Leaf Crowns

Leaf Crowns are a great autumn activity to make with your children.  You can spend time talking about colours, sizes and patterns when the kids arrange the leaves on their crowns.

My daycare group and I took a walk two weeks ago to collect fallen leaves.  I encouraged the children to collect different sizes, shapes and colours for our leaf crowns.

We pressed the leaves in between the pages of an old phone book when we got home and left them for two weeks.  You don’t have to press the leaves but remember the leaves will curl as they dry.

When we peeked at the leaves two weeks later, they were flattened and ready to be made into crowns.

Materials:

Wide strips of bristol board paper (long enough to fit around the child’s head)

Glue

Tape or stapler

Pressed leaves

Scissors

Pen

My daycare children chose the leaves they wanted to use and planned out their pattern on the bristol board before they glued them into place.

Your older kids might be interested in doing size or colour patterns.  Red leaf, green leaf, red leaf, green leaf, etc.

One child started a pattern but then decided to abandon it when she found a super special light green leaf she loved.  Learning takes place as we engage in conversation with our children about their creations not when their craft looks a certain way.

Listening to their ideas and talking about the materials is the important part in crafting.  If the child is pleased with the finished product then I consider that a successful crafting session.

If the child is frustrated with the materials or the finished product, then they didn’t have enough freedom to follow their own learning path.  I always give suggestions to help enhance a child’s experience with the art process but never to box them into a set way of interacting with the craft materials.

My group of children glued the leaves onto the bristol board. Some of them went back and added more glue to make sure the leaf was stuck to the bristol board.

Remember to write their names on their crown so they don’t get mixed up at home time.

Once the glue is dry, fit the crown to the child’s head and tape or staple it secure.

You can cut off the excess bristol board if it is too long. If you are using staples, staple it backwards so the ends of the staple are on the outside of the crown.

This prevents the staple from scratching the child’s skin.

My group wore their crowns and pretended to be leaves as they danced around.  I managed to grab a short video clip for our daycare parents.

Here is a cute little song about leaves if you feel inspired to sing to your children as they twirl around in their crowns.

Autumn Leaves   (tune-London Bridges)

Autumn leaves are falling down,

falling down, falling down.

Autumn leaves are falling down,

Red, Yellow, Orange and Brown.

May the beauty of the leaves bring beauty into your daycare home.

Jana

Want to see more songs and finger plays about leaves?  Check out these videos: Leaf Action Song, Fall Leaf Finger Play, and Preschool Fall Leaf Song.