We made it, it’s November, and the holiday season has officially started. The leaves are turning, the temperature dropping and as usual, I am always finding ways to entertain my kids. Our latest craft involved falling leaves, some crayons, and a side of hot cocoa. Although, the cocoa is completely optional. We made leaf rubbings.

I purchased plain white envelopes that would fit a five by seven photograph, although you certainly don’t need anything but regular paper. The reason that I chose envelopes was to eventually put our Christmas cards inside. My kids love that they are helping with the Christmas cards, and I think it’s pretty neat too. Anyway, back to the leaf rubbing!

My kids chose to use fall color crayons, but any crayon will of course work. Remove the paper from your crayons. Get outside and find some interesting leaves. You don’t want them to be overly dried out, because they might end up crumbling. I like to let my kids hunt for their leaves. They go out into the yard and find anything that strikes them. Then you bring your leaves inside and get to rubbing. Place your leaves under your paper (or inside of your envelopes). Using the side of your crayons, instead of the tips, begin coloring over where the leaves are. You will end up with a fantastic rubbing of the leave. The stems and veins show up dark, while the rest of the leaves are light.

Allow the kids to experiment with layers, and different colors. This could also be a fun project to make cards for grandma, or aunts and uncles.

-Stephanie Wright