Fabulous
Fall Foliage
Every autumn, nature puts on one of the greatest shows on earth. In many parts of the United States, from late describing the elements of color, line, shape, and texture with comments uch as: “This print is a lighter color than that print.” “The block prints a llow children to investigate the items collected for printing. Getting into Paint
September through October and early Provide each child with paper and
shape with very straight edges, while
November, formerly green leaves
access to warm-colored tempera
the lid’s shape has curved or round
turn to brilliant
paints, such as
edges.” Children’s free exploration
shades of yellow,
yellows, oranges, Young artists can capture
will result in several unique uses for
orange, red, and
browns, yellow- the rich, warm tones and
printing with each item. Unsurpris-
brown. Reacting
ingly, children’s knowledge of leaves greens, and orange-
to the shorter days
unique features of fall
reds, so vivid in
will often find its way into their art-
and cooler nights, nature during the foliage when printing with
work.
native trees and
autumn season. Let found objects to create
shrubs finish out
Rebecca M. Giles is a professor and Paige children freely dip their own autumn leaves.
the growing season
items in paint to
V. Baggett is an assistant professor at the
University of South Alabama in Mobile,
and begin prepara-
Alabama. rgiles@usouthal.edu; pbaggett@ create prints. As the
tions for their dormant winter period children work, ask questions such as:
usouthal.edu
with a burst of warm, magnificent
How does this item feel in your ;;
color.
hand?
While it is just business as usual
What color are you using? ;;
Students use different media, tech-
for the trees, nature provides us with niques, and processes to communi- How many times did you print it? ;;
a spectacular display of the beauty
Which prints do you like best? ;;
cate ideas, experiences, and stories.
and diversity of nature. Young artists What did you do first, next, last? ;;
can capture the rich, warm tones and
Ask children to compare
unique features of fall foliage when
www.na. fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/ prints, then respond to their prints by
printing with found objects to create
leaves/ leaves.htm
their own autumn leaves.
A Scientific Exploration
Using quality children’s literature
or informative Internet resources,
begin with a discussion of why leaves
change color. If geographic locale per-
mits, take a tour of the outdoors to
observe autumn changes in progress.
After examining actual leaves, pho-
tographs, and realistic pictures found
in books, magazines or on websites,
Objectives
Students will:
create art with familiar objects. ;;
use their senses to learn about ;;
the environment.
experience the art elements of ;;
line, color, shape, and texture
through seeing and touching.
Materials
various objects such as spools, ;;
blocks, bottle tops, pieces of plastic
pipe, corks, forks, or anything that
will “stamp” interesting shapes
tempera paint in colors such as ;;
yellow, red, orange, and brown
shallow pans or Styrofoam trays ;;
for paint
