Leaf Prints--Fall Preschool Craft

 Whether you live in a climate where leaves change colors, or not, this is a great time of year to learn more about leaves!  

To make the leaf prints, let your child paint the back side of a leaf with her choice of color(s).  Tempera paints work very well.  Then, let her press the leaf on a paper like a stamp.  Feel free to point out the veins that carry water and nutrients to and from the leaves.  Let your child follow the path the veins make on the leaf.

The prints can be used to decorate the front of a card or as their own masterpieces.

Any time your child uses paint, encourage her to experiment with mixing the colors.  Ask her what she sees when she mixes them.  And if she wants to finish her painting without leaves, let her creative genius flow!

 

Painting Project for Preschoolers

Preschoolers love paint!  Paint provides an excellent chance to talk about and review colors.  Older children will notice that when they mix colors, new colors are formed.

This fun and simple project lets preschoolers create unique masterpieces that look fabulous in a frame or simply hung on the wall.  It also works well for older toddlers and younger school age children!

Giver your child a piece of black card-stock and let him choose several colors of tempera paint.  If your child is prone to mixing all the colors into a lovely shade of brown, limit his palette to two colors.  You can either let him transfer the paint from a palette to his page with a paintbrush, or you can place 4-5 drops of paint directly on his card-stock and let him paint the page.  Design and pattern are completely up to your child's genius!

Note: Tempera paint works well for this because it tends to sit on the card-stock, unlike water-colors which tend to be absorbed by the paper.  You can buy washable temperas too.

Experiment With Ants

Late summer ants may bug you, but they are a great research topic for your preschooler!  Watch some outside for a few minutes and talk about what your child notices.  Particularly good times to observe them are mornings and evenings when the weather is conducive to their hunt for food.  Ask your preschooler if he thinks they like sweet things like honey or salty things like crackers better.  Let him set up tiny bait stations (one with a drop of honey and the other with some fine cracker crumbs) near each other and watch to see which the ants prefer.  Feel free to try other foods too!  Let him draw a picture showing what you learned!  If you're feeling ambitious, use the internet to find out what type of ants you saw!

Note: Different ant species have different food preferences.  Some like sweet, some like salty, some like protein, some like fats, and many like a combination. 

** There are more than 10,000 different species of ants!

** An ant can carry something three times heavier than itself!

** Ants can "talk" to each other with pheromones and other chemicals...they can "smell" messages with their antennae!

Safety note:  Some ants bite and sting.  Use caution when observing any animal, including ants.