Leaf Rubbing Collaborative Art for Autumn

Sometimes you can't beat the staple activities that we have been doing for years and years. I remember doing leaf rubbings as a child myself. They never fail to bring delight to the children so is a must do activity with Autumn being in full swing. 

There really is something so fulfilling about crafting this time of year. There are so many natural resources at our fingertips. I also love how venturing out to find and collect them gets us outside in the fresh air.

My children really enjoy having their own containers for nature hunts. Off they go with a task in mind and I have found that it really does hold their focus, whilst also keeping the nature items nice and safe until we get back home. 

Wax crayons

Roll of paper

Leaves

Tape

If you are wondering where you can get hold of your rolls of paper, I highly recommend the ones from The Works. They are really reasonable and I'm also pleased with the quality and durability of the paper. If you're looking for wider paper rolls I recommend getting them from IKEA in the children's section. 

Head on out on a nature walk and collect a variety of different leaves. Collect as many different shapes as possible. The more shapes you collect, the more effective the art will look and it will also give the opportunity to discuss the different leaves and attempt to identify which tree they have fallen from.

Place your leaves down onto the table and place your paper ontop. Secure the paper in place using some tape. Really important that it is fully secured down or you will find movement spoils the rubbins and means the leaves easily move out of place. 

You can tape the leaves down if you wish, however the rubbings will pick up the tape indents. We didn't tape each leaf down individually and we didn't have any problems.

You will need to remove all the papers from your wax crayons. We chizzled them off with our nails which ended up being a task and a half. I have since discovered you can leave them to soak in water and they will easily come away from your crayons. 

Use your fingers to locate where the leaves are lying beneath the paper. Once you locate one, take your crayons and rub them over the top of the leaf. You can choose whether you stick to one colour of use several.

Give children the freedom to use a variety of colours. They may look to stick to autumnal colours or create funky colourful ones. 

Lots of fun! Give them a go!