Outdoors

Leaf Rubbing Gallery

Here's one to try together!

Collect leaves outside, then make their secret patterns appear.

25 min1 min prepAges 2 and uplow mess

Reviewed by our team.

Safety first

Only collect leaves a grown-up knows are fine to touch, and leave mushrooms and berries where they are.

What you need

Grown-up prep: Peel the wrappers off a few crayons so they can be used on their side.

Go on a leaf walk and look for different shapes.
Collect five different leaves in the bag.
Ask: Which leaf is the biggest? The weirdest?
Line up your leaves from biggest to smallest.
Put a leaf under the paper, bumpy side up.
Rub the side of a crayon over it and watch the veins appear.
Try a new color for every leaf.
Match each rubbing to its real leaf.
Tape the best ones on the fridge as a gallery.
Ask: Who will you invite to see your gallery?

Leaf mystery: rub a leaf with your eyes closed and guess which one it was.
Bumpy hunt: rub other bumpy things, like tree bark, a brick wall or the bottom of a shoe.
Leaf creatures: turn your rubbings into animals with eyes, legs and tails.

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