Autumn paints trees in bright colors. All kids enjoy playing with colored leaves. They are happy to collect them and bring them home. Excellent applications are made from this natural material. From the leaves, preschoolers enthusiastically spread animals or trees, developing at the same time imagination, industriousness, fine motor skills and artistic taste.
Collection of materials
Autumn is the best time to hunt for beautiful leaves. At this time, they delight the eye with bright colors, an unusual combination of shades. However, natural materials for leaf applications can also be collected in other seasons.
In spring and summer, juicy greens appear in the meadows, wildflowers bloom. Do not be too lazy to select the brightest and strongest of them during walks, trips to nature, relaxing in the country. In addition to grass, in summer you can stock up in fluff and ears of corn. In winter, pay attention to tree seeds. Winged wings from maple or alder will perfectly fit into the children's application, as well as rowan and needles. The more diverse the material collected, the more creative and unusual the finished work is obtained.
Leaf drying
In addition to natural material, to create crafts you will need: paper, glue and a brush. In some cases, scissors, markers and paints come in handy. It is easier for children under 3 years old to work with freshly ripped leaves and plants. They are stronger and do not crumble in hands. Older children will cope with applications from dried leaves.
There are three drying methods:
- Leaves are nested between pages of a thick book. They are better to lay paper napkins on both sides. The whole process takes several days.
- Drying with an iron. To prevent fingerprints remaining on the ironing board, place heavy paper underneath. Cover the leaves with a newspaper or napkin.
- Microwave drying. You will need utensils for cooking in the microwave. We remove two covers from it, put leaves in the gap between them and turn on the device.
Applique Technique
Before performing work, cover the table with oilcloth, prepare all the necessary materials. Decide on the plot of the future picture. To create an application of leaves on a sheet of paper, first lay out the planned composition. You may want to make some changes, try different options for the location of natural material.
When the result suits everyone, you can take on the glue. It is more convenient for the child to apply it with a brush. It is better to smear the leaves around the edges. If the glue is applied to the entire surface, after drying, the picture will warp. Place the finished application under the press from heavy books. Let her lie down like this for one or two days. To keep your work longer, insert it into the glass frame. Now you can decorate a nursery with a picture, show off to relatives or make a birthday present for your grandmother.
Crafts for the smallest
It is difficult for children under 3 years old to independently come up with a plot for a picture. However, it is very useful for them to sort out and lay out autumn leaves, to spread them with glue. All this develops fine motor skills, which means speech. The simplest piece of work that babies of 1.5 years will cope with is the application “Autumn Leaves”. She will need a sheet of colored paper. On the basis of the child glues autumn foliage, placing it at their own discretion.
Parents can paint a landscape with trees. Then the baby sticks leaves that hang on branches or break off under the blow of the wind. Children 2-3 years old learn to distinguish colors and sizes. It is useful to create compositions from the leaves, arrange them in the order of increase or decrease, from the lightest shade to the darkest.
Teach children to lay ornaments in which elements alternate in a certain way. For example, place birch between maple leaves. You can lay out the pattern, and then offer the baby to continue it on his own. Such tasks contribute to the development of logical thinking.
Animals from the leaves
Older children like to lay out funny little animals or little men on paper. Applications from autumn leaves allow you to create butterflies, fish, chickens, bunnies, firebirds, hedgehogs and other animals. Girls can come up with an unusual dress for a fairy-tale princess, boys can wear an Indian headdress. Before starting work on the basis, make a pencil sketch of the future picture so that the child sees where to stick the leaves.
The following types of applications are distinguished:
- Waybill. The leaves are simply stacked on top of each other, making a funny character appear. Plant seeds and dried berries can also be used to create the picture. Separate details are allowed to be finished. In this way, you can make quite complex images by sticking leaves in several layers and playing with shades.
- Silhouette From autumn leaves, the child cuts out the details of the desired shape, creating beautiful pictures.
- Modular. For such an application, leaves similar in shape, color and size are selected. From them lay the tails of the birds, the scales of the fish, the skirt for the fairies.
- Symmetrical. The right and left halves of the butterfly are created from the same leaves. The same applies to the wings of a dragonfly or a soaring firebird.
We come up with plots
Children over 5 years old can become authors of complex applications from leaves on paper. They are quite able to recreate the autumn landscape. Symmetric pictures where the forest is reflected in water look interesting.
Using leaves, you can recreate the underwater world with colorful fish and algae. Also, the child can combine several characters in one story, telling his story. These can be sketches from the poultry yard, where the rooster is engaged in raising chickens. Or maybe a forest tale about the adventures of hedgehogs, bunnies and squirrels.
The possibilities for artistic combination are truly endless. Let your child experiment with leaves to develop imagination and creativity. Works look good in the manufacture of which various materials are combined: plants, colored paper, pebbles, cereals, small shells.
Applications from the leaves teach children to see the beauty around them, to notice something unusual in everyday things. In addition, they develop perseverance, so such activities are useful for hyperactive, inattentive kids.