Fall leaf placemats

This activity takes a little longer but has a fun end result your kid can feel proud about. As a start, go on a nature walk around the neighborhood and collect several different kinds of leaves. Take the leaves home and divide them into two piles. Take one pile, dry them off, and press them (you can wrap them in paper towels and sandwich them into a heavy book). Then take the second pile and get ready to do some leaf rubbings!

Using some white paper, place the leaves under the paper and use the broadside of a crayon or charcoal (be ready for a delightful mess with charcoal but it does end up looking really cool) and start rubbing over the paper. Be sure to have your kid press firmly so the shape of the leaf will come through onto the paper. Make several leaf rubbings, cut them out, and save them for later.

Once your leaves are dry and flat (about a week or so), you are ready to set to work! Gather up your dried leaves and your leaf rubbings, some construction paper, and some clear contact paper.

Lay out a large placemat sized piece of clear contact paper, sticky side up. (I recommend taping the corners down so it doesn't slide while your kid is working.) Have your child start laying down construction paper to create a background for your leaves. You can do whatever pattern you'd like. Just be sure to leave at least a 1 inch border around the edge of the construction paper so you can seal everything in. Once that's done, stay out a mix of leaf rubbings and dried leaves. When your child is done, take an equal sized piece of clear contact paper and gently lay it on top, sticky side down onto the placemat "laminating" it all closed.

And there you have it! Placemats your child can make for the Autumn season that the whole family can admire for every meal. These are also great for Thanksgiving too!

Delightfully messy with charcoal and loving it!