Leaf Rubbings

Making a leaf print, or leaf rubbing, is an easy and fun activity for kids of all ages that can be done just about any time of year. All you need are some interesting leaves, some pieces of paper, and a few crayons with no wrappers. We always seem to have an assortment of broken crayons - coloring can be such an intense activity over here - that we use those broken crayons for the leaf rubbings.

Place your leaf under a piece of paper - any kind of paper will work, we used white paper and different colored crayons. Take your paperless crayon and rub back and forth over the leaf using the side of the crayon. Your kids will be excited to watch the details of the leaf emerge! My kids like to experiment with the leaf upside down and right side up - you will get a good image either way but you might get a little bit more detail with the leaf upside down.

My daughter wanted to cut out her leaves and glue them into her nature journal. My son preferred to make a bunch of leaf rubbings on one page to create a sort of leaf collage. The possibilities are endless. For older children, you can find a nature guide that would help them identify the types of leaves they find so they can label their rubbings.

For more information on identifying leaves, click on the links below: 

About.com Identify and Name 100 Common Trees
Ohio Public Library Information on Leaf Identification