Leaf Rubbings and Characteristics Activity

We’ve been having such fun this fall playing with leaves and making all sorts of autumn-themed art projects. Here’s a simple one that’s also educational: categorizing simple leaf rubbings. Think of it as an art project with a Montessori twist!

First, to make a leaf rubbing you simply place a leaf under a plain piece of paper, then rub a crayon along its side over the top of the paper. Voilà! A leaf shape appears!

We found that these Clementine Art soy crayons were BY FAR the easiest ones to use because they are softer than the typical Crayola crayon variety. That being said, use what you have! Any crayon will work.

Above: gigantic persimmon leaves

Collecting leaves and making rubbings has occupied many mornings over the past few weeks.

Above: blackberry and strawberry leaves from our garden

After making our rubbings, we wrote the names of each leaf on the rubbings, then set about characterizing the leaves.

We described the leaf type (simple, simple-lobed, compound), veins (pinnate, palmate, parallel), and margins (smooth, wavy, toothed) with the help of In-Print for Children’s Leaf Characteristics set (available and currently on sale at the locally owned and operated Montessori Services).

A very Montessori activity that has been educational for both mama and child.

As far as our daughter is concerned, classifying leaves is a fun game!

“Let’s do more, Mama! What leaves have wavy leaf margins?!”

Now to find a ginkgo growing in the neighborhood…