Oct 13, 2008

Fall Leaf Butterflies

I admit this idea is taken directly from Lois Ehlert's book “Leaf Man”. But figuring out how to get dozens of colored leaves that are easy to glue down was my own. I’m only sorry I didn’t think of it until now.
1. If you are so fortunate as to live near some fall foliage, you can take the real thing to a color copier and make lots of prints of multiple leaves. Or if you are like me, nowhere near any maple trees, you can go to www.gettyone and search for “leaves, close-up”. Download the preview images, which are free, and print out on a color printer. I splurged and used photo paper as the color seems to be about 10 times brighter when I do.
2. Young students can cut out the leaves leaving about an 1/8" of white around the outside. The reason is that intricate leaf shapes can be tricky to cut right on the edge, but because the background will be white, it will look OK. Older students can be more precise and cut out the leaf exactly.
3. The leaves are then to be cut in half right down the middle, along the spine. The two sides are then glued down with a little space left in between. A body and antennae are cut from scraps pieces, or from leftover stems.

3 comments:

Zoanna said...

I would love to try this one. How long would it take from set up to finished product?

Wondering also, since I am newly a 3rd and 4th grade art teacher with no art education background, how long to expect a mosaic of paper should take. I've told them to use 10 each of red, yellow, and blue, and use only angled lines. Cut one shape, glue it down, cut another and butt it up agaisnt the first, then antoher, and then fill the spaces left by the edges. Where would I go to search age-appropriate expectations for this grade level? I've only taught K-2nd until this year. My own son who is in first grade, is very talented, so he's not exactly a baseline for me. He can sit for two hours drawing a comic strip.

Kathy Barbro said...

I think this would be about a 30 to 45 minute working lesson for kinders, it's not too involved.

As for estimated time with your other project, all I know is that there are so many variables with kids, it's hard to put numbers on anything.

Jen said...

I adore that book and forgot about it! Can't wait to get it out for my girls and try this project before winter sneaks up on us. I've done a project on elaboration with leaves where the kids pasted a leaf on a page and added details to turn it into something. Fun project. Happy to have come across your blog today!!

Jen

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