Low-Cost Leaf Art

Fall is a great time of year for art projects because free materials are literally dropping out of the sky! Here’s some fun ways to put those festive leaves to work keeping your kids entertained. While I can promise that you’ll definitely decorate with plenty of oranges, reds, and yellows you’ll still be able to save all the ‘greens’ for your wallet.

Stained Glass Leaves: This project is so simple, affordable, and beautiful. First, take a fall walk with the kids to collect your favorite leaves. Next, press the leaves flat under a heavy book. Then, lay a sheet of wax paper on the table and arrange your leaves on it. Have your kids use a vegetable peeler to shred those old broken crayons on top– use as many or as few colors as you like! Place another sheet of wax paper on top and have an adult run a hot iron lightly over the top until all the crayon bits have melted.

Pro Tips: Keep the iron moving at a steady pace so nothing burns. You can also add a piece of parchment paper on top of your wax paper as an extra safety barrier and also to prevent your iron from turning colors from stray crayon bits.

Leaf Painting: This is a fun way to play with both positive and negative spaces. Kids can put paint directly on their flattened leaf and then use it almost like a stamp to make leaf shapes (see upper left image) or they can place the leaf on the paper and then paint over it to make a blank white leaf space instead (see upper right image).

Leaf Rubbings: Place flattened leaves under a piece of drawing paper and use a crayon or colored pencil to lightly rub over the leaf to make the shape appear.

For these and more of my fun fall art project ideas check out a previous blog post of mine at the link below:

https://the-thrifty-mom.com/2022/09/08/free-fall-fun-2/

For more amazing leaf art ideas (like the ones pictured above) and suggestions for preserving your leaves (like coating them with Mod Podge-genius!) check out this link:

https://artfulparent.com/10-autumn-leaf-crafts-for-kids/