapes and figures in leaves, too. One leaf looks a lot like an elephant's ear. A fern might remind you of a lion's mane. And those pine needles—porcupine quills! Take a look at the leaves that fall around your neighborhood, and you might just see a whole zoo full of animals!
What you need
• Lots of leaves of all different sizes, shapes, and colors. Pick them up from the ground, or carefully snip just a few off living plants and trees around your house, with your parents' permission.
• Construction paper
• White glue
• Paper towels
•. Something large, heavy, and flat to press the leaves with
What you do
1. Rinse the leaves you collect in the sink and let them dry.
2. On a large piece of construction paper, lay out some of the leaves and see what animals their shapes remind you of. Use your imagination! Move the leaves around and place them together and on top of one another to form the animals you see. They can be simple, or they can be detailed, with feet, eyes, feathers, claws, and lots of other parts–all made of leaves!
3. When you have put together a couple of animals that you like, use white glue on the backs of the leaves to carefully glue everything together and keep it in that shape. Then glue the whole animal shape to the construction paper. Set the paper aside somewhere safe and let the glue dry.
4. When the glue is dry, put a paper towel over the animal shape and then place the heavy, flat object on top. Leave it that way for a day or two, so the leaves will become nice and flat.
5. Now you have your own leafy animals work of art that you can put in a frame or hang in your room!
More
Animal-themed crafts: Plant
Paint
Animal Bytes: Elephant, Lion, Porcupine
Plants and Gardens
