Leaf Man Nature Collages

The beautiful fall colors are fading away up here in New Hampshire (since we've had days of rain and wind), but I wanted to share one of my favorite art projects to do with kids of all ages: "Leaf People (or Leaf Critters)" made with elements from a nature walk and inspired by Lois Ehlert's book, "Leaf Man."

My teacher followers might say, "YAWN. Seen it before." And you are right, but kiddos from Pre-K to 4th like doing this project and every time they do it, their pieces get more and more sophisticated. Also, their observations of the natural elements develop the older they get. What a great link to literature and science!

Here's the "Leaf Man"Book.
Another book by Ehlert that is also perfect
for this time of year is "Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf" as well...

My after-school kiddos were stuck inside due to rain, so I was responsible for gathering materials for this project. Ideally, I like to take students outside to gather/discuss leaves and seeds. Either way, it pays to have some teacher-supplied elements so that everyone isn't using the same shape leaf in their pieces. I collected about 15 different types of leaves, some twigs, acorns, and maple tree "helicopter" seeds, but I bet you could find even more than that given a little time. Collect the leaves right before you plan to use them since you want them to be pliable and not crispy.

Here's the abbreviated timeline for the project:

1. Read the book "Leaf Man." How did the Illustrator, Ms. Ehlert, use natural materials such as leaves to make animals, insects, and people?
2. Talk about background. Notice the backgrounds in the book--how are they made? Are they all the same?
3. Show the students how to tear a piece of scrapbook paper in half in an interesting way. Now we have two pieces of paper. They can be layered this way (demonstrate) to create different types of backgrounds: a lake with mountains in the back, etc. Trade one of your pieces with someone in the classroom and practice making different backgrounds until you get one that you like.
4. Glue down the background pieces onto a third piece of scrapbook paper using a glue stick.
5. Create a leaf person, a leaf critter or both on your background. Don't glue the nature pieces down right away--try out different leaves and seeds. When you are happy, then glue it down using goopy glue (Elmer's glue). I had eyeball stickers on hand for them to add as well--the kids like that! But you could use googly eyes, draw the eyes using a Sharpie, or only use natural elements like Ehlert does.
6. Let dry and enjoy!!

Here are some examples from class:

Did you know: The leaves used on the illustrations of "Leaf Man" were collected all over the U.S. by Ehlert and friends and color photocopied to retain their beautiful colors until she could create the illustrations for the book. What a great way to preserve the leaves--I wouldn't have thought of that!

A Gem of an Illustration!

Here's an integrated arts project that is good if you have only a bit of time, but you're looking to create a display or short poetry book. I designed it with middle school students in mind and it is meant to be done in two class periods (give or take)...you know your students best, so adjust accordingly.

The writing:
With this project, students create diamante poems about two very different things. For my example, my son and I chose to write a poem about school versus vacation (we're on spring break now and loving it!). A diamante poem is a great way to write about two contrasting things and the poem actually is in a diamond shape when you are done. It doesn't take long to write a diamante poem and www.ReadWriteThink.org has a diamante poem interactive you can use with your students (flash required) and it will prompt them through the writing if it. Or you can use more traditional means such a a worksheet.

Diamante poems are also a good test of your students' ability to recognize and use proper word choice and parts of speech since there is a particular format students need to use when creating a diamante poem. ReadWriteThink also has a rubric for the writing portion of the lesson.

Once your students create their poems, you can print directly from ReadWriteThink (or you can have them type it up in word or handwrite the poems). I printed ours out from the ReadWriteThink site.

The illustrating:
Then have your students brainstorm about ways they could illustrate the first concept of their poems--in our case, it's "School Days." Then, have them brainstorm ways they could illustrate the final thought of their poem, again, in our case it is "Vacation." For time's sake, I'm was thinking abstract, maybe bringing in abstract artists and color field artists would be a great tie to this lesson. I also wanted the artwork to be dry (not water-based) so students could create and didn't have to wait for watercolors to dry...although, if I had more time, I would love to have students create their own papers for this using tempera paint or watercolors.

Give each student an 8" square piece of white construction paper (I chose that size because I knew the finished piece would fit in my laminator and I wanted to make a book with the final illustrated poems, but you can choose any size you wish).

Have the students fold their square in half, open it up, and turn the paper so that the fold is the "horizon line." Have students use collage techniques such as tearing, cutting, layering and gluing papers to create two very different "feeling" backgrounds abstractly illustrating the two contrasting concepts from their poems.

In our case, we glued rows and rows of text that had little editing marks on them in the dreaded "red pen" of the editor. This is because both my son and I have been focusing a lot on writing and editing lately in our schoolwork. For the lower portion of our background, we ripped and glued layers of paper to look like waves and a beach because we'd rather be there right now! I then broke the rules I bit and added some torn paper clouds to the upper portion. I think I'll add a kite, too, later...Anyway, lastly, we glued down our poem. The diamond shape of the poem works well to cut the background in half.

Make sure your students title their poems--ours is "School Daze," and write "written and illustrated by:" with their names somewhere on the piece...I didn't, sorry!

Ta-da! You are done. Great for a bulletin board display or a class book of poetry.

ENJOY!

And thank you to Steph I. at Plymouth State University for being the inspiration for this project! :-)

Summertime! At least for a few more weeks here in NH!

I try to keep my children's reading, writing, and math skills up over the summer. We start out strong, but I must say, I have had to "renegotiate" the summer contracts with my children this year. This is a skill that now makes me ready for the United Nations!

Anyway, I had my middle son write some poetry, type it into the computer, and then illustrate it. Since his poem was about "Summertime," he decided to do a variation of the flip flop collage project I posted about here.

He had a great time writing this, typing it in, and creating the 3D flip flops--especially when he found the minions in an ad = instant minion flip flops!

This would be a great sneaky project to get your kids to do a bit of writing before the end of the summer while preserving those summer memories. Or, if you are a teacher, it's a great welcome back project for integrating art and language arts!

Enjoy the rest of YOUR summer!

Giant Dreamcatcher!

Take a look at this super-giant dreamcatcher the librarians at the Amherst Town Library in Amherst, NH, made to celebrate their Summer Reading Program. The theme of the Reading Program is "Dream Big" and this extra-large dreamcatcher is spot-on!

The diameter of this dreamcatcher is about 5 feet! WOW!

The hoop looks like an over-size hoola hoop (plastic tubing from the hardware store) and the "web" is made from twine. The "beads" are sections of pool noodles and the feathers are about 8" long. So creative and striking! There are two of them hanging outside the library and they are so unexpected and beautiful--it is nice to see them gently swinging in the breeze.

Awesome!