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Easy Nature Art: Leaf Painting for Kids

August 8, 2016 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

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I’m so excited to be participating in this year’s Paint-A-Thon sharing fun painting ideas for kids! In our family, we absolutely adore fall, so I thought “Why not paint with tree leaves?” And that’s what we did!

Unfortunately, it’s late summer in Georgia, which means we’re not going to have autumn-colored leaves for some time. 🙂 But we got out some paint, including fall-themed colors, and started up anyway!

Take a look at our easy nature art project: leaf painting for kids!

Leaf Painting with Kids Art Experience

Want some more fall activities for kids? Try our fall snow globe craft or use our leaf identification flashcards to go on a leaf hunt! And don’t miss our All About Leaves printable pack for more leaf learning!

Nature Art Leaf Painting with Kids

Easy Nature Art: Leaf Painting for Kids

To do this activity, you will need the following: (Affiliate links provided here for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

  • drawing paper
  • acrylic paint
  • an assortment of leaves (try to get ones that are large enough for your kids’ hands)

Just a quick note: This was the kids’ first time working with acrylic paint, so they were kind of surprised by how it moves on the paper. If your kids like tons of paint, definitely try tempera paint instead.

Kids Painting with Leaves Project

I asked everyone what colors they wanted to work with and we got started!

Painting with Leaves for Toddlers

We put down two pieces of drawing paper – one as the “canvas” and another as the splat mat, plus paint palette. I just squeezed a bit of each color on the side.

Nature Painting with Leaves

This whole activity took maybe 15 minutes, but it was such a neat way to try art while using nature!

Leaf Painting with Kids

After we painted for a while, we started experimenting with printing.

Painting with Nature Materials

And that was even easier, since all you have to do is spread enough paint on the bottom of your leaves and then press them down.

Making Leaf Prints with Kids

Lift them up slowly and you get a lovely leaf print!

Have even more leaf fun this fall with these posts!

These printable leaf identification flashcards are a fun way to get kids interested in nature!

Make this easy and lovely fall snow globe craft to celebrate autumn with the kids!

This All About Leaves Printable Unit Study is a perfect way to study the science of fall foliage with kids!

Leaf Painting Easy Nature Art with Kids

Follow my Fall Activities for Kids board on Pinterest for even more fall ideas!

And get more fun learning ideas and crafts for kids when you sign up for our email newsletter! Subscribe using the widget below.

This post is part of Paint-A-Thon 2016 – a collection of more than 200 painting ideas for kids! Stop by to get tons of art inspiration for your kids!

2016 Paintathon - a collection of 200 painting ideas for children

Filed Under: Art, Crafts Tagged With: art, art for kids, art projects, art projects for kids, fall activities for kids, fall art, fall leaves, kids art projects, leaf projects, leaves, nature, nature art

Comments

  1. Julie says

    August 8, 2016 at 11:30 am

    Wonderful! I love nature art!

    Reply
  2. Morgan says

    August 19, 2016 at 11:10 am

    This is such a neat little project! I can’t wait to try this out with my 4-year-old in the fall! Thanks so much for the idea!

    Reply

Trackbacks

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    August 9, 2016 at 5:07 am

    […] Leaf Painting // Look We’re Learning, nature art is always such a great idea to make with children, after a nature walk or hunt in the garden, these leaf paintings are perfect for a quiet bit of creativity and color! […]

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    October 16, 2016 at 2:36 am

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Hi! I'm Selena, a veteran teacher and homeschool mom to four. I'm so glad you're here!
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